Mongol Rally, 2009

In the Sedlec Ossuary – the Bone Kirk – Czech.

In the Sedlec Ossuary – the Bone Kirk – Czech.

A detail at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oświęcim. I didn't want to go really. I've been through the village before, and driving over the railway track is quite chilling enough for me. There are only so many times you can take being really empathetic with such a place... but lots of the guys wanted to go, so here we were. It is of course different for the younger generations anyway, and perhaps important that they do visit because there are fewer and fewer people left in our own families to tell them about those days.

The infamous Nazi concentration camp motto, "Work makes you free", at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oświęcim.

(This one was taken by Tonia but it's in here to help tell the story...)

(This one was taken by Tonia but it's in here to help tell the story...)

(This one was taken by Tonia but it's in here to help tell the story...)

(This one was taken by Tonia's mum but it's in here to help tell the story...) John's car couldn't be taken into Russia after the departure of his team-mate, so we donated it for use by an orphanage, with help of my friends here, in Chernihiv, near Chernobyl, Ukraine. There are some ongoing customs issues, but the key thing to know is that our cars in Ukraine don't count as cars for customs purposes — they are "sports inventory", and this means it's not a problem to leave them there. Only wish that we, the Adventurists, or the Irish embassy had been able to extract this info from the Ukrainian customs a little quicker.

This one was taken by Tonia but it's in here to show how Radion carefully chose a spot in the park where we'd have a good seat! ;)

This is Radion, who has wonderful antique bagpipes from Germany, Spain, and Latvia. He is trying to establish a project to teach the playing of these pipes and the cultures of the countries from which they come, across Chernihiv and Ukraine. He's Tonia's (and thus Aid Convoy's) latest little side project! ;) Needless to say, John is going to try to get him some Irish pipes, and I some Scottish! It was particularly lovely to meet him in the park where he had been awaiting us, just playing his pipes to passing Saturday wedding parties. He'd chosen a spot with a lovely piece of raised ground under a tree which served as a seat for us. Later he played a little in the underground church-in-the-caves. That was truly amazing — I can't imagine how long it's been since that place heard music. He's very musical, loves even talking about it, and sings a little too.

This one was taken by Tonia but it's in here because I like the way she caught this smile.