Polar sailor Paddy Barry is among six seniors who have returned from Mongolia after completing the “toughest road trip on the planet”.
As The Sunday Independent reports, Barry and Kerry musician Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich were in a convoy of three secondhand cars driven by two retired Aer Lingus pilots, a retired British Airways pilot and a West Cork fisherman.
The three Mongol rally cars arrive at their final destination in Mongolia
The “mad as a box of frogs” adventurers, as they dubbed themselves, ranged in age from 61 to 87 years.
The six Mongolia adventurists celebrating their arrival in Ulaan Batar (from left to right) Mike Alexander, Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, Gus Warner, Paddy Barry, Mark Alexander and Tim Luffingham
With no back-up, they navigated 15,000km of tracks, mountain passes and roads, and through 21 countries/boundaries in 71 days.
A map of the unofficial Mongol rally route taken by the Irishmen
Their only mechanical problems were a couple of slow punctures and a clutch failure en route.
A herder in Mongolia, which is one big commonage, Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich says
Two children’s medical facilities – the Children’s Health Foundation, Crumlin, Dublin, and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, London – benefited from the funds raised in sponsorship.
Travelling in the convoy were retired Aer Lingus pilots Gus Warner (68) and Mike Alexander (87), along with Mike’s son, west Cork fisherman Mark Alexander (61) and retired British Airways pilot Tim Luffingham (64).
Irish sailor Paddy Barry celebrates arriving in Mongolia over a campfire (photo Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich).jpg
Their route from France took them through Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.
“Cars can get fixed, but the fact we had no health events and no other drama is something of a miracle,” Barry told the newspaper.
Best known for his adventures at sea, including navigating the Arctic Circle and sailing a Galway Hooker across the Atlantic, Mr Barry will be 82 in September.
Ó Beaglaoich recently completed a musical voyage around Ireland in a camper van with his son, Cormac, for a TG4 television series.
One of the Irish Suzuki Jimmys on the road through Mongolia
He got to know Barry through his participation in his own sea adventure – the “camino na sáile” in a naomhóg from Ireland to Spain.
Barry said that it was not like sailing or climbing trips, where there are particular summits or big headlands, like Cape Chelyuskin on the North-east Passage which was like an Arctic version of Cape Horn.
Sunset over a Siberian town Photo Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich
Read The Sunday Independent here
