I told you I’d let you know about car problems over the last few days, well, here they are.

On the morning of our last camping night, the whole tank of diesel in Rudi’s Defender was completely frozen. It took until 2 in the afternoon until they were able to leave the coldest, windiest campsite in the world. Then, they had missed an amendment and failed to go on a new road. Instead, they drove over the old track towards the third night camping spot. There was deep snow on a pass and he wondered why there were no tracks. As they had not gone on the new road, they missed the frozen statues of Mac and Dr Rich, standing at the turn off to the campsite, telling them the great news that camping was cancelled. Mechanics Richard and Simon had taken their spot, waiting for Rudi – the only one Mac and Rich hadn’t seen – and waited and waited for hours. Eventually, Rudi and Helga, realising their error, found them and they all got the hotel very late into the night.

The lovely yellow Roller broke its suspension, fortuitously, very close to the only tiny town for hundreds of kms, where there was a welding shop. Happenstance. They were soon fixed.

Jumbo and Sam had a puncture, as did one of the mechanic support trucks.

Mark and Yvonne continue to have fuel problems and the passenger door has dropped down on its hinges and so won’t open.

David and Julia’s stonkingly fast Bentley had frozen brakes which broke a shock absorber mounting and an axel pin. They were soon fixed in camp and on their way.

Not doing the 3rd nights camping was a good move and everyone felt a bit better in the morning. We set off in good cheer – I’m always in good cheer, it must be rather irritating. We were going towards Zanda, to visit the ruins of the Guge Kingdom the following morning. It was to be the furthest western point in Tibet for us.

What a drive! Almost the best day yet and that’s in a rally of every day being able to be a best. We climbed up and up and found that Fritz and Gabi had found a perfect spot for lunch. It was in a dry culvert, most importantly, it was out of the wind and so felt quite warm in the strong sun. Soon, more crews gathered. Fritz produced some of his never ending supply of German sausage and Swiss cheese, Jumbo and Sam had chocolate, I had tomato soup and fruitcake. We were joined by Dom and Rose, Pads and Ham, Simon and Richard and Tim and Stef. What a feast! It was the perfect Sunday picnic lunch in Tibet and all with a view of mountains sprinkled with icing sugar snow.

Then, we drove on, over a pass, and could hardly believe what we were seeing. We were on a high ridge and looking south to practically the whole of the Himalayan range. We were directly above Himachel Pradesh, in India. It felt like we could see the high, snowy mountains from China, Bhutan, Nepal, all the way over to Kashmir. You cannot imagine a more impressive sight. My pics are rubbish, however, and don’t anywhere near do it justice so you’re not going to see them.

We then saw a vast canyon, a bit like a small Grand Canyon but with a Himalayan backdrop, which we drove down into. We were all speechless. It was beyond amazing.

We reached our night halt in the dusty little town of Zanda to find our rooms had heaters! Hallelujah! It amazes us all that the temperatures are always below freezing at night here and yet hotels have no heating. Not only was this hotel warm but the beds were soft. A good nights sleep was had by all. The first for many days. It’s not just the cold and rock hard beds though, altitude seriously interferes with you sleep pattern, we are all pretty tired. Tired, but exhilarated by the wonders we are seeing.

The Ruins of Guge date from the 10th century and are a phenomenal sight to behold. It was a vast, powerful kingdom before a 17th century battle left everyone dead. It was not discovered by western archaeologists until the 1930’s, because of its remote location in a forgotten corner of Tibet. It soars up and up with cave rooms cut into the rock. There is a tiny monastery and a Christian church built in the 1624 by a Spanish Jesuit missionary. We huffed and puffed up the many steps to wonder at the magic of it all.

That was the furthest west the rally is to go and we are now returning eastwards to get to the Jilong pass, into Nepal, in two days time. We are staying in yet another dusty little place called Darchen. We are underneath Mount Kailash- a sacred mountain for Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and the ancient Tibetan Bon religion. Bon was the religion before Buddhism in Tibet.

It is back normal with the hotel. Freezing rooms – we’ve all taken our sleeping bags in – but there is a glass roofed area in the middle that’s actually warm from the sun. It’s used to dry the laundry, but we don’t care. Beers were had before dinner among the sheets and smalls. At least we weren’t freezing to death. We half thought about setting up a dormitory bedroom there. Over dinner the talk was of what we are dreaming of eating when we get home. A roast chicken with roast potatoes and lots of vegetables and gravy was the favourite. The food is very repetitive here. The same stuff most nights. Some is ok, some disgusting with the odd quite tasty thing.

Tomorrow is a transit day. Almost 500 kms, mostly on the main road that runs towards Lhasa from western Tibet. We almost becoming blasé about the scenery here. Almost. It is one of the most beautiful I have ever visited. Beautiful, but harsh and unforgiving. Tomorrow night. We are back in Saga – the organisers have managed to find a different hotel from the last one we stayed in. Joy of joys! That one was a complete shithole.

Losing my phone has been a seriously bad thing for me. Not least because I’ve lost the often very good 4G signal and my VPN. Publishing this blog is a painful process. Each photo can take between 10-12 minutes to upload when it should take seconds. There are also other problems I’m dealing with that I will tell you about when I’ve left China. you May also be bombarded with photos then. As it is, I set the alarm at 5 – I’m a morning person – to write this. My hands hurt from the cold too. It’s -9C outside and not much warmer within. Maybe only -8C. Plus our carpet is soaking wet, how, I don’t want to dwell on. We can’t put our feet down without our shoes on. Please tell me it’s worth it?