Simple - we are members of the 'Squires MCC' and we are going on Safari!
After seeing the Mongol Rally website, we talked about how much fun it would be and the type of car we could take and one Saturday afternoon on one of our pub crawls, after ‘quite a few’ drinks we decided to go for the 2005 rally.
We watched Ebay for suitable cars and decided on a 2CV, We bought the car for the pricely sum of £20 and we named him Marvin!. It turned out his condition wasn't THAT bad but he would need some body work done and needed welding.
Neil couldn’t spare any time to go to college to learn welding and Jan suddenly found herself volunteering (or should that be – being volunteered) for a welding course.
She enrolled at the local college – bought the safety gear. (Neil encouraged her by telling her she would look 'really cute' in overalls, safety boots, gauntlets and welding helmet) and looked forward (?) to her first week.
She was soon put at ease when she was asked why she wanted to weld - don't suppose many women turn up to a welding course because they are about to drive almost 10,000 miles to Mongolia in a car that cost just £20. It's certainly an ice-breaker! A few months later she gained her city and guilds in welding.
Despite having ridden motorbikes and driven plastic pigs for thirty years or so Neil had never got round to getting a licence to drive a (proper) four wheel car! So 3 months before the launch of the 2005 rally he booked himself on a 'drive in a week' course which consisted of 16 hours tuition followed by the dreaded test after which he emerged the proud owner of a full uk driving licence!
Unfortunatley Marvin died when they reached Kazakhstan which was very disappointing and is why they are determined to make it all the way to Mongolia this year!
