In our previous blog entry we mentioned that we were having ongoing discussions on our route, and which way we were to get to Australia. First of all we wavered over our plan to head through Russia. This was brought about by not really having much luck in finding stuff to do in Russia in between Moscow and St Petersburg. Also Jenny was starting to get the urge for some seaside, and Ollie pointed out that the first seaside they would see would be Iran, where Jenny would be dressed in a Burqa and hence wouldn't be able to top up her tan!

Well, Ollie has spent the last year running and cycling whilst listening to teach yourself Russian MP3s, and he wasn't going to allow all this to be wasted without a fight. So he asked a question on the ever reliable HUBB and the answer was a ready made itinerary! Obviously we will amend it to suit us, but this first crisis was averted. Ochin Hurrahshaw!

So our next dilemma was China. Should we really spend all the money and effort to get into China? After all we would be restricted by where we could go, having to declare our itinerary well in advance, and would have a guide with us 24/7. Also, because of our plan to enter China via the Karakarom Highway, and the fact that we have to meet our guide, China would be the one thing that would cause us to have a tight schedule. We would have to cross the KKH by October and would have to declare this in advance to book our guide. Well we were mulling this over when, in the space of 24 hours we got two pieces of news that made our minds up for us. Firstly our good friend, and Ollie's best man, Mark let us know that he is most likely going to move from China to India. Now this was big news, as one of our reasons for the route through to China was to visit Mark. Of course we always assumed that he may move, but this move was to somewhere else on the way!

Just after speaking with Mark, Ollie read a blog of some people who had just entered China recently, which he had been easily anticipating. The Nessie's who wrote the blog had a very refreshing honest approach to overlanding, and it was always going to be interesting what they made of China. Obviously one shouldn't necessarily base ones plans on a single blog entry, but this blog was still enough to be the final straw. Although their trip through China sounded great, the downsides seemed to out weigh the good. To make hiring the guide and the Chinese paperwork cheaper, they had shared a guide with other overlanders, but this brings its own problems. Read the blog for full details, but we are no longer China bound!

Perhaps China will remove some of the red tape in future, and if so we will dart in then. Otherwise we may fly out and do a quick months packing. Either way, China is not off the radar completely, and we hope to hit there at some point.

So, where does this leave us? India! that's were. So instead of going into China from Pakistan, we will go into India, and take as long as we feel like/can handle before shipping Dino to Thailand, or even possibly Australia. The plan is to drive as far as we are happy, ideally the whole way - but who knows how we will be feeling by India.

Joggle

So, the next Folly in our calendar is the John O'Groats - Land's End cycle ride/Dino drive. This will be our final charity event before we set off and Ollie is over a month into his training proper, leaving two more months to get himself into proper Lance Armstrong shape. And we not talking about removing testicles! The route is planned now, and works out about 75 miles a day, although the first day is only a gentle 62 miles, downhill all the way. So two weekends ago Ollie took part in the annual London to Brighton cycle ride, which is held in aid of the British Heart Foundation. Now, as regular followers of this blog will know, Ollie has entered a few runs before, but this was his first long distance, mass, cycle ride. Hmmm. Although Ollie can see the fun in the ride, for him, who has the New Forest as his doorstep, it was a bit of an anti-climax. The first two hours were in London traffic, and not just ordinary London traffic, but surrounded by literally thousands of cyclists. Ollie is still on the nursery slopes of cleated cycling, and found all the stop starting in close traffic challenging to say the least. And painful!

Ollie completed the ride in just over six hours, and a little under 3 falls. One of these falls involved a small domino effect, and apologies must go out to the wing men that suffered at Ollie's hands. Sorry!

Website

Although still pushed for time, especially Ollie now he is spending 10+ hours a week training for the JOGLE, we intend to create two new sections of the website in the near future. Firstly there will be a JOGLE section, which will have maps and the training plan that Ollie is following. This will also expand to cover a 'live' diary of the actual cycle. This will be our first real experiment with online blogging, so will be an interesting experiment.

Secondly we hope to add a Overland section, where we will discuss what we have learned so far in our journey into the overlanding life. This is a section that we hope to add lots to once we are on the road, but also we feel can can get a good start at now. Some of the subjects we want to cover are: GPS, cooking, maps, reading etc.

Dino

Finally, Dino has been a bit under the weather recently. Not only have we managed to drain his battery (d'oh!), but also his roof rack has broken in two places and we are considering our options. And then, on Friday he failed his MOT because a totally cracked exhaust. This has been fixed and he should be re-examined later this week. Hopefully the next blog will have Dino in good shape :)