Grand Prix Rejects

AndreaModa wrote:STAGE 8 PROGRESS MAP HERE: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zFThzrT7Zxec.koOxHIObCdYE

Unfortunately I'm missing routes for a few people - Andrew, Pasta and Pi are the three I can think of but there may be more.

Essentially what's happening is that there are three groups now in the race - those that went north of the Caspian Sea (Pasta, Andrew and SuperAguri) and then two groups who are heading south of the Caspian. There are those who spent longer in Europe collecting more countries and who now find themselves around the Caucasus, and the others up ahead in northern Iran.

Hard to say who's going to win this from here, up ahead are some tricky roads through the 'Stans and some bizarre border crossings, before everyone resets for the sprint across China. Surely nobody is going to try going through Pakistan and India? Right...?!

I sent my route to Shadaza, as I am unable to use Google Maps at the moment.

Leg 9

Start: Shahrud, Iran
Finish: Mary, Turkmenistan
Countries: 17 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-H, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan) Turkmenistan

Leg 9:

https://goo.gl/maps/3gWdH

Start Point: Kavkazskaya (Russia)
End Point: Autopapa Hotel, Rustavi, Georgia (Yeah! Next to Rustavi Motorsports Park! A proper Racetrack!!)
Time deployed: 9h 34m
COUNTRIES VISITED SO FAR: 27 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia)

Shadaza wrote:

AndreaModa wrote:STAGE 8 PROGRESS MAP HERE: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zFThzrT7Zxec.koOxHIObCdYE

You are a legend!

Wait till you see what I've been cooking up this afternoon, which isn't even remotely finished and features an eye-watering amount of garish colours!

Two more leg updates
Day 7
http://goo.gl/maps/7IYpp
Akpinar, Turkey > Aleppo, Syria
Time Taken - 9 hours and 55 minutes
Distance - 696 kilometres
Countries visted (17) - UK (Scotland, England), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria
Notes -

Day 8
http://goo.gl/maps/lXNKT
Aleppo, Syria > Arbil, Iraq
Time Taken - 9 hours and 27 minutes
Distance - 707 kilometres
Countries visted (18) - UK (Scotland, England), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq
Notes - Now is time to head to the finish

Leg 9
Start: Semnan, Iran
Finish: Neyshabur Guesthouse, Imam Khomeini St, Neyshabur, Iran
Countries visited: UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran
Distance travelled: 544km (total 7498km)
Time taken: 5h 15min (total 88h 13min)
Could only do up to 5h 55min cause went over the 10 hours on Leg 8

http://www.formularejects.com/imageupload/images/edinbeijing7.jpg

So, since I'm wayyyy out of the way in Israel, I figured I needed to pull something special on this leg to get me back somewhat in the race. After backtracking my way out of Israel, I charge back out of Syria, going the right way this time. And to get back in the race, what could be more fitting than a blast across the Iraqi desert - and indeed, across the entire nation of Iraq? I sidestepped Baghdad and a bunch of seemingly-random explosions, before ending my stint in Kangavar, near Kermanshah in Iran.

Leg 9
Start: Ashkelon, Israel
Finish: Kangavar, Iran
Countries visited: UK, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran

Considering it's not clear to me anymore who is on what leg (as some people still seem to be on leg 7 and 8) i wait with my leg 10 (but you people probably know, by my comments today, where i'm heading to anyway)

AndreaModa wrote:

Shadaza wrote:

AndreaModa wrote:STAGE 8 PROGRESS MAP HERE: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zFThzrT7Zxec.koOxHIObCdYE

You are a legend!

Wait till you see what I've been cooking up this afternoon, which isn't even remotely finished and features an eye-watering amount of garish colours!

Sounds great, if you could add me to the list of editors of the map, I can add in the details of the people who have emailed me their legs.

Right, we are now on LEG 10



Most of the leg is spent driving through the less than perfect roads of Turkmenistan before just crossing into Uzbekistan and thus taking the country count up to 22

Start: Ardabil
Finish: Babol

Countries Visited: (United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran)

LEG 10

Start: Hotel Sofitel Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Finish: Bukhara Palace, Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Countries Visited:20 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria Slovenia, Croatia Bosnia & Herzergovina, Serbia) Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey Syria, Iraq, iran Turkmenistan) Uzbekistan

Total Distance Travelled: 5213 Miles
Total Time Travelled: 98 Hours 11 Minutes

Happy to add you on as an editor Shadaza, what's your email address?

Stage 9 Update Here: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zFThzrT7Zxec.koOxHIObCdYE

So now things are fragmenting again a little bit, the Caucasus is pretty much done except for Aerond and TMLW, and the bulk of the race is being played out over northern Iran and Turkmenistan. Interestingly Klon, Shadaza and peteroli34 all opted for the capital, Ashgabat, whereas myself and RedEyes504 opted for Mary, giving us perhaps a slight advantage. Klon has a rest day on stage 10, so expect something big from him on stage 11.

Pasta though looks well in control up ahead, pretty much a full stage in front of those in Turkmenistan, perhaps more, despite taking a brief detour to add Kyrgyzstan to his list of countries. Once Andrew is added in though this may be put into context as he's held a slight advantage over Pasta for pretty much the whole race.

SuperAguri continues to trudge through the middle of absolute nowhere, and I assume at some point he'll swing south for Mongolia, but will everyone else have caught up by then? That's some slow progress on those back roads...

And as This pointed out earlier, there's a nice little battle developing between him and AustralianStig despite having taken different routes they've ended up with the same country count and are staying in the same city!

Leg 10
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Rasht ... !3e0?hl=en

Another frustrating day as we fail to clear Iran and are forced to end 40 minutes early again as the next town on (Neyshabur) is just out of reach meaning we had to settle for Sabzevar. Though we did get to cover nearly 1000km.

Route
Rasht, Iran
(IR)1-(IR)2
Tehran
(IR)44
Sabzevar, Iran

Time - 9hr 17min
Countries - 26 - (UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran)

My 10th leg:



Another country on the list (but not unique!).

List of countries now visited:

UK (Scotland, NI),
Eire,
France,
Belgium,
Luxembourg,
Germany,
Denmark,
Sweden,
Poland,
Lithuania
Latvia
just skimmed through Estonia
Russia
Kazakhstan

Total distance = 8046 km/4999.7 miles!

Right then, best get my leg 10 in too:

https://goo.gl/maps/LAaLx

So this time it was a simple blast across Turkmenistan, and into "assholes" Uzbekistan. The roads aren't actually that bad across the plains, though things will get interesting over the steppes further ahead. I was a little bit naughty with this one as I overshot by 31 minutes, but will be taking a rest day tomorrow and then ensuring I spend less than 19 hours 29 minutes on the road for stage 12 (which I do, as I've already calculated it!).

The main cause of the overshoot is the complete lack of hotels in the area, so it should definitely spice things up for everyone else! Hardest section of the race is this part I'd say.

Mary (Turkmenistan) - Elite Hotel Hotel, near Jizzakh (Uzbekistan) in 10 hours 31 minutes, a distance of 492 miles (Total: 5240 miles)
Countries visited so far: 20 - UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

So as I said, rest day for me tomorrow, then the pedal-to-the-metal blast to the Chinese border!

It seems the majority has caught up, so:

Leg 10:
As i stated before, you would already guessed what my route will be. Starting the day in Iran, and ending the day in Iran, having covered more than 1000km in one day. Slightly overtime, but it fits in perfectly with tomorrows stage. It does look like some people are now well and truly 2 days ahead, so i hope the country count will be enough to compensate. And meanwhile i just have to hope SuperAguri doesn't finish anytime soon. It's very likely my countrymen will continue doing exactly what i'm planning to do.



Start: Qazvin, Iran
Finish: Mashhad, Iran
Countries passed (24): UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbeidjan, Iran
Total distance covered: 8.437 km

Edit: a few questions about the rules.
-If for example drive 15 hours today, and then take a rest day, is it then allowed to drive 15 hours on the day there after?
-Is it allowed to deliberately sleep in a prison cell, if i can't find anything else?

Leg 10
Start: Neyshabur Guesthouse, Imam Khomeini St, Neyshabur, Iran
Finish: Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Countries visited: UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan
Distance travelled: 690km (total 8188km)
Time taken: 9h 12min (total 97h 25min)

Leg 10
Start: Goris, Armenia
Finish: Qazvin, Iran
Countries visited: GBR, IRL, FRA, BEL, NED, GER, LUX, SUI, LIE, AUT, ITA, SLO, CRO, BIH, MNE, ALB, KOS, MKD, GRE, TUR, GEO, ARM, AZE, IRN

http://www.formularejects.com/imageupload/images/edinbeijing8.jpg

After my mad dash through Syria and Iraq, it was a relatively quiet day for me, which I'll probably need, with Afghanistan looming in the distance. Thankfully, due to the fact that western Afghanistan is completely devoid of anywhere suitable to stay, and eastern Afghanistan is too far, I'll get another rest day before plunging into madness again.

Leg 10
Start: Kangavar, Iran
Finish: Sabzevar, Iran
Countries visited: UK, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran

LEG 10:

https://goo.gl/maps/xaSqF

START: Autopapa Hotel, Rustavi, Georgia
FINISH: Kadus Grand, Rasht, Iran
TIME DEPLOYED: 10h 18m
COUNTRIES VISITED SO FAR: 30 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Arzebaijan, Armenia, Iran)

Day 9
http://goo.gl/maps/KeChI
Arbil, Iraq > Qazvin, Iran
Time Taken - 9 hours and 51 minutes
Distance - 927 kilometres
Countries visted (19) - UK (Scotland, England), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran
Notes - Time to avoid Afghanistan[/quote]

Day 10
http://goo.gl/maps/ZdneM

Beerloga, Yemelyanovo, Russia > Ermak, Irkutskaya, Russia

Countries Travelled - (UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Kazazhstan) Russia
Time Taken 10h 7 (99h 10minutes to date)
Distance - 820km (8,410 km to date)

Leave the hotel after a night of beers and drive down the M53, pass Krasnoyark, Borodino, Kansk, lots and lots of forrest, izhneudinsk, Tulun before I get to the road that I can't drive down and walk into the village where my hotel is. That it one bendy road, no junctions to turn off at all....

SuperAguri continues to trudge through the middle of absolute nowhere, and I assume at some point he'll swing south for Mongolia, but will everyone else have caught up by then? That's some slow progress on those back roads...

It is but in 5 days from now I will be in Beijing. Everyone going through China via the Stans will take 7 (or at the very edge 6) days to trudge through China... so I am still going to be 4 days ahead of the 2nd place person. In fact some people may want to get a move on as they are going to be DSQ if they fail to reach beijing by day 22.

Rather than pushing on in the direction that This did (as we're only allowed to drive for 9 hrs 55 mins today) we're going to start heading north and skip some of the countries we were originally planning on visiting, just so we make it in time as the threat of a DQ seem pretty real right now. Perhaps we will meet again, Mr Belgian.

Leg 10:
Start: Grand Hotel, Qazvin, Iran
End: Negin Hotel, Bojnord, Iran
Countries: 24 - (UK, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran)

Leg 10

Start: Mary, Turkmenistan
Finish: Jizzakh, Uzbekistan
Countries: 17 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-H, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan) Uzbekistan



Made good progress today, as we added Uzbekistan to our growing country list, and plan to be at the Chinese border tomorrow. However, for the fist time in the race we just missed curfew so will have a shorter leg tomorrow.

Start: Babol
Finish: Ashgabat

Countries Visited: (United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran)

SuperAguri wrote:

SuperAguri continues to trudge through the middle of absolute nowhere, and I assume at some point he'll swing south for Mongolia, but will everyone else have caught up by then? That's some slow progress on those back roads...

It is but in 5 days from now I will be in Beijing. Everyone going through China via the Stans will take 7 (or at the very edge 6) days to trudge through China... so I am still going to be 4 days ahead of the 2nd place person. In fact some people may want to get a move on as they are going to be DSQ if they fail to reach beijing by day 22.

Wish I had followed you through Russia now... And I won't be DSQed: I will complete on day 22!

I am sorry I am losing track of legs, but my 11th leg is such:



Starting in Uzbekistan and ending in Uzbekistan! But I do nip through Tajikistan adding it to the list of countries visited. I end the leg in Kokand, Hotel Khan 3* (Most epic hotel name I have stopped at yet.)

Countries Visited: UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herz, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. 23 Countries.

Shadaza wrote:I am sorry I am losing track of legs, but my 11th leg is such:



Starting in Uzbekistan and ending in Uzbekistan! But I do nip through Tajikistan adding it to the list of countries visited. I end the leg in Kokand, Hotel Khan 3* (Most epic hotel name I have stopped at yet.)

I'm not sure anybody else has stated they have posted their day/leg 11 yet, but as I posted my 10th day/leg around 24 hours ago, I too shall now post my legs 11. And I think I am about a day and a half to two days behind Shadaza at the moment.



No new countries today.

Lost track of this a bit, so here's my Leg 9 and 10 in the same post.

Leg 9
Start: Hotel Borzog, Zanjan, Iran
Finish: Eram Hotel, Neyshabur, Iran
Countries visited: (UK, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria Iraq, Iran)
Route

Our third day in Iran, and basically just a 10 hour blast into the east of the country. We decided to aim towards Turkmenistan, on the basis that we'd had quite enough of active warzones for one trip!

Leg 10
Start: Eram Hotel, Neyshabur, Uran
Finish: Jeyhun Hotel, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Countries visited: (UK, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria Iraq, Iran), Turkmenistan
Route

Day four in Iran was destined to be the last, as we charted a route that would take us into Turkmenistan, and hopefully cross into Uzbekistan before the time limit for the day was reached. Sadly, the sat-nav told us that whilst we could cross into Uzbekistan before the limit, we wouldn't have anywhere to stay. So we ruefully stopped in the city of Turkmenabat, with an hour still to go, and within touching distance of the border. Oh well...

Shadaza wrote:I am sorry I am losing track of legs, but my 11th leg is such:

The vast majority of people that have just finished leg 10 while Me, Shadaza Dr-baker and Miquel98 have posted leg 11, while Hawkaussie is still yet to post his 10th leg, and a few seemed to stop several legs ago

LEG 11

Start: Bukhara Palace, Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Finish: Dangara Hotel Kokand,Uzbekistan
Countries Visited:21 (UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria Slovenia, Croatia Bosnia & Herzergovina, Serbia Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey Syria, Iraq, iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan) Tajikistan

Total Distance Travelled: 5681 Miles
Total Time Travelled: 107Hours 53 Minutes

Mine and Shadaza duel through Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Tajikstan continues, As we take the same route and end finishing in the same town a few miles apart for the third time in 3 days

I think we all should be on leg 11 now, but it's getting confusing...

So here it is:
When we woke up this morning, i ran straight to my car, and got out of Iran. Turkemenistan it is! And seriously, i have never seen such a boring country. Endless straight roads in the desert. I was happy when i reached the mighty Amu Darya river. Still stuck in Turkmenistan, so let's hope Uzebekistan can give a little more excitement tomorrow. Altough i did found a hotel named after a formula one corner, it's one of the least inspiring corners, so that seems a perfect fit. But in 2 days, i will see a hotel named after a significantly more inspiring formula one team!



Start: Mashhad, Iran
Finish: Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan
Countries passed (25): UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbeidjan, Iran, turkmenistan
Total distance covered: 9.064 km

This could be interesting. I think I am about to converge with some others on their journeys over the next day or two, for the first time since Edinburgh...

I'm still in this, just unable to post legs on my smartphone. Will catch up tomorrow.

Got onto a laptop now, so time to catch up:

Leg 9

Start: Sirvan Hotel & Spa, Samaxi, Azerbaijan
Finish: Hotel Shahr, Tehran, Iran
Countries: 24 - (UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Iran
Total distance covered so far: 7 157 kilometres


Leg 10
Start: Hotel Shahr, Tehran, Iran
Finish: Ghasre Talaee Royal Hotel, Mashhad, Iran
Countries: 24 - (UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran)
Total distance covered so far: 8 040 kilometres


We have to stop far earlier than our allowance, as going any further into the next reasonably-sized town would take us well above the limit.

Leg 11
Start: Ghasre Talaee Royal Hotel, Mashhad, Iran
Finish: Hotel Orom, Buxoro, Uzbekistan
Countries: 26 - (UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Total distance covered so far: 8 797 kilometres


Trying to take back some of the time we lost yesterday, we cross through the entire Turkmenistan to reach Uzbekistan as the day draws to a close.

Leg 11
Start: Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Finish: Kokand, Uzbekistan
Countries visited: UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Distance travelled: 801km (total 8989km)
Time taken: 10h 58min (total 108h 23min)
(Only allowed to do 9h 2min next leg)

Day 10
http://goo.gl/maps/wHxrp
Qazvin, Iran > Quchan, Iran
Time Taken - 10 hours and 28 minutes
Distance - 966 kilometres
Countries visted (19) - UK (Scotland, England), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran
Notes - At least I have a firm target to go to

Day 11
http://goo.gl/maps/3NRnt
Quchan, Iran > Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Time Taken - 9 hours and 9 minutes
Distance - 677 kilometres
Countries visted (20) - UK (Scotland, England), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan
Notes - I have finally catched up to the rest of the people.

Technically Leg 11 should have started about an hour before this post, so consider the next 24 hours time for leg 11, and then Thursday is leg 12. Does that make sense?

Also, SuperAguri, the link in your post for leg 10 points to your route for leg 9, if you have the one for leg 10 that would be magic!

And Shadaza, do you have any information on Andrew's leg 8? I have upto leg 7 for him, then his positions at the end of legs 9 and 10, so I have a gap across Kazakhstan that could use being filled!

Will update with a map of everyone's leg 10 progress tomorrow, and follow it up with leg 11's shortly afterwards. That is, if Shadaza doesn't beat me to it!

AndreaModa wrote:Technically Leg 11 should have started about an hour before this post, so consider the next 24 hours time for leg 11, and then Thursday is leg 12. Does that make sense?

I could have sworn this is the 12th day already. But considering the confusion, this is probably for the best.

Leg 11
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Sabze ... 3333?hl=en

Turkmenistan really is just a boring desert. We had to go overtime to reach Turkmenabat as there is absolutely nothing between there and Mary. Since we finished early on the last couple of days, this balances things out again.

Sabzevar, Iran
(IR)44-(IR)2
Mashad
(IR)22-(TM)M37
Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

Time 10hr 24min
Countries - 27 - (UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Turkmenistan)

Thomas De Bock wrote:Edinburgh-Beijing Challenge - day 11: Mashhad to "Odzhekent"

Today was a long day.

We rested the full day yesterday in order to make our planned arrival time in China while bagging one more country. Therefore, when leaving Mashhad at midnight, with twenty hours of driving ahead of us, we headed South East, towards Afghanistan on Highway 97. We reached the hellhole at about 3 am, and headed towards Herat.

Immediately afterwards, we turned back North towards Turkmenistan, scared to go any further into this eerie place. We soon crossed the border, and after a long drive through the desert, we reached the town of Mary at 9:30 am local time, nine hours into the trip taking into account Iran's weird time zone.

We then turned North East on the predictable route, into Uzbekistan, passing by Turkmenabat, Buxoro and the outskirts of Samarqand before turning East with about fifteen minutes remaining. We stopped a bit further East, after the town of Jizzakh in the remote Elite Hotel, in a town apparently called Odzhekent, even though the closest place could find was actually called Ulyanovo. We had seven minutes to spare. In two more days, we would reach the Chinese border.

Staying in the Elite Hotel, outskirts of Ulyanovo ("Odzhekent"), Uzbekistan.
Route details: Razavi Boulevard, Mashhad, Iran - Usuf Khos Ojib Street, "Odzhekent", Uzbekistan.
Countries visited: 21 (United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
Total distance covered: 9 042 km