Another week has come and gone and the preparations are hotting up. I’ve got my jabs, had a successful health check-up, got my Kyrgyz and Uzbek visas and am now planning the Turkmen and Iranian visas – two of the hardest ones to acquire!

I’ve finally set a departure date currently the 12^th March, but this is not as yet concrete. As my preparations enter their final stages I have a real sense of excitement combined with nervousness and worry. Of course there will be problems to solve along the way and I’d be naïve if I didn’t prepare to some extent for these things. As such I have a backup plan to go via Azerbaijan and cross the Caspian Sea from Baku to Turkmenbashi should the Iranian visas prove difficult or should it not be possible to enter Iran.

 We’ve managed to forge what promises to be a very good link with the work the Mercy Corps are doing in places such as Iran, Uzbekistan and China. I will be visiting one or two of their projects and hopefully we can really help support the work that this charity is doing. It’d be great to get another charity on board as a beneficiary and I am working on that currently.