Day 6 - Clive and Ces are catching up time rapidly

´evening all

Your worst nightmares have been realised .... no, no ... Clive and Ces are fine .... but the GhostPostWriter is back ...

... and all because not a squeak has been heard today from our hardy pair of rallyists.    It´s already midnight in Mongolia, so we can assume that no blog update is going to arrive today.

But I can assure you all that no news is good news.    Clive and Ces are fine.   In fact, if my interpretation of the official reports is correct, Clive and Ces were 4th fastest in today´s Timed Stage. and 2nd fastest in their class.    Even better news is that they were faster than their nemisis in the identical Fangio Chevy.   The not-so-good news is that the fastest time was set by a 72-year-old Aussie driving a Holden!

So you would think that Clive would have been really eager to get an update to us.   And I´m sure that he was.   But he and Ces are staying in a Yurt tent tonight, so Wifi may not be one of the features of their accommodation!!

To give you a sense of the situation, may I quote Syd Stelvio who creates the official reports (I must ask Clive if Syd Stelvio is his real name ... especially since I´ve just come from the Stelvio Pass ... maybe Syd´s another ghost!!!) ...

Tonight, we are all in Yurts, the white round portable cabins made of thick layers of horsehair and cashmere carpeting which is wrapped around a basket-weave construction, we all have little log-stoves in the centre and a chimney with a generous hole in the roof.   As darkness falls across this vast open plain at Bayanuur, a chilly air is rolling down the hillsides that flank this remarkable valley, and most of us are digging out our sleeping bags for extra covering on the camp beds.


We have dined out on bowls of chicken stew, lamb stew, rice, chips, bean salad, and a choice of two soups for starters.   A lack of tables and chairs meant a crowded dining hall, with several crews sitting on the floor… the atmosphere is remarkably good humoured and rarely does any rally experience such a united sense of camaraderie as this.

To give you a sense of what a Yurt tent looks like ... it´s somewhere between these two ....

might look like this if you booked through a reliable agency

and this one ...

might look like this if you are on a DIY holiday

We all look forward to hearing the real story from Clive ... just as soon as he gets an enterprising Mongolian to weld up a sturdy internet connection.

On behalf of the C-couple.

PS:  The next rest day is only 6 days away.