Got it all mapped out (From Bournemouth Echo)

Got it all mapped out

7:40pm Friday 27th March 2009 in Search By Maria Court

THERE may be trouble ahead… But Steve Barnes hopes this van will get him to his destination in one piece.

Steve, 37, is gearing up to drive from Bournemouth to Mongolia for a charity rally to help needy and homeless children have a better life.

The 8,000-mile pan-continental journey will take him across five mountain ranges, two deserts, several countries and swathes of no man’s land.

“The trip is notoriously hard,” said Steve, 37, who lives in Poole. “Some of the roads are very barren and pot-holed with craters the size of cars. We’re going to need our wits about us!”

Steve’s team mate is Dan Orwell from Australia who stepped in when a friend of Steve’s had to unexpectedly drop out of the rally. Together they will hit the road with the name team Road Warriors.

The Poole adventurer will down tools as a web designer to endure the three weeks of bandits, questionable food (and hygiene) in a journey that will raise money for two children’s charities.

The pair aim to raise at least £1,000 for Save the Children, and once in Mongolia they will donate their Isuzu Trooper to the Children’s Development and Protection fund.

“Mongolia is a very poor country where a lot of kids are orphaned and abandoned on the streets to fend for themselves,” Steve explained. “The charity helps the children get food and a chance of education as well as warmth and shelter from the Siberian winters which can get as cold as -40C.”

Team Road Warriors funded the vehicle out of their own pockets, spending around £2,000 on something they hope will fetch a good amount for the charity at auction.

“Some people who enter the rally spend 200 quid on a car and by the time they get to Mongolia it’s shaken to bits. I didn’t want to hand over a wreck so was happy to pay a bit more for our van.”

Until then they will have to get through France, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan and some very inhospitable terrain.

“The thing I’m dreading the most is the potholes,” said Steve. “At best we will swagger like John Wayne for a good while after we complete the drive. At worst we’ll lose the whole van. It means one of us has to be on watch all the time while the other drives.”

The part he’s looking forward to most is being in Mongolia. “I’ll be happy to mix with the locals, and they are pleased to give out camel’s or horse’s milk. They also like to eat all parts of an animal so I know we are going to be given offal, but it would be rude to turn it down.”

Steve’s inspiration came from travel programmes such as Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Round.

“I wanted an adventure but also a cause for that adventure. My wife was supportive, so I thought, Why not? “You only have one life, and who knows what is round the next corner?”