12^th August, Cagaannuur – Olgi

We headed on towards Hovd, only a few hundred kilometres away. Unfortunately Jonno and I were in the lead. Armed with only our A4 Google map, we were really just following our noses. At Cagaannuur we made the mistake of taking the more distinct track and going straight on towards Uureg. It was quite fun really. Crossing our first patch of bog, followed by a steep bank, we were confident, ready for some more tough stuff. The road was becoming more rocky and winding as we progressed up the valley.

We approached an encampment of ghurs sited by the small river where horses were roaming around and grazing. To our surprise, some of the homes had satellite dishes. A group of children came running up to the road, which was dug into the slope part way up the steep valley side. When we didn’t stop they threw stones. One young boy came brandishing a sharp looking knife and charged down the road after us. It was alarming to see a child armed like this. Only around eight or ten years old he was hopelessly trying to hijack us for ‘choco-latte’.

Soon after this encounter we stopped to let the others catch up. Jim pointed out that perhaps we had gone the wrong way. When we checked Rupert’s highly unsporting GPS, it was clear we had taken the road which was closed because of an epidemic of plague or Black Death. By the time we had retraced our steps back to Cagaannuur we had lost several hours but were happy with the experience it had afforded us.

Back on track we headed on towards Olgi or ‘ugly’ as Jim nicknamed it. Owing to the Transsyberian Rally there was no high grade petrol available and the power to the pumps was down, eventually, we got some 70% grade and moved on. We had been recommended a Turkish restaurant by a tour guide we had met at the border. Quite unexpectedly, Ram and Hywel of team ‘Nissan2do’ had beaten us there. We had last seen them disappear down a Kazakh highway, abandoning us after helping us ruin our car. They were treating a woman and her child whom they had met at the market. We exchanged some pleasantries before taking our own table.

Ordering food was quite fun, despite the picture menu, the waitress managed to get it completely wrong. Admittedly I had taken the rare opportunity to choose a vegetarian option which was bound to cause some confusion. After taking the order, the waitress took some cans from the fridge to show me. I took this as an invitation to take one for the road and having plenty of food in the car, I declined. So when everyone’s food came out except mine and unaccountably Jim’s, we reordered. I was fairly quickly presented with a microwaved aubergine stuffed with rice. On account of it taking longer to cook a shaslik than to microwave the contents of a can, we decided not to raise an objection to the absence of Jim’s meal. Jim was still waiting by the time everyone had finished eating but he was ready to give up. We insisted on asking again whilst Jonno left to look for a mechanic to beat our wheels true.

He found a garage which had been washing the Transsyberian Rally cars and several of the teams were still there. They were very impressed with what we were doing – joking it was easy for them with all their support vehicles and camp comforts. Before speaking to the drivers Jonno had felt a real dislike towards the rival rally but he softened to their formidable but unreliable vehicles and gained some respect for the drivers. One team was from Japan, another from Germany. Apparently the Transsyberian Rally teams were dealers or drivers whom Porsche had invited to compete. With an entrance fee of around €500,000 they got to keep the cars.

While Rupert got a new inner tube in his faulty rim, Jonno was talking to the owner of the garage, incredibly also the proud owner of a Citroën 2CV. He must have weighed at least twenty stone and with the yielding 2CV suspension, he probably drove at a permanent 20° pitch. To our surprise he managed to get a new rim for us. So we had two spares again.

Although it was getting late in the afternoon we decided to press on. The climb out of Olgi was quite severe. On an incredibly sharp, steep turn ‘Team Moon Unit Alpha’ came to a stop on loose gravel. Reluctantly we all had to stop too, losing our momentum. There was to be no getting the vehicles going again either. We resigned ourselves to taking off the huge load ‘Team Moon Unit Alpha’ were carrying and cart it up by hand. With three jerry cans and four spare wheels hand-delivered up the slope we got the Fiesta clear. Rupert kicked Jim out and gave him a couple of jerry cans to carry and they were through. I was still carrying ‘Team Clouseau’s’ spare wheel up the slope when Jonno screamed past in first gear, going at about 20mph and apparently thinking he was about to stall. With all the cars on the top we were out of breath and exhausted by the high altitude, after-dinner exertion.

To celebrate we lined the cars up together at the top for a photo shoot. Nearby there was a cairn like pile of stones and broken vodka bottles, known to the Mongolians as Ovoo. Piled around it was an unusually high density of discarded crutches. I jokingly suggested the idea of collecting them for our campfire given the cold of the previous night. However, on balance, we decided not to remove them as we guessed they might be reused and were simply being stored there for both communal use and to keep omens of misfortune away from the home.

We drove on as far as we could and stopped for the night. It was high time for a vodka. Rupert pulled out his shot glasses with flashing light bottoms but even the novelty glasses could not compensate for the lack of a fire and our unfamiliarity and we didn’t stay up for too long.

Rising/Falling – Always Hoping -can be bought online at Amazon.co.uk, - ordered by your local bookshop for just £8.74 (the price the team’s car was auctioned for at the end of the rally) Just note the ISBN:9780956196613 - or bought direct from the suppliers @ £10.99 (£8.74 plus £2.25 p&p) Address Cheques to Craig Chamberlain, Glovers Cottage, Lazonby, Penrith, CA10 1AJ