TWO friends from Tavistock are currently experiencing what life has to offer on ‘one of the greatest motoring adventures on the planet’ and have compiled an update especially for the Times readers.

Chloe Brockington, 27, and Joe Goode, 35, set off on July 19 and are attempting to travel through approximately 20 countries and thundering across 10,000 miles of desert through Europe and Asia in a small, second hand vehicle completely on their own with no back up, no support and no set route.

Joe writes:

Week one: So our adventure began on a very sunny Sunday morning at Goodwood; all the entrants converged to start the race which was marked by a lap of the track in convoy, quite a surreal thing to see, let alone be a part of.

‘From there we headed to Dover, made a crossing into France and started into the continent.

I have to admit that the first few miles was a bit of a stress test making the adjustment to the right (wrong) side of the road. We formed a convoy with some of our new friends and fellow rally patrons.

‘Our first night was spent in a service station car park just on the border of Germany. As we had stopped at about 3am in the dark we had neglected to notice the giant nuclear power station which shadowed us when first light came — great view.

‘From there we travelled through Germany and into the Czech Republic where the official first rally stop off was an abandoned train station of all places.

However, the atmosphere was great, catching up with old friends, making new, and forming our convoy to next port of call which was Budapest in Hungary — watching the sun go down over the Danube is something not to be missed!

‘We left the next morning for Romania; a town called Sibui located in the middle of Transylvania.

The roads at this point start to get interesting — very unkempt in places, but this was quelled by the scenery and general feeling of the place, overtaking horses and carts driving through small villages is something that has got more frequent the further south east we travel.

‘It was this leg that gave us our first scare — a close call with fuel, not seeing a fuel station for over 100 miles and not having filled our Jerry cans as yet put us in a pretty tricky situation, but luck was on our side that day and we have since made adjustments to our strategy — no more stress tests.

‘After continuing down through Romania we took the TransFagarasen mountain route (pictured above). Many of you will recognise this as Jeramy Clarkson’s favourite road. There is good reason for this — from start to finish the scenery is breathtaking. The road itself is made up of high altitude hairpin turns which keep you on your toes.

‘We were part of a convoy of rally cars, which added so much to the experience as well. It put our little car through its paces but I’m happy to report it made it without a hitch.

Our next stop after this was at Vama Veche, a small town right next to the Black Sea. Accommodation was our tent on the beach and this provided us with a vital recharge from the 2,000-mile, four-day push we had just made.

‘Refreshed and ready for our first official border crossing, we pushed through Bulgaria and into Turkey.

The crossing was better than we had anticipated, which was great, as we have so many ahead of us which are going to be a lot more challenging.

‘I am sat in Istanbul writing this update. We have been here for two days and managed to cram a lot of whistlestop sight seeing in.

‘This city is vast and is steeped in history, from the Hagia Sophia to the Grand Bazaar and of course we couldn’t have left here without sampling the traditional Hammam Turkish bath experience, which was pretty special!

‘The next week holds a great distance to travel, from here across Turkey, into Georgia and then Azerbaijan to the port of Baku where we will board our ferry over the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan.

‘I will be sad to say goodbye to Istanbul but the adventure must continue.’

To track Joe and Chloe’s journey, visit www.teamalliance-mongolrally.com

On the website there is also a ‘Just Giving’ link for those who wish to donate to their three chosen charities — mental health charity Rethink, Scope and Cool Earth.