Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 18

There were countless rivers to cross and the most unforgiving terrain requiring ridiculously slow speeds. looks down the rocky cliffs the team finally crossed the above the river that divides Mongolian border from western Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Russia. But the rally was far While navigating this rocky from over. With over 2,000 and gravity-defying road, a km yet to before the finish line, punctured tire would almost they knew that this final leg bring their rally efforts to a would be the most challenging. crushing end. What followed There were countless rivers to were long, slow days of cross and the most unforgiving driving with their temporary terrain that required spare that would eventually be ridiculously slow speeds. replaced. That tire would go Tbilisi on to be repaired once in Tajikistan and once in Kyrgyzstan before Sinop finally finding a proper replacement in Kazakhstan. (And, if you’re wondering, they found no one there who resembled Borat.) The end was so close, but averaging just 150 km every 10 hours — these days were the longest in terms of strain. On the 63rd day of their rally, with the sun quickly setting, Corinne and Jess were only 50 km outside of Ulaanbaatar, the Nine weeks in, there was a fair bit of excitement and relief when Baku ancient Mongol capital, and the much-anticipated finish line. Ashgabat Top: The beauty of the original windmills dating back to 1740 in Kinderdijk, Netherlands 16 six star magazine Bottom: The Pamir Highway of Tajikistan, a former link in the Silk Route Khiva