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Route details and maps
This is our official route map. In red the "official" route and in yellow our additions and shortcuts. The "blues" are our return variations ... if. Click on it to enlarge ... and spot Ducky:
Leg 1. = 3.600Km - Our first leg is Madrid - London, via the Le Mans circuit, about 1.900 Km of sheer luxury. On Saturday 30 July is the the Official Rally start from London. At around noon we set of from a pub (!@#) for a farewell tour around Picadilly, Trafalgar, White Hall, salute the Queen and Parlament square. Crowds and Media coverage galore, 3 TV crews will accompany us from there to document the expediton. Then over the Thames to Dover and on to the first checkpoint; Prague, some 1.700Km. On the way we'll also visit the historic circuit at Reims (and stock-up on some bubbly too) and go round the Ring at Nürberg.
Leg 2. = 2.500Km - From Prague the teams split in 3 different directions to Samarkande: via Istanbul, Kiev or like us via Moscow. We chose the "Northern" route out of sheer interest to visit the Eastern European and Baltic countries: Poland, Lituania, Latvia and Estonia - from there into Russia (possibly via St. Petersburg) and on to our 3d checkpoint, Moscow on the Red Square for some Borsch. On this leg roads should be getting a bit rougher, Russian authorities having their first go's at us .....
Leg 3. 3.800Km - From the Red Square we'll be heading south trough Penza, Samara and at Oral cross the border into Kazakhstan. There the first desert awaits our tackling! On the way we'll visit Baikanor Space Centre, carry on along dodgy roads and more deserts to the Border of Uzbekistan near Tashkent. We follow the Silk route down to our 4th checkpoint, Samarkande. Possibly (cross fingers) I can celebrate my birthday there, in style, deserved after biting a dusty trail.
Leg 4. = 4.000Km - Now for the next leg things get more uncertain. Due to political circumstances crossing Kyrgystan may not be possible - we'll have to judge on the spot! Almaty may be the alternative, on to Argoz and Semej where we cross the border into Russia, on to Barnaul and south into Mongolia at Tsanganuur, our 4th checkpoint ... been told there's nothing there though, which is rough when you're in need of a cold beer !
Leg 5. = 1.900Km(?) Having gotten this far however there will be joy, short lived no doubt because hereafter roads are virtually non existant, non indicated, nomad towns (Ghers) move about, no signs nor reliable maps, etc. Hence the blue curly wirlies on the official map!
 Gonna be fun but beautiful, follow the stars, the Ghegis Khan, the Yak! Via some archeological sites, Budhist monasteries, Ghers, yaks and some Gobi desert to get our destination the capital Ulan Bator, pfffff.
in black tie all night(s) long, cheerio to you for supporting us!
Total = 15.800Km (?!) From the destination China is just around the corner, we'll vist the Great Wall and Beijing. Xi'an is also on the "dream list" so is Lhasa and Hon-Kong to visit some dear friends. Probably none of this by car due to Chinese prohibitive burocracy. As for the return trip to London and Madrid ... ask us when we're at the finish, sobered-up from the party and counted remaining bribe money ...
Just got the maps from the "Tienda Verde" so as to do a more precise plan of routes, estimates for time and distance. Given the known ingredients and allowing for unkown surprises I reccon we'll need the better of 20-24 days, most of it non-stop where the authorities and other circumstances allow, to make up for snail power.
I'll update this page once we have more detailed guesstimates and tentative dates too.
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