In Mongolia they rendezvous with a parallel expedition and travelling across the Gobi desert for 4 weeks.

They want to raise both awareness and at least £5,000 for the British Red Cross and once they have achieved these goals, they will have travelled through 10 countries, across 8 time zones and covered roughly 7,000 miles.

Expedition Overview

The plan is to leave the UK on the 15th July 2008, driving a 4x4 Toyota Hilux from Shrewsbury, down through England to Dover where they will cross the Channel and arrive in Calais early on the 16th. From here they will travel east across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark before arriving in Sweden where they plan to spend 2-3 days.

They will thenl cross the Baltic Sea and enter Russia. Passing through St. Petersburg and Moscow they head east, shadowing the trans-Siberian railway until Lake Baikal, where they will head south to Mongolia.

Once in Mongolia they are joining a parallel expedition and heading into the Gobi desert as their support team. The parallel expedition plans to travel across the Gobi between Dalanzadgad and Bayankhongor. They will be acting as their support team, carrying their water, supplies and veterinary equipment.

They also hope to complete some project work whilst in Mongolia for the Mongolian Red Cross.

They will be travelling in the Toyota Hilux unaided across Europe and Russia, and will also be the sole vehicle whilst on the Gobi phase of the expedition.

Get Up and Gobi Route Plans –

Start: Shrewsbury
Finish: Ulan Bator
Total Distance: c. 7000 Miles

Route from Russian border with Finland: St. Petersburg - Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan - Yekateringburg - Tobolsk - Omsk - Novosibirsk - Krasnogarsk - Irkutsk - Ulan Ude - Mongol Border - Ulan Bator

Route around Mongolia

From the border they will head straight to the capital, Ulan Bator. Once preparation for their time in the Gobi is complete we will drive to Dalanzadgad. They will rendezvous with the parallel expedition here, and head into the Gobi and travel towards Bayankhongor.

Get Up and Gobi Itinerary:

15th July - leave Shrewsbury; travel and board ferry across Channel.

16th July - enter mainland Europe; travel through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Spend the night in northern Germany.

17th July - leave Germany and travel through Denmark to Sweden.

20th July - drive to Stockholm; catch ferry to Finland.

21st July - arrive in Finland; travel to, and cross Russian border; arrive in St. Petersburg.

24th July - leave St. Petersburg and travel to Moscow.

27th July - travel to Nizhny Novgorod.

28th July - travel to Kazan.

31st July - leave Kazan and travel to Yekateringburg area

3rd August - leave Yekateringburg area and travel to Tobolsk area

5th August - leave Tobolsk area and travel to Omsk

8th August - leave Omsk and travel to Novosibirsk area

12th August - leave Novosibirsk area and travel to Krasnogarsk area

At this time, they will stay around the Irkutsk and Ulan Ude area until travelling to the border. They plan one or two small expeditions around Lake Baikal; an area in southern Siberia renowned for its natural beauty and landscape.

24th August - Arrive at Mongol Border

25th - 29th - Expedition prep in Ulan Bator and rendezvous with parallel expedition team.

1st September - Start of the Gobi expedition.

15th October - return to Ulan Bator and meet with the Mongolian Red Cross to carry out aid work.

Richard Adrian Price is 25 years old, and lives in Shrewsbury. Having just completed four and a half years in the Army, working in Infantry Reconnaissance, he is now committing his time to organizing, and executing this trip. Past fundraising experience includes swimming ten miles for The Army Benevolent Fund, and trekking through remote Burmese, and Thai Jungle.

This also was to raise money for the Army benevolent Fund. Richard maintains a strong interest in fitness, travelling, and photography. Other travels of his include driving across the United States, spending 7 months on a Tour of duty in Iraq, spending 2 months living on the Canadian Prairies, along with numerous other journeys to 24 countries.

Thomas Benjamin Long, 24 years old, currently resides on the Surrey Hampshire border where he is completing an MSc in Sustainable Development. Having completed his undergraduate studies in Politics with Economics at the University of Bath in 2006 he spent 6 months working with Jessica is West Sussex before volunteering in a Nepali orphanage and travelling through South East Asia.

Tom has been a keen off-roader since turning 17 and getting his first Land Rover; he will be the mechanic during the expedition. His previous travel experience has involved visits to some 25 countries, culminated in a 4 week expedition to Kyrgyzstan with World Challenge, where he and his team climbed fourteen 4,000m+ peaks and was also involved in project work with a local community.

Jessica Richards is 22 years old and has travelled to 40 countries around the world from a young age - white water rafting in Nepal, hiking in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, travelling by land through China and Kazakhstan and being awarded a civic award and a Daily Star national award for saving the life of a man in southern India when she was 10 years old.

Jessica has a keen interest in art and photography and is a key organiser within Platform, an art collective in Shrewsbury. She will be the photographer of the trip documenting all aspects of the expedition. Jessica was running her own public house in West Sussex at the age of 21, improving the organisational skills needed for this expedition.

The Website

The expedition website, www.getupandgobi.co.uk , contains detailed expedition information, such as route, maps, itinerary, expected conditions, sponsors, equipment and progress. It will be updated with their progress via satellite phone during the journey. Upon their return, they will post articles, photographs, journal entries and gear reviews. As well as being a great resource for friends and other web users to follow their progress, the site will add to the scattered information currently available to people wanting to complete such trips. Sponsors will be acknowledged (with name, logo, and other details) and linked to on the site. People can donate directly to the British Red Cross through www.justgiving.com/getupandgobi