Having driven the Mongol Rally, we simply couldn’t stop there, so Simon & Oliver (his mate who didn’t get to go on the Rally, but fancied a bit of the return leg) picked up the car in Paldiski, Estonia and drove it in snow ice and God knows what else back to London…
Final Thoughts
We are very proud to have completed the Rally, when we started we knew it would be difficult, sometimes challenging and we stuck together through the thick and thin for something quite unique.
Now looking back some 3-4 months and having driven the car from Estonia again I really must say I totally enjoyed my time and must send my heart felt thanks to Shaun who as co-driver in this escapade made it all the more enjoyable. It truly was a pleasure being with him on the rally, and no doubt we might be doing something similar very soon… As for Peter, sigh, the youngest official photographer on the Rally I’m sure, and being my nephew it was particularly special in being able to take him on such an adventure, and also see how much he grew into it, especially once we had left the European countries.
We all immersed ourselves into the challenge, and met some absolutely wonderful human beings along the way, and I mean truly wonderful people who would drop whatever they were doing and take you to the nearest mechanic, call up their friends to all chip in and help, it was a fantastic feeling to know that there were all these ‘Guardian Angels’ taking care of us along our route, in countries we knew little about and certainly have grown fonder of since.
We managed to achieve our main goal, that of delivering the kindly donated Arsenal shirts to Christina Noble’s Children’s Foundation Ger Village in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. All 35 shirts were delivered and the kids seemed very happy and hardly believed they were official Arsenal shirts, for which we had to confirm they really are!
So overall it was a splendid 2017 for me at least, the Mongol Rally being the highlight and something I will remember for the rest of my days, as well as bringing home the little car that helped us achieve so much. Thanks to everyone involved and it was a true pleasure to share it with so many people.
Simon
Mincing about in Switzerland… and oh no, don’t drink THAT water Peter!
Just a reminder, as some people seem to have got the impression this was some kind of ‘holiday’ or ‘jolly’, I advise you to read the below from the Adventurists, and remember during the rally there is NO SUPPORT from anyone officially involved in it’s organisation.
Warning
You may have guessed, but these are genuinely dangerous things to do.
The website is written in a light-hearted fashion but you cannot overestimate the risks involved in taking part in these adventures.
Your chances of being seriously injured or dying as a result of taking part are high. Individuals who have taken part in the past have been permanently disfigured, seriously disabled or lost their life.
These are not holidays. These are adventures and so by their very nature extremely risky.
You really are putting both your health and life at risk.
That’s the whole point.
Simon & Shaun start in London, then we went via Bradford through Nottingham, a quick stop over in Market Rasen. On the second day we drove up to meet Peter in Aberdeen and picked him up for a brief drive over to Inverness before letting him return back to his studies via train. We continued up into the North Coat 500, a special tourist route which takes you on a ring road around Scotland’s Highlands. We passed John O’ Groats and took the ferry over for a day trip in the Orkney Islands.
