Victor surpassed himself producing warm pancakes and a tub of Nutella for breakfast. We fed the remainder of the less popular, but more traditional, cinnamon breakfast cakes to the unbelievably cute, but purely decorative, small black pooch who had 'guarded' the outside of our ger all night, waiting for exactly this moment.

We loaded up Olive and set off, leaving our furry companion and the sandunes behind, heading into the vast expanse of rocky desert and endless sky. Eegii was obviously on a mission as we stormed across the plains, making sudden countless sudden adjustments to our course and sped based on what the terrain threw up in our path. To pass the time Emilie taught me how to crochet and in the time that we covered 150km she had produced a delicate little jewellery bag for Bob, I had created a rather holey but very satisfying coaster! It was certainly a challenge learning intricate needlework whilst being thrown around the inside of the cabin at off-road speeds of over 100km but I soon got to know how to read Bob's expression and when to hang on!

In the middle of nowhere we passed a pair of stationary Hiluxs who flagged us down, their tourists stalking around trying remain calm about being stranded in the middle of the Gobi desert. Despite the large flood of engine oil on the sand under the bonnet Eegii believed they could sort themselves out and we sped away over the unforgiving landscape feeling heartless and even a little guilty. We soon arrived at a small town and had lunch with the wife of another guide in her brick house. Bob noticed immediately that the little old lady smelled clean and this mystery was explained when our next stop was the public showers.

As was customary in the remote region there was a electricity black out but fortunately a generator supplied the shower block. The water was warm but sadly could only manage a pathetic dribble which was a pain for me but a nightmare for Bob and her mane of hair. After I had finished admiring my gently developing beardlet, and resisting the urge to ask to borrow Simeon's beard comb the girls emerged and we loaded back in to the truck, picking up provisions from the array of corner stores before heading on to the flaming cliffs. These sandblasted towers of mud were an impressive sight, overlooking the low valley below and had apparently liberated numerous dinosaur remains. We walked through them and down to where Victor pointed out a suspiciously unlikely fossilised dinosaur bone.

It was only a short drive to our overnight stop where we unloaded into a tourist ger, played cards and managed a brief sortie to the local asaxual copse across the desert before supper. Victor had joined force with the other guide and the fusion cuisine was excellent. We played a new selection of card games until it was truly dark and then snuggled down to sleep as the wind began to whip harshly around the ger.