Cornwall to Mongolia

Friends Matt and David leave Cornwall for the starting line at Goodwood

The Mongol Rally is 10,000 miles of mountains, deserts, and bad roads.

Yet the prospect of no such luxuries as motorways and service stations certainly appeals to the adventurers of Cornwall.

The latest explorers to take up the Mongol Rally are David Sawyer and Matt Hawkins.

The duo have spent hours training for the event, or have they? Matt says the intensive training involved food and drinking a bit of cider!

The friends are raising money for two charities

The car is packed with tents, back packs, training shoes, neck pillows, water and of course stacks of cider.

David says the duo will share the driving during the long trip.

"We're going to do four hour stints each, so we should be OK."

The car that the friends are hoping will get them to Mongolia is Proton which is hatchback Lamborghini Orange.

Matt says: "It's 1.3 fuel injected Proton. We're hoping to get a few extra miles per hour out of this. We paid £500 for it.

"We are taking part in the rally to raise money and awareness for two charities that make a big difference to children's lives, CLIC Sargent and the Christina Noble Children's Foundation."

Starting from England, Spain and Italy, the rally finishes in the Mongolian capital Ulaan Baatar around four weeks and a whole heap of adventures later.

Our Cornish explorers begin the rally on Saturday 24 July 2010.