Day 2 - Dover to Dresden This was always going to be a tough day, calling for about 9 hours on the road after a 2 hour ferry crossing..... and so it proved. Fun, though. We were up and out of the b&b by 5am, and on the ferry by 6. Whilst other passengers slept on any flat surface they could find, we spent the time drinking 143 espressos, taking sneaky photos of the maps in the shop, and totally failing to work out how to split the cost of the petrol we'd used so far (surprising, considering that one of our party is an accounts analyst). We also spent a mere 21 minutes working out how to stick on those weird little european headlight deflectors. "But you've still stuck them on upside down", you might ... read more

I should sheepishly admit that when I first thought this trip up, I imagined that any route from the UK to China would be a toss-up between the hot sands of the middle east and bleak snowdrifts in Siberia. With a little bit more digging of course, it's easy to blow away those stereotypes. Also, whilst it would be great to be able to just set off towards the rising sun one day, the reality is that various practicalities remain: What is the shortest route (old car!)? Can a standard front-wheel drive travel those roads at that time of year (old car!)? What restrictions are there for tourists with a vehicle at the various borders (foreign driver with a foreign old car!)? Is any region too dangerous to risk (not an old armored car!)? My first ... read more