After Meeting Sasha on a bus she gave me a call and made us into stars!!

23rd August Vadim and Dubrovsky set off in the morning to Russia with all our paperwork, straight to the Customs official in Russia. We felt if we knocked on the right door face to face we could get a straight answer, and we did. Originally there was a quote for $1/km in Russia and with a few thousand km to go…..No happening. The new quote is a deposit, roughly $2000 to get the vehicle in and export again with a refund one this is done. So now we wait and they will return to Russia once we get the OK.

22nd August Vadim and Debrovsky decided it was time for the team to relax, s he called up some friends and we drove the engines into the countryside. We stayed all day ate a Lamb soup, ‘freshly’ prepared from a boiling cauldron. After the apparently cultural dance lessons and many picture poses we packed up camp and drove back to the city.

21st August Monletsgolia and Genghis Goddess are reunited in Donetsk. The convoy is back!!!

20th August After a week the Monletsgolia admitted a small defeat (defiant to return) and turned back to Ukraine. My new team mate Vadim went with them to the next border crossing up but the previous border customs had contacted ahead and all the border crossings were expecting them. (‘You Shall Not PASS’).

18th August The Bristol Sand Club and Monletsgolia stayed on the border for five days and argued their case with the Customs Officials. but they just kept saying ‘Nyeit’!!! So five days after I left them all I was reunited with my Goddess and on the same day the BSC left for Moldova. But not before a bite to eat….

It was this very bite to eat which has brought me a new team!! We went to the big ‘M’ and in the car park drive through met Vadim and Dubrovsky. Vadim is extreme sports company owner in the Ukraine (Vertikal) and Dubrovsky is a very well known local TV cameraman.  They saw the engines and were sold. With them came a wealth of contacts and experience. Vadim’s father owns a mechanic workshop, so he had the vehicle looked over, the exhaust problem fixed and started to add some hot mods!

13th August Then my fortunes changed, I met a Mech Engineer form Germany who spoke Russian and English. In brief he adopted me and for the next five days we traveled around the south of Ukraine. The we got to Donetsk an industrial town and two days later the Bristol Sand Club called and told me they were bringing the vehicle back to me.I met a (beautiful) TV reporter called Sasha on the bus and she did a TV report on our adventure so far.

12th August $200 less in my pocket i was forcefully deported back to the Ukraine, No Team, No Vehicle. I sat on the roadside, and had my lowest moment. Just sat and cried. I have to say this rally had thrown all at me and their had to be a point where it just hit me and that was it. Felt good actually, just got back on my feet picked up my pack and got on a bus to the next big town.

12 August We Arrived in the evening at the UK/RU border crossing, and crossed into no-mans land with no problems. My (Jonathan’s) visa did not start until the 24th of August so I went through to ask the authorities whether he could pass. I was asked to stay until the morning to wait for the ‘Chef’ the Boss. He saw an opportunity and realized that technically I was in Russia (by 10 metres) and he could fine me for illegally entering the country.

10th August Before all this our mighty team was reduced further from three brave warriors to just one,  Jonathan. The route change and the risks involved with the visa situation forced our costs up. We intended to leave or Goddess with the other teams and fly to Kazakhstan. This for good reason proved too costly for Josh and he departed us I Odessa, he has been a great team mate and will be missed.

Edd’s departure was the hardest. We had basically put the whole trip together and been through all the messy preparations to get this far. More than this, you need someone with you who you can trust your life with. Edd is that man. The Monletsgolia and Bristol Sand guys (ad gal) are great but their is nothing like having your best friend with you, fighting all the battles together.

9th August The team crossed over from Romania via 1km of Moldova (which we paid $20 to cross!!). Then into Ukraine. Our Ukraine expedition has become somewhat of a epic final stand against the power of the Russian Customs Authority.

The BBC has done a report on our convoy’s progress at the Russian customs. Steve (from team Monletsgolia) was also interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland.

Check out the report and broadcast here.

This post is taken from MonLetsGolia’s Blog:

Some of the customs officials are saying we should not be here. Our main problem is Oleg Popov the senior official being obstructive.

Team Monletsgolia and the 2 green goddesses are still “trapped” behind the wire, a position where, a couple of days ago Fred, Bristol Sand Club, celebrated his birthday eating NATO food for birthday lunch!

So far big brother believes that the fire engines are some sort of special vehicles that need special letters.

Local UK MPs are now involved which means both Foreign Office and British Consulates are also involved. Problem with that is that neither work on a weekend. If things are not resolved by Monday it could put, at least one Green Goddess team out, due to visa dates being missed – the Bristol Sand club only have visas up to the 19th.

This delay also means re-routing in order to finish on time should customs finally get their act together.

BBCs ‘Good morning Scotland‘ will try to phone Steve sometime in the next 24 hours and do a live interview (no exact time)

Stay Tuned folks!

Here’re a few pictures of the journey over the past week….and quite a few pictures of our new friends—the Shark Subsea Services, Team MonLetGolia, and Team Bristol Sand Club.

All is going well folks…we’re still on the map and going strong!

We’ve crossed from Romania to Moldova, and then took 10hrs to move 10km through the border crossing and then into Ukraine. We very inconspicuously paid a €5 ‘bribe’ since a minor oil leak was considered unacceptable under the ‘Environment Act’….you blame us though—the roads here are like driving through a mine field!

The Ukraine, however, is GREAT—really friendly people and we’re driving into the night to reach Odessa as quickly as possible.

We’d also like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to the Shark Subsea Services in Romania for being so generous in letting us use their facilities and for putting us up in a gorgeous hotel for 4 days!!

“SHARK S.R.L. is a Romanian privately owned company founded in 1997 and located in Constantza Port, Romania. The company offers a wide range of services stretching from surface oriented diving to inspection and workclass ROV’s and offshore surveys.”

Outside of this, they are just a great bunch of people with a great attitude!

When we arrived in Costanza, Steve form MonLetsGolia managed to get some help from ‘Shark Subsea Services‘—an underwater marine service company—which specialises in ROV support for underwater operations. They let us use their facilities and were extremely accommodating all of our oil-covered ‘merry men’. We owe them a HUGE thank you. They also got in touch with the local press and managed to get us on Romanian national TV!!….check it out…

The guys of MonLetsGolia have been absolute stars, and have truly come to our rescue at our lowest point. We hope we can at some point return the favour as our convoy moves East. The Bristol Sand Club has also joined our amazing convoy and our troop is now well on it’s way on the road to Ulaanbataar. Now, this unbelievable turn of events really is the stuff of legend!

The radio’s have crackled and the signal was lost but do not despair. Genghis Goddess is on her way and running sweet.

Greetings from Romania

We thought that the hardest part would come after Europe but the adventure has already started. Following our epic brake down in Belgium minor roadside engine rebuild we have come along way.

Crossing into the Czech republic taking a well earned rest in Prague, we headed South to Slovakia and Hungary. This is where it all really began. We crossed the border and were hailed down by the police. They had one look at the Goddess and our Licenses and said ‘No’, its too big for you to drive. Some quick fire talking and humanitarian buzz words got us through that time.

Unfortunately it spooked the team and we had a deeper look at the HGV exemption as well as the general laws in countries like Iran. To our dismay the new law mentions that only person’s older than 23 can drive HGV, being a couple of years shy of that the entire Iran southern route was out, we had to go North.

The route divide was not the only one, the photographer’s on the trip felt that their careers would benefit from photo shoots in the Middle East more in Russia and Kazakhstan. So we parted was on the banks of the Danube in Budapest and headed for Costanza, while the others headed for turkey for their own adventure.

Down to three brave adventurists we made the call. We contacted another Mongol Rally team. The Monletsgolia, who have been with us for five days now. Our partnership has solved most our liscence issues as they have three HGV drivers who can help us through the more difficult countries. The ethos of the rally was refreshed as the teams pulled together to help each-other.

The second GG as you know has had issues on the Moldovan border and has decided to turn back and meet us here in Romania. In a few hours team all the Fire Engine teams will be united was  more and we shall convoy al l  the way to Mongolia. United we stand, united we roll!!!

VISA’s

The next issue is my visa’s, in two days our original team will be down to two and we cannot enter Russia for another two weeks. So an bare with me…The HGV driver’s from the Dennis engine will dive our GG across 500 miles f Russia from the Ukraine and we will fly from Istanbul to The Russia Kazakh border and rejoin our beloved Goddess. The  will give unforeseen risks and adventures, but we will never stop and well will get there.

So that is all for Romania we will be in touch soon,

Hello everyone!…from the Romanian border…

We’ve managed to convince the border control that our speed machine is under 3.5 tonnes (that alone deserves a champagne party when we return!); and we’ve teamed up with Team Monletsgolia—who are driving a fire engine!

We patched up our exhaust and have done some general maintenance on our Goddess. Also, we now have a proper in-fire-engine stereo system and rear-view camera (which we pieced together using an old webcam!). Damn we’re good!

European and Romanian flags flapping in the wind

After negotiating the windy and narrow coastal road from Goodwood to Dover, we approached the Channel Tunnel. Before we’d even got through the barrier we had our first problem…

Our new number plate which had been printed the day before was wrong! The print company had printed a “W” instead of a “V”, but in a moment of border control leniancy, the security officer said

“If you have Duck tape, get rid of it and dont let me see!”

We then squeezed our Goddess into the Channel Tunnel freight train and jumped onto the passenger train. The ride was over as soon as it started and we found ourselves in the maze of motorways that leave Calais for the whole of France. We made our way across northern France into Belgium, stopping overnight in Lille. Belgium, was where the real fun began!

We were travelling with the other Green Goddess team from Bristol—our convoy keeping a steady 35mph. As we approached the Belgium–Luxembourg border, our vehicle started to slow down…

The other team, frustrated with our slow progress, zoomed ahead of us. Then the worst happened—whilst grumbling up a large motorway hill the engine FAILED…no power…a complete stop. We were in the second lane (of four) with cars rushing by! Attempts to restart flattened the battery and we were left with only the crank to save us. Sadly this didn’t work; and Edd who drew the short straw, had to put on a hi-viz jacket and jump out and play Traffic Warden.

Whilst Edd tried his hardest to slow the traffic and direct them away, we reversed down the motorway at crawling pace…eventually pulling up to the side and to safety. All of us just had to stop and take a long slow breath…

You see, the events that led to this episode started almost three weeks before when Jon converted the engine to unleaded. Once the top half of the engine had been striped down, ensuring the holding bolts were properly tightened was the most important part. Annoyingly, we needed to run the engine for five hundred miles before we could do this, but when we tried to do this on the road side (i.e. fifty miles before the stall) it was a complete disaster! I mean honestly, where’re Clarkson, Hammond and May when you need them!

The task of taking apart and rebuilding the engine began with only a few hours of light left; it really pushed Edd and Jon’s ingenuity. After removing the exhaust manifold and fuel inlets we took apart the rocker arrangement and re-tightened the cylinder head—which for the non-nerds among us, is essentially a large block of metal on top of the engine—and then re-assembled the exhaust. Finally, we set about adjusting the engine cylinder timing to within a thousandth of an inch! Trust us when we say that this is bloody difficult even under ideal conditions!

Five hours, and a whole lot of swearing later we struck gold!…She started, she started like beauty! That loud rumbling was so sweet to hear, that Jon went weak at the legs and had to be propped up to avoid bodily injury. It wasn’t going to be that easy for the rally gods to bring us down! We were finally on our way again.

After a solid 22 hour drive, and much to everyone’s surprise, we successfully made it to the Czech Republic rally meet-up point (at 8.00pm). After the night’s partying we spent the next day making essential modifications—i.e. a much needed sound system, bunks and locks. It was then onwards to beautiful Prague, where Josh’s uncle kindly put us up for the night. Showered and shaved we felt refreshed and recharged; and so decided to stay another day to enjoy the city.

We set off for Budapest at 5.00am the next morning and so the journey continues…stay tuned folks till our next LIVE adventure update…team GG signing out!