Bottom Gear

I've uploaded a few photos taken during Mongol Rally 2007 to www.locr.com

locr also adds maps to the photos so that you can where on Earth the photo was taken.

The gallery is here... http://www.locr.com/map-album-mongol-rally-2007-5295


Regards,
Matt

Just a little something I made this morning.
Matt

Belgian Wind Turbines. 21st July, 2007.


First meal break. Carrefour Car Park, Brussels, Belgium. 21st July, 2007.

The mighty African adventure
Massive, ridiculously hot, covered in deserts and some of the wildest jungles in the world, vast stretches that roads just don't reach; Africa calls the Adventurist like a siren in the night. Come hither and do thyself a mischief, she says.

So really we only had one solution, for the Adventurists Rally to make the turn south and head into the fray in search of the sort of moments to tell our grandchildren about over and over again until they fear coming to visit us in our old people's home. Each year will see a new destination but it will take about the same length of time, around 3 – 4 weeks.www.africarally.theadventurists.com







Ruta del Sol
The Ruta Del Sol is our first foray into the wilds of Latin America. Thousands and thousands of miles of proper hardcore Jungles and rainforest, the Andes, awful roads, complete absence of roads, tropical weather and lest we forget, the carnival. Along with raising sacks of cash for awesome charities it's a heady combination I think you'll agree.

As always the route is what we call loosely defined, but this time we start in Ecuador and end up in Rio de Janeiro, errrr later. Head north and get kidnapped in Columbia, tackle the virtually impossible task of driving straight through Brazil or get lost and die of altitude sickness in the Andes by heading south, the choices are many. What better way to traverse the continent but in the iconic vehicle of the region, a knackered VW Beetle. So there it is, the South American gauntlet… on the floor… waiting for you.
www.ruta.theadventurists.com

I'll upload one or two every couple of days, just so that friend lists don't get swamped.
Matt

The Mighty Micra. Hyde Park, London. 21st July 2007.

Mongol Rally 2007. Hyde Park, London. 21st July 2007.

Our Nissan Micra was auctioned off in Mongolia, and I've just found out that it was sold for 900,000 Mongolian Togrogs.

Or, about £375.

The money from the sale of the car has gone into the coffers of Mercy Corps, and will be used by them to fund their projects in Mongolia.


Matt

They were white t-shirts. Until Kazakhstan wanted its share of blood, sweat and tears.
Three days without tarmac, forty degrees celsius, a cracked gearbox sump, and about four hours sleep.



The car got a bit dirty too...


... but we had Mother Russia pushing us all the way from Volgograd.


More later...
Matt

We arrived in Ulan Baatar at 8pm on Monday night.

We were delayed because the border is only open 9-1 and 2-6 monday to friday, and although we were let in just before nine it took nearly 8 hours to get all the paperwork done because we were importing a car but not paying the tax for it.

I've had no mobile access since I arrived in UB hence no updates, but we're both very well and the car was perfect, and we're now very eager to get home.

I'm typing this in Seoul Airport as the first flight out was on Korean Airlines. 2:30 hours from UB to Seoul, a 9 hour wait and soon we'll start our 11:30 hour flight direct to Heathrow, arriving at 16:55 BST, so we should be home by 10pm Wednesday.

We'll get some pictures and videos uploaded over the next few days so you can share in some of the sights we've seen.

Until then, take care, and put the kettle on :)

“We arrived at the Mongolian border at ten o'clock tonight, it's now about eleven o'clock. We arrived to find a few cars waiting and found the whole compound locked shut, then had a look through the book and found out that it's only open Monday to Friday from nine til one, and then again from two til six. So we're sat here waiting until nine o'clock tomorrow morning. So at least we're safe and sound... So, um, it could be worse. Hopefully this time tomorrow we'll be in Ulaanbaatar in a very nice hotel or possibly a very seedy bar, either is good. We'll let you know when we get there. Until then, take care.”

Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>chrispynoodle

“This evening we're staying in the hotel Krasnoyarsk, in the beautiful town of Krasnoyarsk, which has a lovely river which you can see from our window. We've got a very expensive hotel tonight, at, I think it was 35000 roubles which is about seventy quid for the both of us, so that's not so bad. Beautiful view as I say, nice room. We've been driving for 3 days since we last slept in a bed so we're looking forward to that, and had showers. During that time we've been held by police for 3 hours for not having the transit documents for the car. I was threatened with 5 years imprisonment... 5 months imprisonment, but we managed to renegotiate down to a $200 fine which is often the case around here apparently. We then got to the border without the documents and surprisingly it wasn't an issue there, so there we go, but it did take us 5 hours to get through the border and into Russia but it so nice to be out of Kazakhstan. Tomorrow we're gonna head off and do another all nighter and drive down to Irkutsk and stay there for a night. So that would be, Saturday night we'll be there. So, I hopefully that that means Sunday we'll be entering Mongolia and be in Ulaanbaatar Sunday night just in time for a proper Sunday tea. Which I'll let you know when we get there. See you soon.”
Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>chrispynoodle

“We're half way between Atyrau and Aktobe. We're actually about 2/3 of the way now. Had a really bad day on the road yesterday, about 15 miles an hour average speed, through some pot holes that were deeper than the bumper of the car, and across. We gave up on the road at various points and went off road along a dirt track that the trucks use. It's been a really bad day, today is going a little bit better. Although at the end of yesterday we did have a little mishap and knocked the car but Matt's managed to bodge something together, and it seems to be holding. So we're gonna carry on. What we are gonna do is try and get out of Russia... out of Kazakhstan as soon as we possibly can, back into Russia where there are decent roads. So we're gonna carry on and see how far we get. If you want, don't forget to check mongolrally.com, if you go there and click on the link on the left for... on the road, you'll be taken to a map with markers on it, where all the teams are. Hopefully you'll find us on there, with all our text messages, so you'll know what we've been up to. Until then, we'll see you again.

http://mongolrally.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=team&sub=display&name=BottomGear”

Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>chrispynoodle

We've arrived in Kiev and it's very very warm.

We've found an Internet cafe so Matt can try to sort his phone out, and we thought we'd update you a little.

It's good to see the voice posts are going well. Thanks to those that have transcribed them for us. Much appreciated :)

The car's running reasonably well, it's using a bit of oil and we've just had to use cable ties to reattach the exhaust but other than that it's sweet.

We stayed in ah otel last night and were charged $55 for a twin room which was about 20 feet by 20 feet and had a shower, which is the best thing since sliced bread :)

“We're stuck in a cafe in Prague, it's 9:20 in the UK, 10:20 here. We've just arrived in Prague, we've managed to get some... bizarre currency at the cash point and found the only cafe that's open on a Sunday morning and we've sat here drinking the sickest coffee known to man and trying to stay awake. We've both had about three or four hours sleep since we got up yesterday at seven o'clock and we're feeling... not as flash as we could be. We're now gonna head East towards Poland, hopefully making the border today perhaps, we'll find out, and then trying to find somewhere to stop for the night, get a hot meal and get our heads down for a few hours. When we do that we'll update you again. Until then take care.”

Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>rorted

“It's just gone 7:00 back in the UK. It's gone 8:00 here in Brussels where we are. We are stood in a Carrefour car park. We've just had a very urgent meal of noodles, cooked in this very car park because the whole of Europe shuts from Sat afternoon till probably Mon morning. So we're going to be living off noodles for the next day or so. Matt has written this side of road on his right hand, just to remind him that when he takes over driving now, he's gonna have to drive on the wrong side of the road, I'll be trying to do the same but will see we get on. We're going to head on down towards Prague now. We're not sure where the route but it will sort itself out & hopefully we'll be in Prague by morning I guess & then heading on into whereever's East of Prague. We'll found out when we get there. At some point over the next couple of days, we'll do another message, until then, we'll see you soon.” 

Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>peterb

“This is Team Bottom Gear(?). We're sat in Hyde Park in the sunshine, waiting for the off, probably about 2 hrs to go. Our journey down to London was 7 hrs long. We set of at 3:00 & try 4 or 5 different routes. Eventually managed to get through the huge amounts of flooding including driving through floods, above the height of our wheels & we got down here for 10:00 just in time for a quick pint. All we have got to do now, is sit & wait & then we will be off, so I will let you know when we get across the channel”

Transcribed by: </a></font></b></a>chrispynoodle

I've just been interviewed by Smooth FM.

It was a bit scary as I've never been interviewed for the radio before!

As the interview went on I could feel the nervousness becoming apparent in my voice. If they do choose to use any of the interview, I'm sure they'll edit out the worst bits!

Matt

We'd just like to say a big thankyou to Ian at SixHits.com for championing our efforts and publishing an interview with us.

SixHits have a page on their website dedicated to BottomGear, if you'd like to go and have a look its at http://www.sixhits.com/interviews/bottomgear.php

While you're there, take the chance to listen to their broadcasts online by clicking the "Listen Live" box on their homepage.


Matt & Hayden

I had two emails of the Mongol Rally organisers this morning.

The first was telling us that they hadn't received our team agreement, which is basically our contract, so could we bring it along on Saturday. I did ask them about this a few weeks ago as I couldn't remember sending it off, so I don't feel guilty about leaving it until the last minute.

The second email was them confirming that they've got our passports with all the visa's we need and we can collect them off them on Saturday morning.

So it looks like we're going to do it.

3 days to go :D :D :D :D :D

FM

On Saturday we found another spare wheel, a spare spare wheel if you like, in a scrapyard for a couple of quid!

The Micra then had a visit to KwikFit for 3 new tyres. They cost a bit more than a couple of quid, and have made a big difference to how the car handles in the wet. Its not as skittish and is now less likely to understeer around slippery roundabouts. Hopefully we won't have to push the rubber to its limits too often, but if it stops us sliding into the front of a lorry in the middle of Siberia, then that's plenty good enough for me!

We've fitted the spare battery and a solar panel so that we have 12v electricity without the need to drain the main battery. We've also made sure that the fuel cans, spares, and tools all fit in the car neatly. We now have a petrol powered hurricane lamp to complement our petrol powered cooking stoves, and they're all working just fine.

Once we had the car loaded up we took it for a quick drive around Draycote Water. There is lots of space to drive around offroad and the car drove fine. We just have to remember to keep the car travelling less than 15mph over the really bouncy stuff, otherwise we'll lose the exhaust.

Our success is in the hands of the Nissan engineers of 20 years ago!

Matt