A BURLEY-in-Wharfedale charity team taking part in the 2016 Mongolia Charity Rally narrowly missed being caught up in the the attempted coup in Turkey.

The team One Steppe Beyond, made up of former Ilkley Grammar School pupils, 24-year-old Matthew Wild, his twin brother William and their 23-year-old friends Megan Hampton and Oliver Hayes, managed to get across the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul before it was closed by Turkish soldiers and tanks.

Matt said: “We set off from Burley on July 8 and we have made good progress on the European roads. By the time we crossed from Bulgaria into Turkey we were about 36 hours ahead of schedule. Had we been in Istanbul when we expected to be, would have found the road ahead blocked with tanks and military vehicles”.

As it was, by the time the time the coup was being attempted in Istanbul and Ankara, the team were approaching the boarder with Georgia at the other end of the country.

One Steppe Beyond have purchased and prepared a 4x4 vehicle, and are driving it 10,000 miles from Ilkley to Mongolia to deliver the vehicle to a hospital in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

The Mongolia Charity Rally forms part of Go Help’s Ambulance Project. Go Help is a UK charity that works with local communities in Central Asia and Central America to improve their access to education and healthcare service. Since Go Help was founded, 26 ambulances have been donated, which were then in turn either donated to hospitals, clinics and NGOs, or retained for use in charity projects.

On arrival in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, the team will pass their 4x4 over to the GoHelp charity, which will make the necessary upgrades required to help the vehicle serve the local rural population as an ambulance. Through this, the team aims to improve the healthcare to the local communities whose access to these needs has declined due to rapid urbanisation. Matt added: "Providing an off-road ambulance to Mongolia will enable hospitals to engage communities further afield, whilst helping to meet the current shortfall of ambulances."

While the team is funding the running costs of the drive, they are looking for charitable support to cover the £4,000 cost of the vehicle.

William said: “We have had great support locally and we’re hoping that the remaining £1,000 to cover the costs of the vehicle can be found before we hand it over."

The Mongolia Charity Rally is an epic 10,000-mile pan-continental road trip for charity across three mountain ranges, five deserts and many barren and inhospitable lands. The team will travel through 17 countries, cross two seas and follow the footsteps of Marco Polo along Silk Road through Central Asia.

Olly said: “The next challenge is going to be crossing the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea ferry is a collection of cargo ships that ply different routes between the nations surrounding the world’s biggest lake. Although some people say it is easy to take the ferry across the Caspian Sea, the rules change all the time and it usually comes with a fair bit of uncertainty and confusion. There is no timetable for any of these ferries. When they leave depends a lot on the weather, and on the amount of freight that is loaded. Basically, it leaves when it’s full!”

Follow the team’s progress at https://www.facebook.com/onesteppe/ and visit the team’s fundraising page gofundme.com/onesteppebeyond for more details as to how you can contribute the cost of the ambulance