Land Rover's 50-day, 8000 mile journey of Discovery

On the 50-day Journey of Discovery from Birmingham to Beijing, a team of four Land Rovers took on more than 8,000 miles of varied terrain through 13 different countries with the aim of raising £1m for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the process.

"Yeah, we've made it," crackled a voice over the radio, speaking with relief after a nerve-wracking 72 hours of driving in one of the world's most remote and rugged regions. The high-alpine pass into China had been blocked by snow for days, impassable even to the hardiest of off-road vehicles. With no other route through, the team's target - the bright lights of the Beijing Motor Show, was slipping, and time was ticking.

It was with a justifiable cry of relief, then, that China finally rolled beneath the wheels of the four Land Rovers and their 13-country flash-tour through a mix of urban and off-road destinations was on the home straight at last. The journey took in UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and finally China.

En route, the team had undertaken the first private vehicle trip allowed into the 30km exclusion zone at Chernobyl, and through Ukrainian cities of L'Viv, Kiev and Odessa, on to Moscow with an exclusive visit to the Kremlin.

The 3,752m Torugart Pass was the final border after more than 6,000 miles. It was then on to the dunes of the Taklamakan Desert, and the Great Wall and Beijing when the wheels of the one millionth Land Rover Discovery rolled along the infamous tarmac of Tiananmen Square and it was mission complete. Without a scratch, but caked in the dirt of adventure, this epic journey was over.