The road goes up into the hills passing through very pretty meadows and tree covered hills. There are buzzards everywhere, often sat right next to the road. They will sit there quite happily until they hear the sound of a lens cap being removed when they promptly fly away. Despite being a better 'road' it doesn't go through any towns so we only see a few cars all day. As it becomes dark the truck continues on but myself and Ed decide to stop for the night and set up camp in the middle of nowhere.

Wandering down to the car bleary eyed the following morning I'm convinced we left the car facing the hotel rather than along the road as it is now. A quick look around to see the night club next door and the quarter circle scraped in the mud by the front tyres shows that we were quite safe lifting the white car into the back of the truck as drunk Mongolians seem to like nothing better than picking up cars. The English run guesthouse next door serves bacon and eggs, coffee and cinnamon buns for breakfast. A nice change from the mutton soup and milky tea served with mutton fat that has been our staple until now.

After we've been travelling for a bit the next morning we both comment on how the road seems to be getting busy and more of a main highway, we then realise we've still only seen 5 cars in the last hour. We reach Tostetengel and follow local advice to head for the tiny village of Ich-Ul. When we get to this village of 10 houses we realise why as it's here that the new raised gravel road begins and we get into 5th gear for the first time in Mongolia. We maybe get 2 hours on this road however at the top of a pass covered in Buddhist prayer flags we also see our first signpost which is a relief as we're not totally sure where we are. We push on over more potholed roads into the night to arrive late in Tsetseleg to stay in our first hotel (and shower) for some time.

From Tsetserleg to Kharkorum involves some tricky sandy patches however after Kharkorum we hit 150km of perfect paved road. After this the road is being reconstructed but although the entrances have been blocked and there are period dumps of sand and rock on the road to stop cars it is possible to break on and off the road at intervals. This is easily done in a 4x4, not so easy in Nissan Micra and at one point we get the car grounded with one of the back wheels off the ground and the two front wheels spinning in the sand. Jacking up the car and putting rocks under the wheels is the only way off.

As it starts to get dark we see a sign which if the distances on our map are right (which isn't always the case) we are only 90kms from Ulan Bator so we decide to push on, weaving through the myriad sandy tracks that criss-cross either side of the under construction road, trying to head in the same direction as the other headlights which are now visible. Finally, just 30km outside UB we hit paved road and head into the centre of town. It's a huge relief to have made it, and a day before the final party is due. As a celebration we head to what's described as the best hotel in town and a well earned beer.