Russia Blog Update 1

Both teams made it across the Russian border yesterday afternoon, and finally met up as planned in St Petersburg at the Grand Hotel Europe. The border crossing was 'interesting' for team WombatsKhan, nobody spoke any English and so we held up the queue, until a very nice man came to our aid and translated for us, the guards had a tertiary look inside the car, stamped a load of paperwork, and then pointed us to the road, we were in, the whole process taking just over two hours.

Apparently the road from the Finland borader to St Petersburg is one of the best in Russia, if that is indeed the case we are in trouble, it was dreadful, think half dirt road and you are close, oh and the holes, big enough to cause some serious damage to the wombat (car). The Russian drivers are best described as 'eager', insomuch as they seem eager to leave this life and enter the next. When you are planning to overtake a truck you aim for the best part of the road first, then prepare for a Russian to then overtake you at the same time, so three abreast overtaking, certainly not for the faint hearted, or those driving an overweight under powered Micra. Neil now has considerably more grey in his beard this morning.

We opted for a rest in St Petersburg when we planned the rally, and what a great decision that was, an absolutely fantastic city, vibrant, buzing with Russian and Eurpean opulance and so much history you just cannot take it all in. Not a concrete wall in site, just massive cuts of granite and other expensive stone. The old city justifies a week alone to fully explore its wide streets and hidden wonders, we will come back here.

Our first real rain today (22nd) and its poured down, but that hasn't taken anything away from our time in St Petersburg.

We are having issues uploading photo's to the blog for some technical reason beyond Neil and Jo. We will keep trying.

Both teams set off tomorrow for the outskirts of Moscow, a drive at I'm sure will bring a few white knuckle moments....

Grand Hotel Europe St Petersburg

Winter Palace St Petersburg

19th July

Finland has been a surprise for us, beautiful countryside, with next to nobody in it. We have seen Moose (elk), Reindeer and today after a trek through the woods almost to the Russian border we saw up close brown bears. The wide life is tough, like the environment, no little birds and soft cuddly animals....

The sun does drop to just below the horizon at around 10pm, but the night doesn't come, so you feel like you can drive all through the night, but fatigue creeps up on you.... We found accommodation last night beside a large lake, a log cabin for two, including a sauna. We made use of the lake (bloody cold) and then the sauna (bloody hot). But both of us struggled to get a good sleep, due to it being light all night.

We are now close to the end of the European chapter of the rally, our final day tomorrow before crossing the border into Russia, and hopefully meeting up with team Kangakhann in St Petersburg.

Albino Reindeer

Not easy to capture on camera, a Brown Bear

Finland meets Russia

16 / 17th July

500 plus miles a day for three days finds WombatsKhan in Umea, North Sweden. We left Kangakhann this morning as they headed off to catch a ferry across the Baltic, we headed North toward Finland.

Last night we arrived at our pre booked B&B only to cut and run following a quick inspection of the accommodation, pretty bad to say the least, with a dark cellar (looked like fresh concrete in the floor, something recently buried, maybe) and suspect sheets and mold on most surfaces. Photo's on line must have been taken a 'few' decades ago. We decided to ask directions to a more suitable place at the local garage, only to discover the owner was related to the B&B operator in some way, and recommended the place we had just run away from. So we eventually found a camp site by a lake, and slept like the dead.

Morning after our first 'camp'

After waving off Kangakhann, team WombatsKhan then covered the 500 miles to Umea in North Sweden. We passed some glorious sights, huge pine forests, unending lakes and rolling green hills, but we saw no Elk, Bear or Blond Nordic.....

A good hotel bed for Wednesday night, before we venture into Finland. It's 11.20pm and daylight as we type this blog, but that won't stop us sleeeeeeping........

German Drivers

Started the morning in Holland then into Germany and onto our first Autobhan, OMG.......getting into the fast lane in a overloaded Micra with local traveling up behind you with lights on at over 200km/h made up for the lack of sleep the night before, heart rate into triple figures for most of the day. Eventually crossed border into Denmark and welcomed by some very considerate drivers. They even have smiley faces at road works to keep you occupied.

Long day on motorways, hot and a little boring, only broken up by many fuel stops and white knuckle moments.

500 miles (800kms) covered. Car still good. We still have sense of humour, and looking forward to another very long run tomorrow. We plan to split up from team Kangakhann tomorrow night, leaving them to take ferry to Estonia and us to head further north.

Did anyone know the Dutch and Danes charge for tap water?

German Servo

13 / 14th July

Made the drive up to the Start of the rally, some 300 miles from Devon, a hot long drive in a packed out Micra. A night at Bodiam Castle in East Sussex with medieval music and sword fighting, drinking mead and exploring the castle, before listening to Russian music and eating some dodgy burgers we hit the tent for the first time.

We are joined by Neil's son and girlfriend then later by his mum and step dad to wave us off. The rally starts with a medieval joust between two knights, one on a horse one on a car, it didn't end well. With much fanfare and blowing of horns we set off on our 10,000 mile adventure making the car train mid afternoon.and board the train.

An hour later we are into mainland Europe and we drive quickly through France and into Belgium, struggling with refuelling the cars at a self help pump, and finally arrive at our B&B just inside Holland, at an old converted farm house in Leissel. A welcome beer from our hosts, and a meal in the nearby town brings the day to a close. We are tired, happy and the car is running well.

The English 'Start', around 150 cars

Somebody had to dress up

First Night Stop in Holland

Nearly off!

Well with less than 24 hrs before we collect our registration to start the rally, the last minute mechanical parts are being fitted to the wombatskhan vehicle.

We have had a pretty intense week of preparation with Jo only leaving me for one day for a quick soirée into Wales!! The weather  has been unseasonably hot and we have suffered while working on the cars and practicing putting up the tent....we packed so many clothes for cold weather!!

We had some fairly extensive reinforcing for the cars done at Aldermans engineering in Plymouth ( photos attached), those guys were amazing working out in the heat.....yes Plymouth was having its hottest summer day! Their hard work ensured that we have some roll over protection, roof rack & bash plate which will hopefully see us arrive safely in Mongolia.  guys you are legends!!

We were also able to meet Graham from Motomotive who had very kindly not only sourced the teams cars but ensured all the necessary MOT work and paperwork was complete.  We were a little tempted to swap our cars for some of the beauties in his fore court, for some reason he wasn't so keen!!

We became radio stars for a very short 10 minutes for ABC radio in Perth, with Eoin Cameron interviewing us on the phone, all for a good cause for the PMH Foundation.
We set off in convoy with Kangakhann to Bodiam Castle in Sussex for the start on Saturday morning.

Many many thanks to Aldermans, Larry & Sue, Tanya & Will, and all that have fed and wined us...including the Barnes family!