That was much easier to ask than answer it turns out.
Anyway, lets give it a go;
The Who
Well there are two of us, Heather (me!) a 20 year old uni drop out from Scotland and Ross, a 20 something uni drop out from Scotland. If in doubt hes the grumpy one and i'm the one who rambles on, and together we are the Fools Without Fuel
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| See? Chatty and Grumpy |
No doubt over the course of the blog you will get to know us better as we moan about the price of visas and Carnets or heckle each other over our diabolical lack of mechanical skills. We will occasionally touch upon/vent about more personal issues, such as my struggle to manage my weight ahead of our trip, the tightrope walking involved with keeping parents both informed about, and happy with our plans. Or Ross's very recent struggles with his mental health and the challenges he has had to overcome to even be contemplating a trip like this, when less than a year ago he was a patient in a secure mental health ward.
The What
Ah, my favorite bit. I could honestly talk about this all day, but don't worry I shall contain myself.
The rough plan as it stands involves hammering, duct taping, bashing and super gluing our antique, rusty, wheezing and magnificent Honda C90's back to life by May, before catapulting them well over 10,000 miles from John O'Groats (the very tippy top of our native Scotland) to Mongolia, or somewhere near there at least. The road will hopefully lead us skipping through southern Europe down the East coast of the Mediterranean into Turkey, our Gateway to the East. From Turkey we will round the Caspian Sea via Georgia and Russia before heading back south to explore the Stans of Central Asia, traveling through some of the least visited countries on the planet,and driving within sight of one the most war torn countries in the world, Afghanistan while tackling the second highest road in the world the Pamir Highway ( all on tiny bikes that have a cruising speed of around 35mph!). From here if we have any moving parts left on our bikes we will continue through the vast open Steppe of Kazakhstan, far Eastern Russia and Mongolia. This route, on our bikes will take us at least 3 months to reach Mongolia; however I am not fooling myself and i`m anticipating it will take us somewhere in the region of 4 to 5 months, not including the time it will take for us to get home again.
Although we are mostly doing this escape from our 'real lives' we do want to give back and with your help can hopefully raise £2000 to be split between Macmillan Cancer Support and Parkinsons UK Links to Donate, Read more about our chosen Charities, the amazing work they do and why chose them Here
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| The Rough Route |
The Why
There are many possible answers to this question but I will try and keep it relatively simple and honest.
The pair of us, after months of watching fellow idiots in clapped out rust buckets thunder across the steppes of Central Asia, attempting to reach Mongolia in what was left of their cars- decided that life was too short to waste staring at the office wall contemplating suicide by stapler. And so we threw caution and common sense to the wind and decided to join them and so we signed up to the Mongol Rally emptied our bank accounts and bought our rusty steeds. This was a few months ago now and for reasons I have attempted to outline Here we have since parted ways with the Adventurist and the Mongol Rally.
The rally gave us the push we needed at the time to turn our fantasies and optimistic ramblings into a reality, but our story is just a cliche as everyone else who has ever attempted a big ridiculous adventure like this.
The recipe is simple:
1. Take one bored/unfulfilled/ depressed or restless individual as your base
(two works well if you can find another, but it is perfectly possible with one),
2. Add a dash of optimism and a strong sense of wanderlust
3. Cook this all together in a cauldron of deadlines and essays, mind numbing office work, stress and the reality of life in a secure mental health ward.
4. Leave to simmer, before long your individual should be steaming and ready to escape.
It is recommended at this stage to add a very healthy bank balance, extensive mechanical skills, a purpose built well and maintained vehicle, and a solid life plan to return too.
If none of these ingredients are available though simply substitute with dangerous levels of optimism and a large dollop of recklessness.
You are now ready to say F**k it to the world and head off on your own adventure,
See you on the road!
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