4 June — the report from Day 18.
From today we go out into the remoter parts of Kazakhstan, with two nights of camping ahead.
Today’s distance: 800 kilometres.
No petrol? Into the back country, and an emergency refuelling operation
But there is one problem. Where we are going has, naturally, no petrol stations at all —back country.
A 1929 car that does two or three kilometres to the litre.
How to secure fuel for two days is the biggest question.
The only answer is to carry it.
So from the morning we drove round the town looking for jerry cans.
But this is not a town either, so where would we find them?
Impatient to get it done before the competitive start, we found few shops open — and we badly wanted to avoid losing time to distance.
Once again, no shared language, and once again I simply spoke to local people.
Asking for help through the translation app, we were told about two petrol stations.
Anxious about both distance and time, we set off — and found they were not far from the start at all. Cans acquired, just like that. Another god descending?
Lunch is cherries — a good hour on a rough road
Lunch during a rally is mostly whateverfruityou can find locally.
Since we eat while moving over rough ground, cherries — easy to eat — are my current favourite.
You can pop them straight into your mouth, which makes them ideal on the move.
There is also something like a plum, and once the flesh is gone, spitting the stone out of the window has become a small game.
↑ Watching it, perhaps you can feel like you are driving with us.
Pitching the tent is second nature now — and the first proper shower in a while
Today we reached the campsite safely, in daylight.
Pitching the tent, awkward at first, has got quicker with every repetition, and is second nature now.
And today, a shower in the desert.
Even from a temporary shower, with the air this hot, the water ran reliably warm, which was lovely.
I could wash my hair for the first time in ages, and felt clean.
Clean — until you step outside, and the desert sand comes straight back on the wind and clings to you.
I did not bring cleanser or serum or sun cream the way I would use them at home, so it is just an all-in-one cream, dabbed on.
Sunburn? Skincare? I will think about that when I get back.
Sake all round — smiles and friendship in a foreign country
In the evening the crews around usbrought drink over and a partybegan.
So I handed round the Japanese sake I had brought from home. Everyone was delighted; there were mock-drunken gestures and no end of laughing.
I only wish I had brought more.
To keep the weight down I had brought just two small casks, and one had gone as a present to the workshop that looked after us in China, so there was one left.Even so, sharing a little with everyone was the right thing to do.
And then, thinking, in front of the sunset
Among the organisers of this rally there is a young Russian calledArtyom.
We talked about all sorts of things through the translation app while killing time during the Chinese licence process. Ever since, he has looked out for us and helped us.
I had brought an English version of the newspaper article about the cancer behind this dream, and when I gave it to Artyom to read, he cried and promised we would make the dream happen together. That was two weeks ago now.
Today too Artyom asked if I was all right, and we sat on top of the car and watcheda beautiful sunsettogether. Even without a shared language, a smile and simple closeness carry it. It was special, and moving in a way I cannot quite name.
Dreaming again inside a challenge at its limit
There are people on this rally I have met again here.
Everyone comes to this challenge carrying their own history.
With the friends I have safely met again on Peking to Paris.
The Sahara Challenge, our warm-up,brought me friends who drove with me then, and plenty of them never got to take on Peking to Paris.
We too were driven into corners where we had to ask whether we must give this up — more times than I can count. And still, going on chasing the dream and refusing to quit is why I am standing on the stage of that dream now, looking at the landscape I wanted to see.
Watching the sun go down, thinking back over the difficulties and the days of coming through them, I am proud of the person standing here.
In closing
Day eighteen ended quietly with the light, and safely.
A new problem in refuelling out in the back country, reunions with friends, and thoughts about the people met in a foreign country — an evening of looking back, slowly, over the days so far.
The rally goes on, and I am looking forward to the adventures and the experiences still to come.
Do keep cheering us on.
Look forward to the next report.
Continued in Day 19 …