We're taking the ferry to France

With every rally comes the question, 'How do we leave this island we are on?'. Unless you get very creative, the two typical options, if you have a car, are the ferry and the Eurotunnel. As we debated the pros and cons of each mode of transport, we quickly realised that despite the Eurotunnel being a faster way of getting across the Channel, we actually prefer going over the Channel rather than under it.

Getting out of the car to stretch your legs whilst enjoying a (non-alcoholic) drink and taking in the view of the White Cliffs of Dover at you sail away beats being in a dark tunnel every time.

So we're all booked and we're taking a P&O ferry on our launch date of Saturday 21st June 2014!

Beijing Rally 2014 launch date set

The time has come for us to fix our launch date for the Beijing Rally 2014. The big day will be Saturday 21st June 2014. It is on this day that we'll embark on our most ambitious adventure to date, aiming to reach Beijing in China in 28 days in Red, our half a century old Land Rover.

Mercy Corps are our charity of choice for this rally and we're hoping to raise funds for them to support all of their activities, including their emergency response and relief activities in the Philippines following the disastrous impact of Typhoon Haiyan. Please support the Mercy Corps and our charity drive to Beijing by making a donation of any amount on our fund raising site www.justgiving.com/beijingrally.

Our rally planning has been underway for sometime now, with two key activities. Car maintenance and entry into China. Red will be getting some new leaf spring suspension, our previous driving experience in Kazakhstan in our Suzuki SJ410 in the Mongol Rally 2007 tells us that having solid suspension is a good idea. In 2007, we snapped our leaf springs 6 times and if we're going to get to Beijing in 28 days, we need to reduce that 6 to a 0! We're also working on our entry into China as we can't just pitch up at the border between Mongolia and China and get our passports stamped. We will need various permits and licenses to be able to enter China.

Soon, we'll also start to look at how we can ship our car from China back to the UK, but we've got enough planning to get through at the moment. With just 215 days to go till the launch date, excitement is really starting to set in. The final 6 months leading up to a rally launch always seem to fly by!