28 May — the report from Day 11.
Today we press on through the dry country around Ürümqi, on China’s Silk Road.
An early start, plenty of testing to be ready for the competitive section, and on to the stage itself.
Dancing with excitement at the view (video)
On and on through dry country — nowhere near the road this city is famous for, “the most beautiful road in China”.
We left the main road and went out into the dry country where there is no road at all.
Ruts that make you ask whether anything can get across them, and water standing in the hollows turned to clinging mud that wrapped itself around the car without mercy.
It felt as though the car itself were being swallowed by mud.
Less getting stuck in sand than dropping into these great troughs — we saw a car that had rolled over.
The crew of a car that is always cheerful, digging with a shovel to get it out.
It is a story to laugh at only because nobody was hurt.
Covered in mud ourselves, we somehow got through the competitive section.
Day 11 was driven in a kind of trance, and when we stopped for breath at a petrol station and got out to see the car plastered in mud — the medal of that fight — we were amazed and proud at once.
This one is on video too.
At the hotel there was no time to rest: we went straight to a car wash to thank the poor mud-caked thing. Part of me was sorry to lose the mud, proof of the fight — but seeing the car clean again set me up for the next one.
Continued in Day 12 …