The landscape today reminded me of New Mexico or Arizona. I wasn’t expecting that. Desert, huge sand dunes and arid Rocky Mountains reminiscent of the Afghanistan you see on news bulletins. Gorgeous.

We went to visit the first monastery in Tibet – Samye. It was built in 775. Imagine. It was so beautiful and intensely moving to visit. We all had a spiritual moment. The monks were chanting, the drum banging, people were prostrating themselves and, best of all, it hasn’t undergone a Chinese renovation – yet.

Lloyd and Treacy had a potentially terminal problem with the lovely Nash. Two rocker arms had broken. Luckily, they had spares but, during fitting, a vital steel ball was dropped into the engine and couldn’t be reached. A helpful policeman went off and returned in very short order with an exact replacement. Amazing. He then went off and came back with some plums for everyone working on the car.

We emerged from a tunnel into Lhasa. Readers, I regret to inform you it is a modern Chinese city. Modern apartment blocks, Chinese signage and endless shophouses. To be fair, I haven’t left the hotel yet, something to be rectified in the morning. But getting to our swanky hotel, not a single old Tibetan building could be seen – except the Potala Palace in the distance.

We arrived at the hotel in time for a late lunch. My rally vegetarianism went out of the window. I had a yak burger, chips and a Lhasa beer. Very delicious it was too. Then it was time for a nap before a soak in the tub – luxury! Tonight, we enjoyed a scrummy rooftop barbecue overlooking the magnificent Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. It’s not everyday you can say that. Tomorrow it’s exploration time. A. has some fettling to do on the car, as have all the crews. I intend to go shopping.

A bad thing happened to me today. I lost my phone. Aaarrrggghhh! I know when I last used it and can only assume that it fell off my lap when I got out of the car and I didn’t notice. I’m afraid I have form on that one. We’ve been through the Landie. Pads has been through the Landie. It is nowhere to be seen and it’s offline so the find my phone app doesn’t work and ringing it, it just goes to voicemail. I wouldn’t be surprised if, when the car gets home, at the end of July, it turns up somewhere under a squashed mouldy sandwich. But there we are.