Southern Siberia, Russia

Day 13 Southern Siberia, Russia.

24 hours ago we were being thrown about in the back of a Unimog, a massively high truck on monster wheels with a wooden box on top. Not long after leaving Khovd our gear box failed – disaster. It was not a repair that could be attempted and Adrian new that a new gear box was the only solution. It needed to be a specialist Model A type that would be impossible to find and the only solution would be to fly one out to Almaty, in Kazakhstan, our next stop of more than one night and somewhere with direct flights from London. We called our local agents to ask for a lorry; a very sad moment. Other cars were going past and, of course, all the Model A's stopped to see if they could help. After a while all sensibly left as there was nothing that they could do . We were told that the truck would take about 4-5 hours to reach us. After a while the very last rally sweep car passed and we were totally on our own in one of the most remote spots in the world. We had not seen a single habitation for hours and hours, just a few Bactrian camels sitting a little a way from us. Even they deserted us eventually. Still, we were not too down hearted; we had a beer, Adrian had a tin of sardines and I had some oatcakes and we waited, and waited. During all those hours not a single vehicle passed us, not a single Nomad with his flock was in view.

Eventually, the truck came and the Unimog for us. This had no seats in the back so we had to sit on the floor surrounded by bags of stuff, the two drivers were in the cab which is separate from the back. There was a nice boy in the back with us who was very smiley but spoke no English and so conversation was limited. It took 12 hours to get to camp. It was excruciating. We were tossed around battered as the vehicle went across rivers, rough tracks, up ills and down, into great craters etc. just the same tracks that we would have traversed if we had been in our car but all in a wooden box, without any seats, that only opened from the outside. It really felt like a cattle truck and being locked in was disconcerting. We eventually arrived at camp after 1.00 am, exhausted. It was -12C! We unrolled our sleeping bags in the tent kept all of our clothes on, added a few more and tried to get some sleep. It was unbelievably cold. After a couple of hours we gave up and went and sat in the kitchen tent where it was at least warmer from the gas stoves that were alight for the night crew who were preparing breakfast. Our water bottles had frozen, the river by the camp was frozen and just about everybody on this endurance rally was frozen. When you are that cold it is very hard to get warm. We were outside and it was miserable. We knew that we had to get to the border, about 10ks away, and then have a truck to take us to our night stop in Russia and then on to the Kazakhstan border. Then we would need another truck in Kazakhstan to take us directly to Almaty to, hopefully, fit the new gear box.

The new gear box; what to do? Adrian rang Belcher's, an old Ford specialist in East Anglia, who confirmed that they had one. Our first thought was that Henry could bring it out as he has not yet returned to University. He told us that he was going to Paris and so that left George. But, what about a visa? The embassy in London closed at 12 non yesterday and G was in Oxford, working so that was impossible. It s closed on Wednesdays. Which meant that the earliest he could go was tomorrow, Thursday. The quickest service takes three days and he would not be able to collect his visa until Monday. There is a flight that arrives on Tuesday morning but the rally is due to leave Almaty that day and so we would be behind. We tried another tack..Tracey, at Chiltern, was very helpful in finding a courier who would guarantee and this seemed perfect and so we settled on that.

We have since discovered that the customs officialdom is dreadful in Almaty and that there is a 5-14 day wait to get goods out and so we are back to plan a with George bringing them to s. He is going to the Embassy in London tomorrow to do hid best to get his passport back by Friday, if not he will arrive on Tuesday and we will do what we can.

After a frozen beginning to the day we continued to the border in the Unimag ad a more desolate place it is hard to conjure. Our car was unloaded from the lorry and some very kind Swiss competitors in a lovely Packard offered to tow us over the border where a Russian lorry would be waiting for us. This particular border between Mongolia and Russia is little used. It is in the extreme west of Mongolia, fiercely remote and with a population of about6, or so it seems. Any traffic between M and Russia uses the tarmacked road due North from UB. You can imagine how they coped with 120 vehicles and about 250 people. It as also at this time that Adrian discovered that all of our tools in the car had been stolen while it was on the lorry. It was a low point. We were also being warned that the truck drivers in Russia would hold us to ransom and it would be very costly to transport the car the1200kms to the border with Kazakhstan. We waited and waited and eventually after chaotic administrative procedures left Mongolia being towed by a lovely old Packard. Now, the no man's land between the two here is 20 km long. That's right, 20kms. About halfway we came to the Russian pre-border checkpoint and had various documents examined and poured over. We were almost there but already it changed as we had entered Russian Territory. The road wad immaculate tarmac, there were white lines, signposts, all seemed startling as aftermost 10 days in Mongolia with it's total lack of infrastructure, we were already conditioned. Another 10kms of being towed and we reached the main border and had a long wait again and much paperwork. It was at this point that Mattea, a charming Italian competitor, realised that he had lost his folder containing all his documents in it. E thought that maybe t was still in Mongolia, left behind in the chaos. We all seemed to be having our private hell. He was taken away in an army Jeep back toward Mongolia and, thankfully, it was found.

It took us about 5 hours to get through but for some teams the wait was 9 hours or more and so we were lucky, I suppose, although it didn't feel it when our poor little car was broken. It was a 700kms drive to the hotel as well, very difficult in such old cars and when we were all so tired after a freezing night and a long, oh so long, border crossing. We emerged into Southern Siberia to fairly chaotic scene. An Intourist representative came and told us a truck was ready and it would cost about $1700. Parked all together in a little car park were some lovely old cars with P to P stickers on and rally numbers. The men were all wearing P to P clothing, a little different to ours but with the exact logo and had support crew stickers on their cars.

They rushed over to us, pointed to a trailer attached to a VW minivan and said that5 they would take us to the hotel this evening and then on to the border tomorrow. The Intourist woman was getting impatient with us and went away and we were left with these smiling men offering to take us. We were slightly suspicious as we had been told by the organisation that Intourist were our agents here, in Russia. One of the chaps had very good English and we asked him how much they wanted expecting to be fleeced. He said that it would only be the petrol money and one smile. I found this hard to believe and said that the petrol money was not a problem but, one smile was as it would have to be many hundreds.

Still unsure we got out and found that all the man were desperate to show us their gorgeous cars and talk to us about ours and about the Rally. We discovered that they were the 'Siberian Old Timers' a classic car club of great enthusiasts that are hoping to compete in the 2013 P to P having already had a practise rally in Russia. They just love old cars and had travelled from a great distance to meet us and to offer assistance, mechanical or otherwise, to our group. Our day was seriously looking up. They have all been utterly wonderful. They made us coffee on their primus while we waited to load our car and proudly showed us their very unusual, to us, and beautifully restored cars .Off we set with Alex, a young man with excellent English, and Sergey, the driver. Alex and his Father are the leaders of the club. His Dad has 13 old cars and told us that he would love to have more but the import duty is very great and it is difficult to get around the regulations and standards necessary. All the club followed in a convoy stopping whenever we saw a rally car in difficulty to help. The minivan we are in has a very full collection of tools and they are all very knowledgeable.

We stopped on the way at a cafe that we would not even have noticed. It was wonderful; just a little wooden shack with two woman ,a few tables and a small kitchen. We asked Alex to order something delicious and local for us. We were served home made bread, a salad, borscht and a fantastic beef stew. All was really wonderful, just simple food beautifully cooked. All the chaps love talking about the cars, ours and theirs and it was a very jolly little supper. They wouldn't even let Adrian pay for it, such extraordinary kindness. As I type this ,in anticipation of an internet connection at the hotel tonight, I am sitting in the back of the van, in a very comfy seat and all feels well with the world. Adrian is in the front chatting about cars and the marvellous Alpine scenery is all around us. Lush valleys with crystal clear, glacier fed, milky blue rivers and all surrounded by a backdrop of snow covered mountains.

We still have about 300kms to go but contentment and gratitude at the simply wonderful generosity and kindness of a group of people who live thousands of miles away from us and that we will probably never see again has turned what started as a serious low point on the rally into a great high. I will never forget these 'Siberian Old Timer's' and sincerely hope that they fulfil their dream to enter the next P to P. Today started so  badly and now is ending so well thanks to our new friends who share a love of old cars and are being quite overwhelmingly helpful and altruistic towardsf a few vintage car lovers.

Postscript: We arrived at the hotel at 4.30 am to find that our rooms had been sold on by them and we were sent over to another building to find a room that Philip Young described as like a 'hostel in Lagos, Nigeria' He was being generous! More later