Lone Wolf Transglobal is GO!!

[Lone WOlf]

The Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com) departed on Tuesday 2nd January from London, on an adventure around the world. On the first day of travelling the expedition went through, France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, en route to Turkey, before travelling around the rest of the world (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/route2.htm).

The launch of the expedition is the culmination of 12 months of planning and preparation. Our expedition vehicle is the Lone Wolf, one of the 7 wolves built for Sir Ranulph Fiennes' 'Land Rover Global Expedition' (http://www.ranulphfiennes.co.uk/exped_lrge1.htm). The expedition was cancelled when BMW took over Land Rover, leaving 7 almost fully prepared, extremely capable and expensive vehicles. Each vehicle cost approximately £50,000 to develop and build. When we bought the wolf, it only had 6000 miles on the clock!!

We then modified the vehicle to suit our needs. Some good pictures of modifications, can be found on our website (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/Preparationtitle.htm). Modifications included installation of a Superwinch Husky 24V winch, addition of a Maggiolina Roof Tent, fitting two tool chests, and three forward facing rear seats. Other major modifications include a second 24V battery bank across a split charger, and fitment of titanium weave laminate bomb proof glass, and mounting all our pioneering tools, and sand ladders/waffles. Our Expedition trailer (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/GlobemasterTrailer.htm) has a tent attached, which when opened, gives the team a 30sqm home, complete with fitted kitchen and 80l fridge.

The team (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/AbouttheProject_000.htm) will be away for 12 months, and will travel through 33 countries. Joining the expedition will be a Norwegian documentary film crew, who will be filming Rowan Brown, cooking around the world.


Follow our expedition, or support our charities from our website- www.lonewolftransglobal.com (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com)



Nick Moylan

Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition

[Hubber]

Some cracking pictures of some cracking trucks.
Well done and good luck.

[Cannonball Bob]

Good luck. :cheers:
You lucky, lucky gits! :Cross:

[AJC]

Checked out your website months ago. Good to see you underway.

Good luck.

AJ

[Bigredone]

Good luck and enjoy :thumbsup:

[ButtonMonkey]

Good luck and have a safe one.

We did something very similar as a family some 32 years ago, drove from the UK to India/Nepal and back.

[nobber]

wait for me....

[whistler110]

Congrats on getting started and Good Luck.

[timberdog]

Good luck keep us posted but i have Bookmarked the page and will follow as you go..

On a lighter note "SILVIG" looks a bit scary in the Photo...Body Guard???:D:D

Nice Truck all the best :)

[EquilibriumX]

Great pictures. Good luck with the journey. :)

Ex

[Madoobri]

All the best for your trip :)

[ken110]

save me a seat next to the cheif organiser;) :D

[Roger Whittle]

Good luck Nick - at least the kit looks ready!

Roger.

[Dave Sumner]

Have a great time you lucky people!!!:D

[Thermostadt]

Good luck LoneWolf. I’m as jealous as a man can be.

[Lone WOlf]

Thank you for the support everyone, Daniel e-mailed me yesterday, with a load of photos, and a description of the past weeks travelling.

Go to our journal pages (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/January2007.htm) to see how the team are progressing. Hopefully the next time I hear from the team, they will be in Sofia, Hungary.

I recieved an e-mail from Daniel yesterday afternoon, saying that the truck is getting so much attention from passers by, that as he pulled over in a lay-by, a passer by had a crash resulting in a 5 car pileup! Fortunately, no-one was hurt, and the wolf wasn't involved in the actual crash, but it still freaked the guys out.


save me a seat next to the cheif organiser;) :DFunnily enough, we did consider running a future expedition where we will sell seats.


Many Thanks,

Nick Moylan

[ken110]

Thank you for the support everyone, Daniel e-mailed me yesterday, with a load of photos, and a description of the past weeks travelling.

Go to our journal pages (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/January2007.htm) to see how the team are progressing. Hopefully the next time I hear from the team, they will be in Sofia, Hungary.

I recieved an e-mail from Daniel yesterday afternoon, saying that the truck is getting so much attention from passers by, that as he pulled over in a lay-by, a passer by had a crash resulting in a 5 car pileup! Fortunately, no-one was hurt, and the wolf wasn't involved in the actual crash, but it still freaked the guys out.


Funnily enough, we did consider running a future expedition where we will sell seats.


Many Thanks,

Nick Moylan

cheers Nick! how much for said seat :D:D

[gaz]

Good luck and enjoy a safe journey. I will follow this:)

[adafish]

are we there yet ?:D

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again, I've had word from the team. They are in central Iran, and have made excellent progress so far. They have sent back their journals as far as Turkey, and images to go with it. I am still uploading the journals to our website, but here are some of the better images.


The team decided to remove the UN decals from the trailer, as they were getting too much negative attention from authorities in Iran, which is a shame, because they would have been increadibly useful in Pakistan.

Apologies for attaching loads of photos, but the rest can be found on our website (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com), or here (http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o53/nickboy_photos/Lone%20Wolf%20Expedition%20Photos/)


I will try to keep you updated, but the team will be entering Pakistan in the next two weeks, so will be out of touch for a while.


Nick and the rest of the Lone Wolf Transglobal team

[AJC]

Cheers for the update and images.

Could you tell me what make the telescopic ladders are the team are using up to the Maggiolina roof tent please? Telesteps?

Cheers

AJ

[Hubber]

Some really good pictures there, cheers.

[Lone WOlf]

Cheers for the update and images.

Could you tell me what make the telescopic ladders are the team are using up to the Maggiolina roof tent please? Telesteps?

Cheers

AJ



I think the company that makes this one is "Xtend & Climb". Its very good, but you have to be careful of your fingers! We got ours off e-bay, it looked more robust than the telesteps model.

Nick

[JamesD]

Nice pics! Nice to see people using the golden landies for what they were originally intended!! :D Good luck to everyone!!

[AJC]

I think the company that makes this one is "Xtend & Climb". Its very good, but you have to be careful of your fingers! We got ours off e-bay, it looked more robust than the telesteps model.

NickCheers Nick. ;)

AJ

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again!

I know its not the done thing to brag about magazine articles, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the Lone Wolf in two magazines this month, neither of which I was expecting!! One of our sponsors, Cooper Tyres, put out a massive press release, which ended up in Land Rover Monthly, and Land Rover World, and there was an article on Land Rover Enthusiast's website.Lone Wolf in the Press (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/PressArticles%28New%29.htm)

LRM also had a letter from the owner of the Expedition Athena wolf, who has just returned from Morroco, and is planning his next trip to Siberia.

I also got a few more photos from Daniel, which are not on the website yet, Here are some of the better ones! The one around the campfire, is Gabby's Birthday bash (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.co.uk/1stFebruary2007.htm)


Nick

[Lone WOlf]

The team have sucessfully travelled through Iran and Pakistan, and we have now stuck the wolf and trailer in a container on the way to Malaysia. In the meantime, the team are taking a 'holiday'. Rowan and Gabby have gone to Nepal for 7 weeks to celebrate their honeymoon, and Daniel has gone to Thailand for 3 weeks, after which will pick up the wolf and trailer from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

The trailer suffered very badly in Pakistan, and the axle snapped, resulting in the trailer rolling. which in turn damaged the trailer tent. They managed to get the axle welded, but it wasn't 300miles before it snapped again.

The wolf also wasn't without mishap, and Daniel had to replace the fuel filter after the dreadful fuel in Iran clogged the last one.

The website journals will be updated over the next couple of days, but there is a lot of photos and content, so please check back regularly.

At one point, I worked out that the team were only 100miles from Cannonball Bob in Kandahar, while they were in Quetta. Shame I couldn't negotiate a meeting :rolleyes:


I have attached a selection of the photos from Iran and Pakistan, and you may agree, this is an amazing place.


Nick

[Roger Whittle]

Thanks for the images Nick - great trip. It shows what we all think - everybody east of Berlin has got a damn Kalashnikov!

Roger.

[Hubber]

Yes, wonderful pictures, thanks.

[Carl]

I'm gonna get fired! Just started reading the journal at work, great stories.

Could we have a "NEXT" button on the bottom of the page?

[Lone WOlf]

Carl, Next button at bottom of page coming up! Thanks for the request!

As soon as I can get Oliver to do his job, there will be loads more journals and pictures



Nick

[Nick Boy]

Thanks for the images Nick - great trip. It shows what we all think - everybody east of Berlin has got a damn Kalashnikov!

Roger.

You'll like this then!! Dan went into a gun shop, and did confirm that they would have let him walk out with one despite being a foreigner!

Loads of photos added to the journals now, and I have added a prev/next button at the end of each of the journal pages.


Nick

[andyb43]

Looking good Nick.:)

How did they get on at the Iranian/Pakistan border and Southern Pakistan, we are constantly being advised not to use that route and its getting a bit boring.

Also is there a reason for not traveling through India/nepal/China why the change of plan?

Wish them luck from us

[Lone WOlf]

Looking good Nick.:)

How did they get on at the Iranian/Pakistan border and Southern Pakistan, we are constantly being advised not to use that route and its getting a bit boring.

Also is there a reason for not traveling through India/nepal/China why the change of plan?

Wish them luck from us

The reasons for not travelling through India/Nepal/China are cost based, China was too expensive just to travel down a motorway. So I attempted to negotiate transit through Myanmar (Burma), which we may have been able to do as a UN peacekeeping ambassador. This wouldn't have worked, so I looked into the cost of shipping at 3 of the main ports 2 in India, 1 in Pakistan. It ended up being just under $700 cheaper for the shipping from Pakistan than India, so we opted to ship from this point. In the meantime, the team are exploring the area on foot.

As for the Iran/Pakistan border, it was a lot less dangerous than we were led to believe. Due to this belief, we were, in our minds overprepared. However, the crossing was not without mishap. The team had attempted to get to the border in time to get into Pakistan in one go. Unfortunately, the carnet was not filled in by the customs officials, so the team had to spend the night in 'no-mans land' between the two countries. This area was filled with drugs and fuel smugglers. Not to mention the dreadful toilets!

The People in the Belochistan desert are, on the whole, nice, accomodating people. There are however, bandits. A friend of mine from Lahore gave me some reassuring advice though, saying that the people cannot be bothered to mess with westerners, because there is such a high price to pay for it. The example he gave was a convoy of westerner's vehicles was robbed, the Pakistani government responded with an airstrike on the bandits.

At one stage, Rowan was surrounded by a crowd, asking questions about his views on Pakistan and Muslims, and we did feel that a misguided response would have got them into a lot of trouble.

The roads in the area are particularly bad in places. The police are also accomodating, but we have been rightly warned not to trust them, and after a run in with the secret police in Lorilai, I would offer the same advice.

Despite all this doom and gloom, it was one of the most amazing places, and the people are on the whole friendly.




I hope my ramblings help, and thank you for the support, I will pass it on to the rest of the team.


Nick

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again,

I believe I have come up with an alternate reason for selecting Gold as the colour for our landy, a matchbox series 12 safari Land Rover, the superfast version was gold!:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150104698262


The wolf has now arrived in Malaysia, and is now safely back in Dan's hands, the port ended up charging us an extra $350 for handling etc! for the next few weeks, Dan will be trying to get the trailer tent fixed, and hoping that the repair to the trailer axle (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/21stFebruary2007.htm) will hold.

We are being well recieved in Malaysia, by the Land Rover Owners club there (http://www.lrom.com), hopefully, we will get some good photos of the area, particularly as this is where the Rainforest Challenge is held.


Lone Wolf

[AJC]

The incident with the trailer repair company Director is something I've experienced before and a way of life in some cultures. Annoying, but something you have to accept.

Cheers for the update. ;)

AJ

[Hubber]

I;m still enjoying following this trek:)

[andyb43]

Hi Lone Wolf enjouing the trip still but have they all falen out? Daniel seems to be the only one left? Mate its better than Castaways ;)

[Lone WOlf]

Rest assured, the team haven't fallen out, Dan has been taking a 'holiday' in Thailand and Laos to recover after becoming quite ill in Pakistan, while Rowan and Gabby went on to Nepal and India. The wolf has been shipped from Lahore in Pakistan to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The journal has been updated with some photos of a trip into the jungle that Dan took with the Land Rover Owners Club of Malaysia. Photos from Jungle (http://www.lrom.com/album/album_show.asp?id=343). Rowan and Gabby will rejoin the expedition in a few weeks, we are also expecting a few friends and family to join Daniel over the coming months.


http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/March2007.htm


Thank you for your support, and keep following our travels,



Nick Moylan

[TheGurkha]

Excellent.

Keep the faith, mate.

[Lone WOlf]

I've added a guestbook map (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/GuestbookMap.htm) to the site, just to test it out, please feel free to come by and leave a comment.

In the mean time, here are a few more photos from the weekend out in the rainforest.


Lone Wolf

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again, The journals have finally been updated as far as 1st April, so you can read about getting the wolf back, and about Daniel meeting the Land Rover club, and him going to Batu for speargun fishing. Read the journals here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/March2007.htm).

I have yet to receive Dan's journal describing the LROM 10th Anniversary, but to keep you going, here are some photos from the weekend. During the weekend, there was a fun off road course, and a drive through the jungle to a nearby town, which was supposed to take 2-3 hours of gentle off roading, having set off at midday, 12 hours later the last of the Land Rovers left the jungle!

We also met a couple of other Land Rover based travellers, "Antipodean Adventure" (http://www.antipodeanadventure.org/) and "Nessies Adventures" (http://www.nessiesadventures.com/), there were also a German couple travelling in a unimog, but I don't think they turned up in the end.


Until the next installment... Enjoy...

Nick Moylan

[Lone WOlf]

Hello everyone

Firstly, I have to apologise for not updating our website for the last couple of weeks; unfortunately, we are having a technical problem updating the site. Sorry to all our regular readers who have been disappointed by the lack of progress in recent weeks.

Now, for something a little more interesting. The expedition is now nearing the end of the South East Asia leg of the expedition. Daniel is now in Laos again, having said goodbye to the Land Rover club of Malaysia (LROM) last month. While at the weekend, the trailer, which had given us troubles in Iran and Pakistan, snapped its axle, this time on the other side. After several days, and several attempts, Daniel, with help from friends made from LROM, managed to replace components of the axle with parts from an old Land Rover axle, and manufactured a new hydraulic braking system. View the journal entry here. (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/9thApril2007.htm)

While driving North through Thailand, Daniel also met some members of the Thai Land Rover club (http://www.thailandroverclub.com/tlrc-forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3052&PN=1), nearby to the Laos border at the friendship bridge. As you can see from the attached photos, the wolf has gone through a couple of small changes, including attachment of ‘bush wires’ or ‘limb risers’, and removal of the cargo rails from our maggiolina roof tent.

The impact of driving half way round the world is beginning to show on the wolf, and over the last few weeks, one of the shock mounts snapped, though a replacement has now been flown out (a temporary repair was also made), and the gearbox fluid also became contaminated with water, causing gearbox oil to spray out of the breather tubes onto the roof.

In the coming weeks, Daniel will continue driving West into Vietnam, which is a particular privilege for overlanders from England, as only left hand drive vehicles are allowed in the country. From Vietnam, we will eventually ship the vehicle on to Los Angeles, USA for the next leg of the expedition in August.


Many thanks for your support and rest assured, the website will be updated soon,


Nick Moylan

[Pete H]

Looking good,keep them pics coming...

[Hubber]

Enjoyed looking and reading..keep up the good work...;)

[Lone WOlf]

Looking good,keep them pics coming...
Thank you Hubber and Pete, any preferences for pictures?

Got some great ones of Laotian foodstuffs for the steel stomached?


Nick

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again,

I have now recieved a whole load of videos back from Daniel, who is just about to drive into Cambodia.

Due to the problems with our website, I have uploaded several of these videos onto MySpace, and more will follow as time progresses, and I get a chance.

View the videos here (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.myvideos&MyToken=2227d7ef-e509-4ff4-a0d6-0b7e35066638).

Let us know what you think, so I can provide Dan with some feedback as videos may become a more frequent feature. I have also attached a few photos from Laos, and Thailand, and stories to go with these will follow in the next few days.


Nick

[Lone WOlf]

Sorry,

Videos here (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=112894606&n=112894606&MyToken=326ec418-2334-4d64-a3c3-2270ced66db9)

[AJC]

I have now recieved a whole load of videos back from Daniel, who is just about to drive into Cambodia.There's a little bar on the corner of 242 Street (Phnom Phen). If they pop in, say hello to the girls for me. :rolleyes:

AJ

[AJC]

Let us know what you think, so I can provide Dan with some feedback as videos may become a more frequent feature. Excellent. Why is the trailer is not always attached? Day trips out of base camp?

AJ

[Lone WOlf]

Excellent. Why is the trailer is not always attached? Day trips out of base camp?

AJ

Exactly, whenever possible, we set up the trailer as a base camp, and explore the surrounding area with the vehicle, this is usually more convenient, and despite getting over 35mpg with the wolf fully loaded along with trailer in tow, it also helps with fuel economy. Less so now, but as you can see here (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=11505810), the trailer is a bit of a liability too.


Hope that answers your question.


Nick

[AJC]

as you can see here (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=11505810), the trailer is a bit of a liability too.Keep receiving error reports on that clip.


Hope that answers your question.Yes, thanks Nick.

AJ

[Lone WOlf]

Keep receiving error reports on that clip.

Damned Internet- I think this is a problem with 'MySpace', basically, the video shows the trailer axle snapping, again, in Malaysia. What the video also shows is that the track is not challenging or particularly stressful on the axle.


Sorry,


Nick

[AJC]

Roger that.

Cheers

AJ

[andyb43]

Bet the trailer suppliers are cringing :eek:

[Steve HNZ]

Played OK for me, I guess that bu99er would go some way to describing it.:D :D
Some great shots & vids, many thanks.
Steve

[Lone WOlf]

Hello again,

Daniel has arrived in Cambodia, and has sent back some journal entries, you can read the latest ones here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/July2007.htm). I have also incorporated some of the videos into the journals, and over time, will be adding more and more. For now we are using google video, as the advertising is minimal, and hosting it on google is free for us to use. Let us know what you think. Sample here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/11thApril2007.htm)

Over the next week, Dan will continue into Vietnam, where he will head North to Hanoi and ship the Wolf onto Los Angeles. In the USA, we hope to visit Las Vegas and Moab, hopefully driving some of the famous trails.


We are steadily catching up on the journal, so please keep checking back regularly,


The Lone Wolf Team

[Lone WOlf]

Hello everyone,

Recieved a journal update (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/July2007.htm) from Daniel, who has now travelled to the East of Cambodia, a region relatively untouched, and uninhabited. The road there involved crossing at least four rivers (on ferries), and for all those who adore MUD, there was a lot of it! The roads of Cambodia so far have proven to be the worst quality we have experienced anywhere in the world so far.

Daniel has also had some more interesting food moments, including eating an unhached chick. An exercise he may never repeat! Next month I will be able to get the video of this, but in the mean time, I have a video of Dan eating a grub (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=11674905)

We were also pleased to see this month that our wolf was in Land Rover Owner International Magazine, with some good photos of the wolf.


Many Thanks,

Lone Wolf Transglobal team

[Lone WOlf]

Having completed the Central America leg, and arriving successfully back in Europe, the Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition is nearly at an end. Daniel will be returning to England in the next week after 11 months on the road.

We have decided to leave Africa off the route at this stage, due to a number of factors beyond our control, including the time it would take to appreciate the region, and the adverse financial climate in UK.

Journals are being added for Central America now, and we are working on compiling a list of highlights from the whole trip.

You can view all our journals as they are added on our journal page:

Thailand and USA (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/August2007.htm)
Mexico and Belize (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/September2007.htm)
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicuragua and Costa Rica (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/October2007.htm)

For those who like Land Rover- Jeep- Toyota, competition, here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/October21st2007.htm), in Honduras, we towed not one, but two Toyota Land Cruisers, which had broken down!

And for those who love camel trophy style off roading, this is what is it like in Cambodia, since the last update- Journal here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/19thJuly2007.htm) and here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/20thJuly2007.htm), Video Here (http://www.lonewolftransglobal.com/VideoCambodiaDay1.htm#Corner)

Thank you for your support, we are being featured on a monthly basis with Land Rover Monthly magazine telling the story of the expedition.


Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition 2007

[Roger Whittle]

Wow! Awesome! That 'sand ladder'/log 'bridge' looked like a nice 'opportunity'. :rolleyes:

Great stuff LoneWolf.

Roger.

[Lone WOlf]

Wow! Awesome! That 'sand ladder'/log 'bridge' looked like a nice 'opportunity'. :rolleyes:

Great stuff LoneWolf.

Roger.


Thanks, the hole was 6ft wide and 6ft deep, the guys had to chop down the trees to make the bridge, and then used our waffles to make the road way.

Also, here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=UM4CtVzPR4A) is a great video of the wolf wading in deep water


Lone Wolf

[graham]

Good luck with the trip keep us updated :)

[Lone WOlf]

Hello all,

Daniel is in Calais at the moment, just waiting for a ferry back to England, completing our round the world expedition.

For those in the Bristol area, Daniel is holding a talk about his travels as part of the Wilderness Lectures on the 23rd January 2008 (http://www.wildernesslectures.com/cgi-bin/display?template=/templates/lecture.html&type=E&id=85)

In addition to the talk, Daniel will have the wolf for brief tours after the talk for interested parties.

Additional talks and lectures will be planned during the year, in the lead up to release of a book that Daniel is writing about his experiences. We also plan to attend a few of the Land Rover shows, but more details of these nearer the time.

If anyone wishes to hire Dan for talks/ lectures about travel and his experiences, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

We have a series of articles being printed in Land Rover Monthly Magazine, so keep an eye out for these, and let us know what you think.


Thanks,


The Lone Wolf Transglobal 2007 team