Mongolia and Back... with Team Hog

Final Stats..

Thought this maybe of interest to some people...

- Website has had almost 40,000 hits! (this grows everyday..)

- We have had viewers from all over the world! Including;

-The US
-Canada
-The UK
-Poland
-Germany
-Portugal
-Spain
-Russia
-Switzerland
-Czech Rep
-Hungary
-Thailand
-France
-Malta
-Denmark
-Hong Kong
-Trinidad and Tobago
-Turkey
-Italy
-Saudi Arabia
-Iran
-Israel
-Netherlands
-Belgium
-Australia!!

Pretty interesting to find out who is tracking you, watching, taking an interest..

Final Photos..

A friend we found on our travels...

When Matt was told they can repair his sandal but you can't wait in the shop.. cheers

Ste, living the dream in the Flymo!

Front design of the Flymo..

The plush interior..

Back view..

Testing the Flymo out..

Flymo on the streets of Prague.. showing it's presence!

Matt chillin..

Polish border guards! (Honestly..)

Charity Update..

We are nearing the £2000 mark and continue to accept donations from anywhere!!

http://www.teamhog.co.uk/charities.html

Cheers

Gutted..

The Flymo's head has melted the thread on the spark plugs.. as well as the dyno cracking in half, the started motor falling off as well as the usual driveshaft and bearing problems... the fan also obliterated and so nicht zo gut! - No cooling..

No battery light and two fires on the autobahn! - Gutted to say that it died.. so we pushed it to nearest service station.. decided it was kaputt!! And so dangerous now, not only for us but either people.. not to mention the extra costs involved for the new engine.. was hard enough finding an exhaust for this thing..

"My friend there are now only two of these left in Germany, you are lucky!"

So it has now been dispatched.. 30 quid for crushing, zebidi left behind and we blagged a lift to the airport in Frankfurt after seeing to a damsel in distress!!

We will be at London Stanstead tomorrow at 0645.. see you in Leeds!!

Megabus.com what a dream site! Hahahaha..

Random..

Ste looking lost without his hat..

Eye eye..

Ste catching flies..

Matt sporting his new beer hat..

Ste finding new mates..

The FLymo looking dappa!

Nice reg..

Crack club..

Our boot..

Flymo Camoflagued

Our exhaust system to the right of the engine.. now on the Autobahn.. somewhere..

Heading Home...

Apologies, as won't be many pics for this one, camera battery lost.. we'l try our best tho.. prob put them on in Brussels?

Good news.. we now have the new vehicle.. revealed at the end!

We were going to buy one of these..

But we went one step further..
(It became a runner after Ste started to play with it.. on the forecourt!!) - Then on arrival the next day.. after the deal was done.. the cheeky blighters put it up even more in price as it now runs!

We swiftly left Katowice (just west of Krakow) in the Flymo after negotiating a sly 12 month MOT with no checks whatsoever... onwards to Prague. The Flymo running like a dream.. and then.. blowout time under Matt's control! This was not cool and had to push her to the nearest service station where we sourced two new tyres at a hefty expense, due to the tiny crap wheels we needed.. all this helped by more visa trouble at every bank!

- After a night at the service station (nautorious for robberies etc - the police came to have a chat) we were off again!

Into Prague, found our hostel (with parking this time) and due to finances.. the gay card was coming out.

Went in and asked..
"One bed please"
"But there are two person"
"I know we will sleep together though"

After a long pause and odd look, completely bamboozled.. he decides to give us the key..

This was a key to an 8 bed room.. no-one else was there for the whole duration as i think he was worried about possible confliction with two men in the same bed!! Little did he know.. we were living it up in the spare beds for the price of one!! Quality.. this has continued.. and is a very useful lesson if you can handle the odd looks every now and again!

The next day was sorting out the Flymo, needed some music, and some kind of jack and wheel pump! (and a few other bits).. ealry bed and up early in the morning..

The old Charles' bridge called again as we had done Prague before.

We chilled on the bridge talking to everyone and anyone, then bumped into two Canadian lads we met in Poland, spend night with them and had a quality time!!

In the morning.. we went to give the flymo a run out and the coppers were curious as to what the hell we were driving.. stopped us and no documents, first time on whole trip, we left them at the hostel...

The old line... "This is BIG problem" we both laughed, eventually sorted, and talked ourselves out of the sly bribe they were after, Flymo was put to bed for the afternoon. Another bridge session and we were away..

Onwards to Munich!! - And the notorious 'Oktober Fest' this place is insane.. 6 million people, 1/3 of Germany's beer consumed in two weeks!! People from all over the world there to party!! Met a load of people, fell off some benches had some fun with all sorts of people! Quality and now Matt has a place to stay in Aus!! - Bondi Beach!!

We stayed there two days, initially, we went back on the Sunday for a hat, saw they were serving beer at 8.30.. considered this a deal and participated of course.. a bit longer than expected.. after spending a night in the U-Bahn!! Good times...

After this, the plan was Berlin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and home.. the Flymo had so many problems, not even half way there it was decided by us both we were not losing another baby and so have detoured to the UK!!!

Problems in one day...
-Wheel bearings (all of them)
-Driveshaft popped out 3 x times
-Windscreen wiper fallen off
-Flat tyres galore
-Exhaust mount snapped x 2
-Then exhaust snapped in two places
-Then the whole thing dropped out on the Autobahn! (Not good....)

During the repairs.. the Flymo was dropped on Matt's leg.. much to the amusement of Ste.. who was actually crying with laughter! - Both found it amusing.. and the journey continued.. even though Ste wanted to burn the Flymo!! (Not a happy chap)

So due to finances.. and because we want the Flymo to come home with us!! We'll be back in the UK by the weekend!! (Depending on how the return ferry blagging goes!!)

Thanks for all the support from families, friends, sponsors and randoms!! We have had a right laugh, wish it could last longer, but have to be relaistic with the old dollar and come back to earn some!!

THE FLYMO..

The Advert From A Polish Auction Site..

We will bring this back to the UK!!

Poland..

Off at Lviv and... back on again.. no trains to Krakow until morning after and only other train was 8am and so had to by pass our meeting with Nate.. bit gutted, couldn't contact either.. sorry matey.

Whilst on the train which worked out to be 1st class somehow.. only 20 quid tho?? Deal!! - A transportation idea came about.. more on that in next blog..

Straight to hostel with a free taxi! (A few near misses on the way.. but we made it) Krakow here we come! - Very nice, cheap.. but back in Europe BIG TIME!! - English everywhere and the laut variety too!!

Krakow is nice though..

We have been here a few days now, just chilling, taking in the Polish culture, sampling some more beer whilst looking into this idea.. using Polish auction sites, locals, translation sites and some shrewd research techniques...

But today we went to Auschwitz.. another interesting and moving experience. The human race really has screwed up on a few occasions big time, hopefully we will learn..
On the way there, more vehicle trouble, we had to push the bus to get it going! When we were there, it seemed so was half of Japan, Europe, the US etc etc.. still good though.. our first tour..

A few facts for you..

- Over 1.5 million Jew died their (at least)

- Some were transported for up to 27 days, 400 people per carriage, no food or water, no space again more and more died

- They were told it was a shower.. and conned into their own death

- Children, women and disabled were killed instantly as they were considered useless in 'work' terms

- When exterminated, they were then shaved and robbed, including teeth and even their ashes, with everything sold to profit the Nazis!

- Those who didn't die instantly worked, with nothing to survive on, very poor living conditions, with up to 6 in a 4' bed lying on bodies, rats and other people's excrement.

- People could not escape, some ran into the fences as they were electrified to die, others anywhere near the fence were shot, some lost so much weight they fell through the 'toilet' hole.