As I have mentioned before, this year the route is almost completely different because we cannot go through Russia, and because of border crossing logisitics, we are not even going through Mongolia.

This year we go through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, San Marino and in to France.

Each year the route has changed a little bit but not a huge amount. For example, the feedback from the 2016 rally was there was too much Russia, the days and experienced just blended into one, and the roads are not great, add in the large Russian trucks and drivers who like vodka and the safety was a concern. In fact, one couple lost their lives in an accident with a truck.

In 2019 the route was changed, we when through to Mongolia, then up into Russia, back down into the top of Kazakhstan and then back up into Russia to St Petersburg where we crossed into Finland and then down through Europe to Paris. Much of the rally was familiar to competitors who had done the rally before. This as you can imagine does give them a competitive advantage, especially with navigation and the time trials on the race tracks we do along the way.

Each day we travel between 250 and 650 kilometres. The longer days are usually motorway days. We will get this information when we get our route books. The longer, high mileage days require a bit of mental determination to get through, especially if it is boring motorway, and sometimes it’s hundreds of miles of wheat fields. AB and I usually have things to talk about, but the car is not quiet to drive along in, and there is only so much loud talking you can do. So we have a sound track, which gives us a break and from time to time AB might take over the driving.

This time we spend two weeks traversing China to the Kazakhstan border at Horgos, then a week going across the bottom to Aktau where we cross the Caspian Sea to Baku in Azerbaijan. The logistics for planning the route are very complex. Not only do they have to find the route and find enough interesting and safe options, we need hotel accommodation and food for 76 crews (152 people) – crews occupy a room together, and all the support staff which I imagine is at least 30. This does mean that we are stopping most nights in cities rather than smaller interesting towns. And then there are the camping nights! On top of all this, border crossings that can cope with close to 100 cars in a single day, getting our cars across the Caspian and Adriatic seas, knowing where there are mechanic shops to help, having fixer teams to support with language and local knowledge. And the latest one, our Chinese driver licences issue – more on that later.

Every where you turn, the rally organisers have had to twist and turn, negotiate and bargain. Fingers crossed it will all go to plan.

We have 7 nights camping, which was very enjoyable last time. This year we are pleased to hear they have managed to secure the services on the same Mongolian company to set the camps up last time. We have rented a tent, this was an option for 50 teams and it was first come, first served, so we were up and on my computer the minute the option was put online so we could secure one. We had issues logging on and just about missed out! It’s not the end of the world, but it if you don’t rent one, you have to set up your tent at the end of the day, and it’s just one more thing to do. We have to carry a tent with us just in case we find ourselves lost, broken down or some other issue which means we have to camp somewhere unexpected.

In each place there are usually a few interesting things to do. I have done some research for most of our stops. This means if we have time after arriving in, sorting the car and ensuring we are ready for the next day, I am hoping we will get to see some of the sights. We managed this last time, but only by breaking away from the rally and not doing many of the time trials. This time Eleanor is better set up with steering and gearing so we should be able to do the trials more easily, so I suspect my dream of seeing a lot along the way might remain a dream. But at least I’m prepared.

We have a number of “Rest” days. They are more actually called “Non-drive” days. Usually you are catching up on car maintenance, washing clothes, catching up on sleep and preparing for the next leg. However, I do hope that we can at least get some sightseeing in. We managed this a few of the rest days. While you have a car, you can’t really traipse around these places in them because they are likely in a mechanic workshop. If there is serious work that needs doing, you have to stay around to help with decisions along the way.

We have rest days in Dunhuang - China, Almaty - Kazakhstan, Baku - Azerbaijan (though this will be complicated by the movement of the vehicles across the Caspian Sea), and Istanbul. My birthday is on the night we travel from Aktau to Baku, so hopefully we will get a chance to celebrate the next night in Baku. In 2019 the rally started two weeks later and so we were in a desert camp for my birthday and poor AB had a terrible dose of flu and a nasty cough that lasted several days.

So below is a list of all the places we will be stopping at for the night. It will give you a sense of where we are going. 

Prep days in Beijing        14th – 17th including car collection, driver licences, scrutineering and last minute shopping for oil and other goods that could not be carried in the car.

Day 1 18 May Rally Starts at 7.30am Great Wall of China to Datong 460kms

Day 2 19 May Datong to Hohhot 350kms

Day 3 20 May Hohhot to Ordos 345kms

Day 4 21 May Ordos to Camp 1 - Olan Bulag 530kms

Day 5 22 May Camp 1 to Camp 2 – Tengger Desert 440kms

Day 6 23 May Camp 2 to Jiayuguan 685kms

Day 7 24 May Jaiyuguan to Dunhuang 480kms

Day 8 25 May Dunhuang Rest day – actually better called a Non-drive day

Day 9 26 May Dunhuang to Camp 3 – Gobi 395kms

Day 10 27 May Camp 3 to Camp 4 – Great Sea Road 340kms

Day 11 28 May Camp 4 to Ürümqi 540kms

Day 12 29 May Ürümqi to Camp 5 – Forest Park 450kms

Day 13 30 May Camp 5 to Horgos 350kms

Day 14 31 May Horgos border crossing to Almaty, Kazakhstan 380kms

Day 15 1 June Almaty rest day

Day 16 2 June Almaty to Shymkent 755km

Day 17 3 June Shymkent to Kyzyloda 510km

Day 18 4 June Kysylorda to Camp 6 – Akespe 630km

Day 19 5 June Camp 6 to Camp 7 – Beyneu 415km

Day 20 6 June Camp 7 to Aktau 530km

Day 21 7 June Aktau to Baku

Day 22 8 June Baku non drive day

Day 23 9 June Baku non drive day – we are getting the cars across the Caspian 70km

Day 24 10 June Baku to Qakh 510km

Day 25 11 June Qakh to Tblisi 315km

Day 26 12 June Tblisi to Erzumum 600km

Day 27 13 June Erzumum to Sivas 505km

Day 28 14 June Sivas to Ankara 525km

Day 29 15 June Ankara to Istanbul 480km

Day 30 16 June Istanbul Rest day

Day 31 17 June Istanbul to Thessaloniki 680km

Day 32 18 June Thessaloniki to Igoumenista Ferry Overnight 455km

Day 33 19 June Igoumenista ferry to San Marino 120km

Day 34 20 June San Marino to Genova 490km

Day 35 21 June Genova to Aix-les-Bains 500km

Day 36 22 June Aix-les-Bains to Dijon 285km

Day 37 23 June Dijon to Paris 320km

© Charlotte Lockhart 2024. All rights reserved.