Just spoken to Chris and he's still truckin on towards UB. They took a wrong turn yesterday out of Altay and headed south instead of east, ending up in the Gobi Desert. A quick backtrack to Altay where they parted company with the Emu Draft girls (who are now waiting for the weekly bus to UB) and they're now back on track.

Total mileage from Hyde Park is confirmed as 7312 and Chris reckons they've 900km (approx 550 miles) still to go. The next 100 miles should be the toughest and then, apparently, the roads get a bit better, with the last 200km into UB on tarmac.

The carburettor still seems to be the main problem and, along with a fuel leak, isn't helping much with the fuel economy. But he's got 55 litres of fuel left which he reckons should be enough to see him to back into civilisation.

If it all goes to plan, they should arrive in UB on Saturday evening / Sunday morning for a well deserved rest and a reunion with fallen comrades.

They're all knackered but the lack of drink-driving laws are working in their favour. Ben from Team Topgun is now a passenger in Mr Polo- although he'd just passed out from exhaustion / drunkiness as I spoke to Chris!

Peter