Because we can’t be sure we can rely on the weather or the trails away from the tarmac, we went with a safe and lightweight option in a trio of Yamaha XT250s with their torquey but reliable air-cooled lump. The next morning it’s time to get riding so we take a frustratingly slow drive out to the dealership where we’ve organised to pick up the bikes. Our video guy and drone operator Ian is due to join us too. I’m here to join him and another British rider, Paul, for a recce trip prior to running full tours in the country next year. Hours later, I’m refreshed and rested and I catch up with Toby from the tour operator Ride Expeditions who’s just arrived from South Africa via Dubai. The hotel is alongside the square and, seeing my tired-looking face, the receptionist sends me off for breakfast while she organises a room. It’s suitably bedecked with heroic statues of Genghis Khan, the only Mongolian the rest of the world has ever heard of.

The city is a strange mix of faceless Soviet-style shops and blocks of flats for mile after mile, before we reach the jarringly modern glass-clad skyscrapers that surround the central square in front of City hall. Having already got my visa, I breeze through customs with surprising ease and once my kit bag rattles off the carousel, I’m relieved to see a driver waiting for me, name card in hand.

I’d arrived in Mongolia a few days before, touching down at Genghis Khan International Airport in the unnecessarily vowel-rich city of Ulaanbaatar in the early morning sunshine.

Mongolia before genghis khan