“We left behind the friendliest town to the sound of
cheering crowds and a starters-gun with a difference. Our early-morning
send-off from Lviv saw a bizarre display of locals in traditional costumes, all
couples walking arm in arm between the cars outside the hotel, some in ball
gowns, others in top-hats, and even a girl wearing a large black tricorne hat
that Napoleon or a pirate of the Caribbean would have been proud to own.
On top of that, four riflemen then rocked up with muskets
and gun-powder charges and fired away, the echo of the gunfire bouncing off the
tall hotel behind us amplified the sound as cars lined up under the special
arch to the street leading out of town. The musketeers looked like characters
from the Arabian Nights with Davy Crocket hats befitting the flintlock muskets.
And with that, we were on our way, saying farewell to Ukraine and its
remarkable welcome in every town and village we have encountered. Today, we
headed our way down thickly-wooded valleys across green and hilly countryside
to the border of Slovakia. Our border formalities were again over in minutes.
Once again our special back-up support organisation headed
by Dan and his team of girls in blue polo-shirts with CREW in large letters
across their backs proved they had a firm grip of border red-tape, and began
slicing up the time we had originally estimated it would take to get out of
Ukraine and into Slovakia. Yet again you did not need to step outside your car,
there were no immigration forms to fill in, in fact, nothing to sign. It was
another slick affair where only a few minutes per car to have a passport
examined was the total hassle-free bureaucracy, thanks to Dan’s nifty footwork
on the spot, and the months of pre-planning work by Barbara and Jane back in
the E.R.A.’s Rally Office leading up to the event, chasing entrants for the
smallest of details… all this blended together this morning, and ensured nothing
could be faulted, nailing down another example of how frontiers can move over
200 people in record time.
So, with time in hand, and a road-closure permit for the
afternoon set in stone, we had a bit of relaxing, fettling and sitting around
in the sun to do late morning. We met up with a team of extra time-keeping
marshals, who have driven out from the UK to reinforce our on-event
organisation for the final days across Europe. Tomorrow, we plan to run no less
than four Time Trials on closed roads, working with the local motor-federation,
plus a racing-circuit test, and that calls for a lot of extra help –
reinforcements organised some months ago have now arrived, and they got down to
work this afternoon.
Our first closed-road test in Slovakia was running smoothly
with a twisty and demanding challenge up the side of a steep mountain-side
laced with hairpin bends and short straights, climbing up a dark and thickly
wooded slope… first gear was called for by many coming out of tight bends…”
Peking to Paris Rally Report
Early-morning send-off from Lviv
Saying Goodbye to the Ukrainian Girls
This is what Kim looks like now; 1 day after getting married.
Our arrival into Kosice - our first day of rain
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