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So, we made it to Barnaul. We actually beat Royal Mail. I had a part being sent over from the UK to a very accommodating hotel over here. It should have got here long before me... but it didn't. Who knows where it is but poor Martha will have to limp on without her front ball joint. Well done Royal Mail.

We actually arrived in Barnaul pretty early and I managed to get some spare rubber gromits to keep the suspension in the right place. Usually a car will go through a handful of these in a lifetime. I bought 50. And I've settled into a comfortable routine of changing them every 2 hours so as to keep the car on the road. This morning I did my first "wet" change. It's raining a lot over here at the moment which makes stripping the suspension a bit tricky. I'm learning though and have got it down to only an hour each time.

Martha has also developed something of a whale-complex. She seems to have forgotten that she's a car and is pretending to be a whale. You see, it's raining and I have no surround to the gear stick. This means that every time I go through a puddle (and by "puddle" I mean "small lake") a gush of water foutains up through the middle of the car, providing me with my own rather fetching water-feature, which also doubles up as a fresh-water shower. Just when you need it most!!

We're heading for Mongolia now... there's just another choice to make. We have to decide if we're going to do the "scenic" Western route through Mongolia, or the more "developed" Northern route. The Western route would be a challenge. There are river crossings (and Martha has holes in her body-work... big holes), there are LARGE pot-holes (and Martha has a delicate suspension), there are deserts (and Martha has rubbish wheels and poor gearing), and there can be miles and miles between garages (and Martha has only a 25l tank and is using 1l of oil per 10l of fuel). The Northern route is pretty much straight road from Russia to Ulaan Bataar. Sure there'll be pot-holes but what road doesn't have pot-holes. We've got some thinking to do tonight to decide which route to take.