We have been calling ourselves a Mongol Rally team for a few months now, but there has always been something missing – constantly setting the table for three for the Peugeot 107 sized hole in our gingerbread family. Yesterday that all changed when we picked up our very own little car from SMA Vehicle Remarketing.

 

Just like Christmas we woke up early in the morning excited to get our presents, but only one of us would be able to drive the car home. I was worried this would be the cause of the first fight between us. Luckily Chris volunteered to drive us both to Livingstone. I’m of the opinion he had stage fright and was terrified he would stall the car in front of everyone at SMA. After a few photos and a tax disc we were ready to take to the open road, or more accurately the open car park. The first drive in was round the corner to drop Chris off at his car, then I hit the open road…

 

The drive home was my chance to bond with the car and form an alliance against Chris. It was an easy drive home attracting plenty of looks thanks to our slick decorations. Luckily I had Chris driving his car in convoy to keep everyone a safe distance from her. Upon arriving back at Chris’ house we set to work polishing the car for her rally stickers and first proper trip around the county. After an hour of wrestling with the sticky stickers, the finished result was wrinkly and squint… but then again I never claimed to be an expert sticker-er.    

 

We then went for our first team drive around East Lothian, visiting places that have helped us so far and photogenic spots – being careful not to mix the two up, there’s no use thanking a field for their help. It’s a good thing we have 10,000 miles ahead of us, as driving the car is going to take some getting used to - the peddles are tiny and close together, with a weirdly place lump so on various occasions we pushed on the carpet instead of the accelerator. The absolute best thing about the car is definitely the indicator; whoever was given that to design in the really put their heart and soul into it. It’s got just the right amount of resistance in the mechanism, with an equally satisfying indicator loss. If the indicator is the subject of conversation at the Peugeot 107 Owner’s Club, then I would seriously consider joining. Overall it’s a nice little car to drive, so we are very happy with it.

 

In equally fantastic news we have well and truly reached and exceeded our £1000 target for our charity fundraising. Since you can never have too much of a good thing, we are planning on driving all the way home. It would make sense if we applied same logic must apply to fundraising, we are therefore thinking about raising our target.   

 

Somehow this huge adventure has managed to sneak up on us, and now we only have three short weeks left to go before we set off east. It’s a good thing there is plenty left on the “To Do” list to keep us busy. All we need to do is: buy the three C’s of equipment (car, camping, and camera), learn how to fix the car, learn how to fix our injuries, and make the car rally ready. Of course we also need to figure out what items in our summer wardrobe would be most flattering in the desert, and name the car…