Pictures from the training weekend in Yorkshire

Charity Rallies (Charlie, Ryan & Sophie) organised a training weekend for us up near the Castle Howard Estate in Yorkshire towards the end of June. They'd arranged for Sam from the Royal Geographical Society - a man who had led numerous overland expeditions all over the world - to show us some basic hints and tips on surviving (and helping our vehicles survive) in the great outdoors.

It was a great opportunity to meet some of the other teams and learn some new skills - although we didn't do the more strenuous day's off road driving in Genghis as, minus sump guard, we didn't want to risk hitting a rock and having him die on us on the Yorkshire moors, before we even reached Dover. The fact that we didn't even know what a sump guard was until a week beforehand was irrelevant - now we knew what could break and how, we were determined to take steps to avoid it. We did, however, manage to try out our newly purchased pop up tent and folding chairs - part of a camping set promotion in Argos, who I believe (although am not 100% sure) kitted out both Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman for their "Long way round", and Roald Amundsen on his trip to the South Pole in 1910.

This was when things started getting properly real - we were able to share preparation tips, discuss lack of sponsorship and see the sort of roads we might encounter in Kazakhstan and beyond. We also got to know our fellow ralliers and the guys from the charity, and it was great to know we were doing it with, and for, such a lovely bunch of people. 

our pop up home for the trip gets its first trial run - Genghis watches on

Genghis lines up alongside Lost In Transit for the photo op

All Weasel No Beaver get a crash course in Ford Ranger maintenance

The view from Charlie's ex-army beast, on the Yorshire moors

Lost in Transit practice towing Darting All over the World out of a ditch

Sam & his Landy show us what real overlanding is all about

Thursday 17 Jun 2010 17:23

Van prep

by Tony Edgar of Steppe By Steppe

Alex washes the roof of the van

We took newly-monikered Ghengis (surname "Van", original I know) on the road for the first time last weekend, up to my sister's house in Gloucestershire to give it a scrub and get some advice on looking after it on the road.

We managed to get the majority of the clay that coated the inside off - a legacy of its previous incarnation working for Justyna's employer, Concept - with the help of two very willing assistants, Alex and Shannon. A huge thanks to them for all their amazing help - a future in car valeting awaits if the whole  'primary school' thing doesn't work out.

Shannon cleans the inside

On Sunday, we had a masterclass in rally car maintenance from local Legend, Mike. I don't have the words to describe how helpful he was - he looked the van over, gave us tips on what to check and fix before departure (installation of a sump guard and replacement cam belt being the two key points) and proceeded to teach us a litany of tricks to help on the road. Just a flavour: 

• protect the air filter in dusty conditions by stuffing the hose with foam
• detach the air hose and place it on top of the engine to be able to drive through water
• press the "big red button" to restart the engine if it cuts out after hitting a nasty pothole
• manually pump the diesel into the engine if you run out and air gets in to the system
• remember fuses, bulbs, and batteries for the key fob - without it the immobiliser will kick in

Chris and Mike fix the back door handle

I stared at him in slack-jawed awe, scribbling furiously onto a pad, and feel 1000 times more confident about the road ahead now. He was even decent enough to give us his mobile number should we get stuck in the wilds of Kazakhstan - fingers crossed we don't need to use it.

The evening ended with a demonstration from Mike and my brother-in-law Chris on puncture repair. We were planning on stocking up on multiple spare wheels but with the magic of darning kits and Oko I think we'll be just fine.

Huge thanks to Mike, Chris, Alex, Shannon, Cameron (for additional sponge-work) and Julie, for all the help and advice. If we make it past Kingston-upon-Thames, you can rest assured it's largely down to you. 

Genghis - the mightiest Kangoo in the West. Or the East, now.

Monday 03 May 2010 12:00

We can do it too! With...

by Tony Edgar of Steppe By Steppe

We have wheels! And a dashboard! And seats! And.....well, you get the picture...

We received official confirmation from Mongolia today that our vehicle has been approved! On July 10th, we will purr out of Highbury fields in a pretty dang sexy little white Renault Kangoo van. It's a veritable young pup of a thing - only emerging, blinking, into the world in late 2002 and currently almost as poorly-travelled as its occupants, with a mere 70,000 miles on the clock.

The journey from "souped-up Toyota Hilux Surf" to Kangoo as the wagon of choice for our journey was long, twisting and at times frankly preposterous - much like our eventual route from London to UB will no doubt prove to be. Following the rally meet up in November, we returned enthused and determined to do something huge for charity. Several glasses of Cava later, we'd nailed it: why not take a load of teaching supplies and name ourselves "Ulaan Book Tour" - and do it all in a mobile library?!

It quickly became apparent "why not". Mobile libraries are huge. They only have one seat. They weigh a ton. They cost a fortune. You probably need a special licence to drive one and the thought of trying to get it out of a pothole in the middle of the Gobi desert didn't exactly fill us with confidence.

So we kept planning and searching; licence restrictions meant Justyna could only drive a van up to a certain size, and once we were down to two in the team it was clear we'd need something we could manouevre, and conceivably push out of a sticky situation, between us. We also had to ensure we could meet the customs rules on tax exemption - which eventually led us to the perfect solution: a car derived van.

For those who aren't skilled tradesmen or small business owners, a car-derived van is one with the same front end as a car, but a van bit on the back. You probably could have worked that out yourself. Our theory, such as it goes, is that these things are meant for a bit of abuse by white van men up and down the country - if they can survive being revved around building sites and barged through non-existent gaps in city centre traffic, they can surely cope with a bit of corrugated desert track? Also, the space in the back could potentially provide enough room to curl up for a sleep should fear of the Mongolian Death Worm prove too much for us as we travel through the wilderness.

We've been really lucky to get the van we have, and I have to thank everyone involved in making it happen. Our focus was eBay and trying to fix up a 'spares or repair' Ford Escort or the like - to be presented with the opportunity to take such a mighty French steed is beyond our wildest expectations. We've not yet picked it up but the V5 is off to the DVLA and we're trying to sort insurance out.

Pics will, of course, follow once we can post them. Now, just got to sort some corporate sponsorship to give it that authentic "rally" look.