My wife and I will be heading to Mongolia at Easter in Thumper, our trusty Landcruiser. Going north of the Black and Caspian Seas and hoping to return via Turkmenistan & Iran to Turkey, if we can get a visa for Iran. If not we will return to the Black Sea and cross to Turkey by boat.

From Turkey we plan to cross the top of Africa, i.e. Syria to Algeria and cross into Spain, where we will rest for a couple of weeks before a mad dash back through Spain & France in time for Christmas.

We plan to spend some time in Roumania and Bulgaria on the way out, some time in Kyrgyzstan, probably on the way out (which looks amazing) and of course Mongolia. We will be taking bikes and walking boots and we will be using both as much as we can.

If there is anyone planning something similar, or planning to cross the top of Africa towards the end of the year it would be good to hear from you, with a view to possibly hooking up to cross some of the more remote parts of the route and share a guide where appropriate (e.g. Libia).

Has anyone obtained a visa to cross Iran recently? Or a multiple entry visa for Russia? I have read that you now have to have been to Russia on a single entry visa before they will issues a multiple entry one?

The truck is ready to go and we are just about to start applying for Visa's.