MBBR- The Mongol Rally and beyond

Chilly Reunion

2005-11-21T11:56:00.000Z

Just got back from the reunion on Saturday night in a barn near Chichester. It was great to see everyone who made it but understandably tough to look back at all the images and reminisce about last summer through rose-tinted (or thick barbecue smoke-tinted) specs.
An excellent jazz band kept things lively, and a feast of a barbecue fuelled us against the cold. Outside it was a crisp -4 but inside the barn it was a balmy zero degrees, mainly thanks to a jet engine gas heater and the barbecue.

Some people were already gearing up for next year and quite a few people had come along for a few pointers. I got a lift back to Oxford from Sergei who might do it next summer. The best bit about that was that we zipped back to Oxford through thick fog on empty roads in his super-trusty F reg Panda 4x4, ah the memories!

Reunite, Remember and Recite

2005-10-26T23:50:00.000+01:00

Hello all, this is a bit of a randon post because this blog basically no longer serves a purpose, what with there not being a rally on any more and both of us being totally engrossed in our daily lives once again.

However, I'm really looking forward to the reunion on the 19th nov when we'll get to meet all the other ralliers (many of whom I've never met as our paths never crossed on the trip) Secondly, there's a very cheesy piece I wrote on the rally at career-break cafe - a new online resource for career breakers. have a peek here

I'd also like to say a massive thankyou to all those that helped with advice, money and support before and during the rally, together you totalled over £2000.

Time to get back to work.

Surprise!

2005-09-04T18:10:00.000+01:00

Hello all from London! We ended up jumping straight onto the plane (a very dodgy Russian Tupolev) because the train would have been cutting it a bit too fine for getting back in time and going via China looked expensive. It's very odd to be back - only five days ago I was staring at a Gobi sunset and toasting the locals with vodka shots... The trip finished with a really nice meal in UB with the Mongol Mini and Tom and Jenny who, like us left yesterday to drive back to Britain.

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon and catching up properly, I'm afraid we didn't even have time to catch the post in UB to send the postcards so they're going to have to be hand-delivered.

We have arrived in Ulaan Bataar

2005-09-01T09:48:00.000+01:00

Bad hair day in Altay
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

Time of Death: 30/08/05 18:27 GMT+8

Final mileage: 8202 Imperial miles

Cause: Drowning and multiple massive impacts to engine precipitated by lack of suspension, functioning engine or tyres and generous offer of a lift to nearest town (Bayankhongor) in a functioning jeep – well stocked with Chinggis vodka and flowery paper cups (Thank you Saints & Scholars and Mongolia or Bust)

Nothing and nobody can prepare you for the amazing lack of roads in this vast country, or the incredible quantities of mutton and noodle stew. 7500 miles makes you cocky, and over the last month we became increasingly convinced that our Panda was not in fact a small, cheap and weedy Fix It Again Tomorrow, but an indestructable extension of our hands, feet and bums; a growling monster of a machine that would live forever.

Theoretically we could have had her fixed, the rims banged out yet again, the tyres resealed with inner tubes, the oil changed, new springs on the back and the camshaft bearing replaced, but as we were being towed behind a very luckily timed jeep, MBBR fm (88.5) shuffled and fell upon Yesterday by the Beatles, and so it looked as though MBBR's troubles were indeed here to stay... Better let go there and then and see some of Mongolia the sensible way like everybody else.

An 18 hour minivan ride with 18 people now has us in Ulaan Bataar which is very very odd. We just had a hot shower, ate a full English breakfast and some nice patisserie with black tea - without salt in it. There are plenty of other teams still here and it has become clear that our problems are far from over, flights are booked up as are the trains, there is talk of being smuggled into China in buses, trekking to Beijing surviving only on bamboo (not Pandas) and sneaking into the hold of a plane bound for Europe... Help!

More soon.

Update: 25th August

2005-08-25T23:08:00.000+01:00

Into MONGOLIA! All good, amazing amazing amazing, but where's the road?

Update: 22nd August

2005-08-22T16:27:00.000+01:00

150 km from russian border nr old nuke testing site at Semey. Just seen our first forest for weeks!

Over the Top

2005-08-21T06:46:00.000+01:00

Tien Shan
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

Almaty. We had been wondering why no other teams were heading through the Fergana valley - Then we got there, all the borders totally chaotic, closed; we wasted a day finding the only one open to foreigners. On the plus side the local people really looked after us, putting us up for a free B&B on two occasions.

Into Kyrgyzstan, Mini had engine issues which lost some time but a local mechanic had a 5 minute fiddle and we were motoring past yurt camps over the Tien Shan to Biskek. We had a freewheel race down the other side and beat Mini by 3km, but pushing the car at 3000 metres was our first exercise for a month so we took a holiday at Kyrgystan's equvalent of Butlins at crystal clear Issyk-Kul (Is he cool?). Amazing views of the mountains all round.

The exhaust was welded back together and it's time to get a move on, but will the police agree?

Update: Saturday 20th

2005-08-20T10:50:00.000+01:00

On a sandy beach in kyrgyzstan, cool clear water and glaciers behind us. Wonderful! Try to make finish in a week.

Update: 19th August

2005-08-19T17:09:00.000+01:00

Yet again mini broke... Lost a whole day.... Having a super supper in Bishkek,crossed tien shan,kyrgyzstan rocks, exhaust fixed in 13m.Ace!

Look, proof - still healthy?!.*!

2005-08-14T19:35:00.000+01:00

Look, proof - still healthy?!.*!
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

Blackbox FM going out live now to a 50m zone in Uzbekistan. Big shout out to the Mongol mini and Rolling Johnstones, and any other locals who happen to be tuned to 88.5 MBBR FM Txt in ur requests now. "don't touch dat dial"

Samarkhand. Sorry for the HUGE DELAY in posting to the site, Russia, Kazakhstan and now Uzbekistan don't seem to have many internet cafe's. We crossed Russia to Volgograd then headed down the Volga to Astrakan, into Kazakhstan and over the top of the Caspian to Atyrau (nasty) Then down the west side of the Aral and into the desert into Uzbekistan - 40 degree heat, only compensated for by an excellent night sky and shooting stars. Then into the absurdly irrigated valleys of Uzbekistan and the vast swathes of cotton growing in a desert thanks to some idiot in soviet Russia 40 years ago...

News!: Just before the Russian border, Mini snapped a rear suspension bolt and after a 6 hour bodge we then had another 6 hour wait to get into Russia because a spotty oik wouldn't take dollars for insurance (you can't pay in rubles since it's illegal to take them into the counrty and there was no exchange on the border at 4am)

Russia - Vodka plying, shashik munching bunch of lunatics. Enough said.

Police - Insist on driving our cars drunk and point out that sunroofs are great for machine gun turrets but otherwise no real problems (having said that Luke got "done" for speeding today as we screeched past a radar gun at 110kph in a 70 zone at 7am this morning, the guy was severly hungover (actaully still drunk) and hadn't seen us coming, claimed we were doing 73 and took a packet of Marlboroughs to nullify those 3kph)

Uzbekistan much nicer than the bit of Kaz that we saw which was a flat dust plain of nothingness with the odd booming oil town that offered nothing unless you had a suitcase of dollars from a western oil company (very odd, only middle aged Brits "on business")

Going to crack on to Kyrgyzstan, can't wait for some mountain air. Love to all - Click on the picture to see all our other ones on the photo site.

Sam and Luke

ps. next big post may not be till Mongolia, will keep texting. xxxx

Outside Kiev

2005-08-04T13:45:00.000+01:00

OUtside Kiev
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

All is well, Kiev is full of Huge Porsche Jeeps when only 20 miles out it's still very much old Ladas and Horses and Carts. Car running well so we're going to push onto Russia.

Have no idea how far we are compared to everyone, We're roughly with Mongol Mini but they're catching us up after having to wait for their V5 in Krakow.

Love to all.

1:En Route live from Checkpoint high tea

2005-08-01T17:09:00.000+01:00

Rally Massive
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

Got off to a great start getting onto an earlier ferry...then got a puncture in Belgium. Luke's all nighter on Saturday began to show as he totalled an unimpressive 1 hour behind the wheel yesterday (Sunday) leaving me with a more respectful 9 hours to get to Nurnberg. Camped in Erlangen.

Glad to be off the Autobahns where we were very much confined to the slow and boring lane. Luke managed only to graffiti the parking lots with MBBR stencils between naps.

PRAGUE! Lovely (girls) "I will marry here" - Luke Cardew 01.08.05

Tomorrow its off to Krakow - Keep an eye on our txt updates at www.mongolrally.co.uk/txtdisplay.php

and have a look at all the other photos on our picture site by clicking on the one here.

Ps. kkrrrrr & kkkwwwwww were very helpful.(See photo of Margit from Casa Leone)

2005-07-30T01:25:00.000+01:00

Erm....Greetings all from the sendoff party. Tomorrow is the big day, everyone thinks we're mad and if I'm honest so do we.

Luke hasn't packed and it's already 2am

He's been making mean cosmopolitan cocktails all night.

The car looks fantastic.

If you're at Hyde Park tomorrow morning see you there. X Sam

Watch this space!

The Allans enjoying some Black Box accessories!

2005-07-22T23:55:00.000+01:00

Thanks you both for a great stay in Falmouth

So far so good

2005-07-18T16:28:00.000+01:00

So far so good
Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

The car sporting its new custom-made roofrack that Danny made for us yesterday. Also, many thanks to Danny's dad for his donation of two 1951 gerry cans for spare petrol.

A Smaller family in our T's

2005-07-16T16:04:00.000+01:00

Originally uploaded by myblackboxrocks.

So we don't have the Nieces and Nephews yet. Big deal ;-)

NEWS UPDATE. I went to see Franco from Ricambio this morning and he has donated some spares and passed on a wealth of Panda knowledge to us. Including such things as timing belt tensioners, rubber coil spring assisters, relays, cold start sensors, air filters and ignition coils.... No idea, but it sounds good.

The Cardew family dressed in T's

2005-07-16T01:30:00.000+01:00

Big thanks to the Browns crew

2005-07-15T13:57:00.000+01:00

The Browns crew wrapped up in My black box rocks t-shirts.....and around Nick's little finger! Thank you, Tris, Peter, Linda, Clodagh, Nick, Jayne, Paul, Heather and Sara.

Testing our Gallery

2005-07-13T12:58:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone,

I'm just testing whether you'll be able to keep track of our trip by visiting an online gallery, here's a link to one from my trip to the Pyrenees last week In theory we can link galleries from the blog or you can keep track directly by visiting:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myblackboxrocks

The only catch is going to be getting a fast enough interwebby connection to upload them along the way; well that's not the only catch...things like keeping the car running and getting across roadblocks count as well I guess. Oh and in case you think I'm just playing on the internet at the moment, there have been other developments. Despite the minor setback of the Kazakh embassy being closed on wednesdays, I've got a nice guy from Fiat's main UK spare parts importer Ricambio to help out with our ailing Panda this weekend for free. We'll be adorning Black Box with his stickers in return.

Fiat National Day!

2005-07-12T21:06:00.000+01:00

Erm... The colourful bunch at Fiat Owners Club GB hosted this little gem of an event a couple of weeks back. It was meant to be a good 'sponsorship opportunity' to sell t-shirts and such but since it was a scorcher Luke decided a waterfight was needed. Imagine the horror of of our fanatical fiat owning onlookers as they watched us battle it out around their spotless cars...The only Panda at the show left early - but we sold lots of t-shirts.

Never met you in my life...

2005-07-12T19:00:00.000+01:00

T-shirt sales are going very well. Get a photo of you wearing your t-shirt on our blog, just email us the images and we will post them. See a few here.

Heffer gets snapped wearing our Tee!

2005-07-12T00:08:00.000+01:00

About the Charities

2005-07-11T20:35:00.000+01:00

(Taken from the rally website)

SEND A COW
In East Africa 85 per cent of the people depend on small-scale farming to survive. Land is often scarce and native cows give only 1-2 litres of milk per day. Send a Cow provides families with a cross-bred cow whose milk yield is very high - up to 14 litres a day. Livestock provided by Send a Cow provide a lasting solution for desperately poor farmers in Africa, enabling them to combat malnutrition with protein-rich milk and earn an income from the sale of the surplus milk. Manure from cows and other livestock can also double and even treble milk yields, making a real difference to families dependent on tiny plots of exhausted soil for their living. They use their animals' manure to fertilise their small plots of often exhausted soil - many now harvest three or four times more than they used to. Families are able to improve their diets with milk, eggs, meat and honey, and sell the surplus to bring in desperately needed income. Many families invest some of this money in other money-earning ventures, such as more land and livestock or a small shop. Most use it to keep their children in school.

SAVE THE CHILDREN
A third of Mongolian children live in poverty, exacerbated by the country's harsh winters. The first two years of this century have seen some of the harshest winters on record following on from very dry summers – over two million livestock died, farming was devastated and homeless people's lives were threatened. To find out more about how Save the Children is working to alleviate child poverty and hardship in Mongolia follow this link

Buy a T-Shirt for Charity

2005-07-11T20:21:00.000+01:00

If you want one put £12 (plus £2 to cover postage if you're not in London) onto the sponsorship site and drop us an email with postal details, colour (Army Green, Yellow or Grey) and size preference. I'm afraid we're all out of Pink...

Welcome

2005-07-11T18:58:00.000+01:00

Over the next 3 months this blog will follow me and Luke as we head off to Mongolia on the Mongol Rally. With the ink on Luke's driving licence still drying we're setting off on an 8 000 mile dash across ¼ of the earth's surface in a car that most people consider underpowered for doing the shopping. We have no entourage of support vehicles, there is no carefully marked course, there are no professional drivers and no fast cars, or even good cars.

The start date is the 30th July but the adventure is well under way. At the moment we're both scraping together sposorship, sorting the car out and adventuring into the world of former soviet republic embassies in search of offical approval.
For no particular reason we settled on My Black Box Rocks for our team name and have so far printed off 100 t-shirts with our team logo on to be sold at grossly hiked up prices for charity - excellent.