Bored of going on holiday to a busy European destination to read yet another autobiography about someone who is only thirteen?

So were we. Thats why in 2007 we signed up for a 4000 mile banger rally across the Sahara. 21 days of seeing the world through the window of a classic Saab 99 Turbo changed our outlook on holidays and gave us a desire for adventure we never knew we had.

This time we have decided to set up our own challenge, a 4000 mile road trip from London, UK to Chisinau, Moldova, via the Arctic Circle in a car costing less than £200… Simple!

Ok, so perhaps it is not that simple. 4000 miles is a long way especially in a clapped out old banger, but that’s all part of the fun. We are looking for 15 other teams to join us on this ‘once in a life time’ opportunity to see some of the most amazing parts of the world and raise big cash for a couple of excellent causes in Moldova. No one has ever tried a route as ridiculous as this and we want to be the first to achieve it.

London to Moldova, Via the Arctic Circle

The challenge is theoretically simple. Drive your chosen chariot from the appointed start line in London, UK to the finish line in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova via the sights, smells and sounds of the Arctic Circle.

As we wish to promote creativity, there is no specific route from the start to the finish, the exact route you take is totally up to you. To help you on your way, we have put together a suggested route that you might like to follow.

As the this is a banger rally, its important to consider multiple breakdowns on the way! For this reason we are suggesting a number of rendezvous points on route. These are a great opportunity to meet up with the other rally goers, check out how their cars are fairing under the copious driving and give you a few extra hours to reattach the various bits of your car that have fallen off since the last stop. It is not compulsory, just recommended.

Suggested Route

Day	Route	Highlights	Miles	Distance traveled
1-3	London to Stockholm	The M25, ferry crossings and Belgium waffles, quick spin around Nurburgring and the Oresund Bridge!	1250	1250
4	Stockholm rest day	The home of IKEA… meet the people that create those instruction leaflets and give them what for	-	1250
5-7	Stockholm to Rovaniemi	Wade through snow covered roads around the Baltic sea, kiss a mouse and make the biggest snowman of all time	750	2000
8	Rovaniemi rest day	Check out Santa’s home and see the Northern Lights	-	2000
9-11	Rovaniemi to Helsinki	More snow driving action and snow fights before checking out Helsinki’s Suomenlinna naval fortress	700	2700
12	Helsinki to St Petersburg	Practice your Russian and see if that Visa really is valid	250	2950
13	St Petersburg rest day	See Peter’s Palace, count the pigeons on Sergey Kirov and march triumphantly through Narva Triumphal Gate	-	2950
14-16	St Petersburg to Kiev	Check out Moscow’s Red Square and dodge the pot holes on the roads to Kiev	750	3700
17	Kiev rest day	Sniff the flowers in the botanical gardens, buy a cow at the Besarabsky Market and see the Folk museum	-	3700
18	Kiev to MOLDOVA	Wreck what is left of the suspension on the worst roads of the journey as we finally reach our destination!	300	4000
19&20	Moldova rest day & sell cars	Enjoy sweet success, meet some of the people who you’ve helped and sell your car to the highest bidder	-	4000
21	Fly home	Airline food and a bumpy ride… the adventure is not over until you land.	?	?

The route above is only a suggestion but it does take in some major points of interest and gives a good few rest days for a bit of sight seeing whilst waiting for the RAC.

When

Our calculations are that the total journey is achievable in 21 days including a number of rest stops for car fixing, sight seeing and snowball throwing.

The rally will begin on Saturday 11th April 2009, leaving London, UK. Assuming all goes well, people should arrive in Moldova on Friday 1st May 2009. This will leave a couple of days to explore Moldova before catching a flight home. Conveniently, Friday 10th April and Monday 4th May are UK bank holidays so this will give a little extra time either end of the rally for people to get organized and recover!

For most people, the bank holidays will mean that you only need to arrange 14 days leave to go on a 24 day adventure. That’s 10 extra days of fun for FREE – even Tesco can’t beat that kind of offer!

Rally Rules

The rally rules are pretty simple because there really aren’t many. As the rally is unsupported, it is more of a gathering of people going to the same destination! There is no particular aim other than to have a serious adventure in seeing some of the most amazing parts of our big round earth and raise some money to change the lives of the most underprivileged people of Moldova in the mean time.

We have devised 5 simple rules to guide the teams on their quest:

1. This event is officially unsupported and each person is responsible for their own safety, insurance and all travel arrangements.
2. Vehicles must cost no more than £200 to purchase.
3. On arrival in Moldova, all vehicles (and relevant docs) must be given to the destination charities.
4. All vehicles must be carbon neutralised (Target Neutral).
5. All vehicles must be road legal, taxed and tested on exit from UK.

That’s it really. The rules are there more for safety than anything else. Although we are looking to have a brilliant adventure, we need to be responsible about how we do it, where we go and our effect on the environment.

I think I can handle it

We are still looking for a few more intrepid explorers to come along with us on this adventure. Perhaps you feel you are crazy enough to give it a go. If so, have a good read of the details on the sign me up page and then apply. We’ll be in touch after that.

Its not the winning, its the taking part

Although we are calling this a rally, it is not actually a race (for legal reasons). But there will be WINNERS! Points will be awarded to the teams for all sorts of different factors. Points for the cheapest car, points for the most gaffer tape used, points for the best snowman… you get the idea.

We are also working to arrange a number of events on route. The rest days will be primarily for fixing up the cars but its also a great opportunity for some sight seeing. Subject to our success, are planning some fun rest day activities but we will publicise that a bit more once we have some confirmation.