Mongol Derby - Medic's Blog - 6th August 2011

Sat 6^th Aug – The big start. Twenty-two riders enthusiastically set off into the bright morning sunshine, with 1000km of countryside ahead of them. We split up into our two cars – me and Pete together and Catherine alone. There were no major injuries and it has luckily been a fairly uneventful day for us. We got some more practice navigating through the countryside – using the GPS is not as easy as it sounds. Our driver, Tulga, is thankfully very tolerant and doesn’t seem to mind the many navigational mistakes we’ve made. We’ve even learnt some local words (Tsu – left, Chiggeré – straight on, Barronn – right) which I’m sure will come in handy over the next ten days. Our driver seems amused at some of our pronunciation but I’m sure it will improve! The four of us found a lovely little place to camp hidden away between two hills close to horse station four. We cooked dinner on the gas stove and then went for a walk up a hill to take in the evening light. The sunset was gorgeous turning the sky orange then purple over the distant hills although it did start to get a bit chilly so I’m hoping my sleeping bag will be warm enough for our first night out.