London to Mongolia in a 1970 Morris Minor 1000 - Mongol Rally 2016

[RedXterra]

16 countries. 50 days. 10,000 miles.

Route:
Scotland -> England -> France -> Belgium -> Netherlands -> Germany -> Czech Republic -> Slovakia -> Hungary -> Romania -> Bulgaria -> Turkey -> Georgia -> Azerbaijan -> Kazakhstan -> Russia -> Mongolia -> Russia

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...-on-an-18-country-charity-road-trip-1-4179954

I'll do a more detailed write-up of the events later, here's some pictures for now.

Team Spicy Wanderlust!

Our £1,500 1970 Morris Minor 1000 nicknamed Leeloo.

We still needed to get some of the wiring sorted before we could leave for London.

USBs and a power inverter so we could charge phones and laptops while we were driving.

Leaving Scotland for the start of the Rally in London.
Notice the Northwest Overland sticker on the back pillar, thanks Dan!

The start party for Rally.

Notice the Subcompact Culture sticker on the back pillar, thanks Andy!

The official start of the 2016 Mongol Rally!

It's been a lifelong struggle but I'm learning how to smile in pictures.

Driving through France headed to the buddies house in Hilversum, right outside Amsterdam.

Couple days later we were in Prague.

Budapest! Instant Groove, my home away from home.

Paying for the road tax after crossing into Romania.

One of my all time favorite places, Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania.

Every time I go to Transylvania I fall in love a little more.

The Transfăgărășan. With four people and two full jerry cans we blew out both rear dampeners, overheated, and lost power just before the top.

Quick stop at Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle).

Headed to the Bulgarian border, overheating happened pretty regularly.

Breakfast.

Good morning Sunny Beach Bulgaria.

A couple adjustments.

 

[RedXterra]

After a sketchy border crossing involving a taxi driver fronting us cash so we could pay the border guards for Turkish car insurance and then him and his buddies escorting us to the next town so we could us an ATM to pay him, we made it into Turkey! Camped out at a gas station our first night.

Met up with some family friends and hung out at the beach for a couple days.

They introduced us to their local mechanic and we were able to get some maintenance done.

Bigger fan installed, definitely helped with our overheating issues.

Finally headed to Istanbul.

We made it!

Time to celebrate!

We entered two weeks after the attempted coup, so there were still demonstrations.

We all bought fresh underwear and socks.

There's a Defender under all that armor.

We made it to Asia! Crossing the bridge into eastern Istanbul.

Continuing our way East.

Sunrise in a hot air balloon over Cappadocia.

 

[RedXterra]

Spent a couple days waiting on parts to get delivered to the hotel, felt like christmas morning when they arrived.

Our last night in Turkey.

We finally made it to the Georgian border at 4:30 that afternoon, and then we waited.

And waited.

And 9 hours later we made it to the front and were able to cross int Georgia at 1:30am.

We got through Georgia quickly so we could get to Azerbajian to catch the ferry.

And then we spent another couple hours at the border.

Spent the night in Ganja before heading to Baku to catch the ferry to Kazakhstan.

It took a couple days but they finally let us on the ship. Next stop Kazakhstan.

To be continued after I get some homework done.

 

[RedXterra]

Place holder 3

 

[RedXterra]

Place holder 4

 

[seehuusen]

Wow, awesome!!

 

[krick3tt]

Great write up with photos. Good friends to spend so much time in that tiny vehicle and come back alive. ...applause here...

 

[mkitchen]

Great seeing a Morris in use. I also see that they have not changed much since my 59 and 61. I do like the idea of having an alternator though.
Mikey

 

[Christian P.]

Totally awesome. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[DixieChickens]

Love your photos. We did the Mongol Rally in 2013 in our American school bus and then drove it on to Vladivostok and over to Japan, wrapping up our circumnavigation the next summer through Canada and the US from Seattle. Great fun!
And my husband did the rally again in 2014 in a Skoda with some buddies. It's addictive!
If you want to bring the Morris along, we are doing South America in the school bus in 2019.


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