Last Thursday I met a team of intrepid Brits who are driving from the westernmost point reachable by road in Europe – in the Dingle peninsula in the West of Ireland – to Magadan in the far East of Russia. They had just spent several days driving through Uzbekistan, having gone north from Ashgabat and come across the border near Khiva. They were going on to Shymkent in Kazakhstan the next morning. The full trip will cover almost 20,000 km and last two months, and is being done in three Vauxhall Vivaro vans – a new model, launched earlier this year and built in Britain. Although by the time I met them they had crossed all of Europe and half of Central Asia they will have some tough roads to travel in Mongolia and Siberia that will test the resilience of the vehicles and the team.
The purpose of the trip is to raise money for the charity, “Help for heroes”, which supports wounded British servicemen and women and their families. The team travelling overland to Magadan includes three British veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. All the team were enthusiastic about their experience of Uzbekistan, the friendliness of the people they had met and the wonders of the great Silk Road cities: their schedule doesn’t allow them much time to stop and sight-see but they made an exception for Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, which they loved. They were an impressive group and I wish them well in their continued journey.
You can find out more about the Vivaro Siberia Challenge and follow the team’s journey here