THREE friends travelling in a small car called Bluey have just completed a memorable 10,000-mile trip from London via Mongolia to Ulan Ude in Siberia.

The team, calling themselves Nervous Breakdown, included Rachel Hope, who was born and raised on a sheep farm near Grosmont and is a former pupil of Monmouth Comprehensive School.

Rachel, who went on to study at the University of York, was recently appointed as Deputy Director for Teacher Services in the Department for Education in London.

A seasoned explorer, mountaineer and trekker with an insatiable appetite for adventure, she was acknowledged as the real driving force behind the trip.

She was joined on the 44-day journey by Civil Service colleague Charlie Dwyer and university friend Owen Hancock.

Driving across 19 countries through some of the world’s most breathtaking landscapes, the trio had close encounters with eagles and wild horses, rode camels, slept in yurts, explored a salt mine and visited all manner of historic sites - from Dracula’s Castle to the world’s oldest preserved medressas.

The route took them the breadth of Europe, through Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan before crossing the Caspian sea and taking on the ‘stans’ of Central Asia.

“We needed eight new tyres and two new shock absorbers, but our tiny 1.2 Volkswagen Polo made it to the finish line!” said Rachel.

“It’s true what they say, if nothing goes wrong, everything has gone wrong. We found that in the moments when you’re digging your car out of desert sand, getting lost or edging your tattered vehicle into the next village for repairs, you experience the incredible kindness of strangers.

“Our most memorable experiences came from these times: being invited into the homes of local people of Kyrgyzstan; enlisting a bus full of people to spot our car, abandoned on the Mongolia steppe with two missing tyres; and sharing stories and beers in Tajikistan while people who toiled, for free, to fix our car. Definitely a trip of a lifetime."

So far the team has raised more than £1,700 for fostering charity the Children’s Family Trust and over £500 for the environmental charity Cool Earth.  

About the final leg they wrote: “The sense of achievement as we approached the finish line was all encompassing. It had been hard going at times: with long days, some very long nights, countless challenges, breakdowns, punctures, good roads, bad roads, off-roads and no roads.

“But there had been even more amazing moments: incredible cultural diversity, sights, experiences, insights into different ways of living, new friends, new knowledge, new experiences, and new accomplishments.

“But if we were to take one thing away from the rally it would be the incredible kindness of strangers and the abundance of well-wishers and good Samaritans that occupy every part of the inhabited world.

“Our little road trip had restored, or reinforced, our collective faith in humanity; and reminded us that whilst the world may seem a startlingly varied and diverse place, there is (to steal a Mauricio Macri quote) far more that unites us than divides us.

“And it was with this sense of positive enlightenment that we crossed the finish line. What a trip, what a team, and what an experience.”