Category: Mongolia 2010


  • Off The Map In Central Mongolia — A Photo Essay

    Mongolia is a far more accessible place for a mountain-biking expedition than I’d imagined. Navigation has been a mixture of old techniques and new technology. Our GPS unit didn’t help us to choose a route through the maze of tangled tyre tracks, but it did provide a bearing and an approximate distance to the next […] Continue reading →

  • Back In The Saddle From Ulaanbaatar To Bulgan

    The life of a cycle tourist is often dictated by the forces of nature. This was never more true than for the first week’s journeying from the Mongolian capital out into the depths of the steppes. Rain, snow, hail, headwinds, tailwinds, sidewinds, dust-storms, baking sun, freezing cold, cloud tapestries and clear blue skies all made […] Continue reading →

  • On The Rails — Sochi to Ulaanbaatar

    On The Rails — Sochi to Ulaanbaatar

    As I write, it’s 5:30am in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Through the window of my host’s flat I can see the pale orange of the morning sun picking out the shapes of the new industrial complexes and apartment blocks that are sprouting at great speed. After a couple of years they will be crumbling, […] Continue reading →

  • Rain, Train and Pain — Yerevan to Sochi

    Rain, Train and Pain — Yerevan to Sochi

    Her familiar, tearful, smiling face was framed by the tinted window, then a silhouette, receding; finally she joined the flecked shapes swaying within the departing bus as it began its 24-hour journey to Tehran. I put my hands in my pockets and trudged towards the subway. For the next few days I would put loneliness […] Continue reading →

  • Get A Postcard From Outer Mongolia

    When was the last time you got a postcard from Outer Mongolia? Probably a fair while ago, I’ll warrant. So here’s the deal. I’m trying to raise £1,000 for The Wilderness Foundation UK by — appropriately — mountain-biking just over 1,000 miles off-road across a big wilderness area of Mongolia. I’ll send a postcard from […] Continue reading →

  • Mountain Biking Across Outer Mongolia

    A couple of weeks ago, I went to watch Armenia play ice hockey. The match was part of the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. Being a 3rd division group match, it featured countries not usually associated with winter sports — South Africa, North Korea, and on this occasion, Mongolia, who were promptly thrashed […] Continue reading →