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Poles of Inconvenience: Europe Edition logo

Because straight lines are not for adventures

Play with sound

Adventure meets gameshow

We’ve re-invented the road trip, dialled up the stupid and created a giant overland arena of old-school mayhem.

The Poles of Inconvenience: Europe Edition kicks off on 19th July 2025. Sign up is open and you can bring any vehicle you want. The launch is a live broadcast so you can start from anywhere. You’ll finish on 14th August at a festival-style party in a former missile silo just outside Prague. In between is three weeks of getting lost and stuck as you try and reach as many poles as possible. We’ll be tracking you on the live map and dishing out daily updates.

Each pole is a carefully crafted nugget of splendid inconvenience. They could be anywhere from the Arctic circle in Norway to a lonely Western Saharan ghost town. Or way over to the east on a Turkish mountain pass cliff-dangler.

You’ll get points for every pole you reach. The more splendidly inconvenient the pole, the more points you’ll rack up. There’s a bunch of prizes up for grabs but the team who crosses the line at the top of the leaderboard will be crowned Champion of Inconvenience 2025.

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The Nuts and Bolts

THE POLES: From Norway to Western Sahara and across to Georgia, every pole is designed to deliver old school adventure.

LEADERBOARD: You get points for every pole you hit, tracked by a live leaderboard updated daily.

THE AWARDS: A bunch of prizes up for grabs including a limited edition Venturo motorbike worth £3,500.

LIVE TRACKING MAP: Live feed of all teams as they search for inconvenience and prize-winning glory.

VEHICLE: The most unsuitable chariot you can muster in any flavour. No engine size or age rules. Ideally you’ll be riding an angry one-eyed camel called Bob. Borrowing your Grandma’s car also works.

LAUNCH: Start from anywhere. The Poles of Inconvenience will officially open with a live broadcast hosted by Mr. Tom, our Founder & Chief Idiot.

FINISH LINE: A proper shindig in a bunker outside Prague run by a crew of post-apocalyptic legends.

PUNDITRY: Running commentary from the perfectly unqualified team at Inconvenience HQ.

Zelengora Pass on the Poles of Inconvenience Rally 2022 by Team Hardhat Racing's

Vehicle rules: None.

“Bollocks to the rules – let’s tell everyone to steal their neighbours Ford Fiesta. Or borrow a donkey from a farmer… Or bring whatever’s on their drive.”

That was founder Mr. Tom’s entire contribution to our vehicle rules review meeting. So that was that. We finished our biscuits and chucked the rules in the bin… You can use any vehicle you want.

We recommend aiming for the least suitable chariot you can get your hands on. A Reliant Robin, Classic Mini, 50cc Vespa or sub 1 litre Nissan Micra may be the gold standard, but your Aunt’s 1.5 litre Toyota Corolla is still a worthy choice – it’ll definitely get stuck when you drive across a ginormous Tunisian salt flat.

You’ll also get bonus points if your car is tiny, ancient or likely to break down 15 minutes after you set off (real points that will shoot you up the leaderboard and give you a head start on winning a prize).

You can bring an expedition ready 4×4 with a built-in kitchen sink if you really have to. But be prepared for ‘we’re not angry just disappointed’ side-eye from your fellow teams, and maybe even points penalties.

JOIN DETAILS
Team Seamen on the Poles of Inconvenience 2022

The Dates

The Poles of Inconvenience 2025 schedule is set. Here are your adventuring dates of destiny…

19th July: The Launch
The Poles of Inconvenience network of chaos is open for business. Join the live broadcast with Founder & Chief Idiot Mr. Tom at 19:00 BST then wobble off into the unknown to bag poles and fight your way up the leaderboard.

14th August: Finish Party
Cross the finish line with all the other teams at a festival-style finish party in a former missile silo just outside Prague. Arrival beers followed by the Official Awards Ceremony followed by live music and a late finish. Camp on site overnight then face up the crushing boredom of returning home to normal life.

JOIN DETAILS
Poles of Inconvenience 2024 - illustrative map

Poles of what?

Poles of Inconvenience are strategically placed nuggets of chaos. We’ve picked the most splendidly inconvenient locations from Norway to Western Sahara and across to Turkey. Together they make up a carefully crafted network designed to slap you about the chops with old school adventure.

Imagine being hurled spicy bits first towards the mincer of life. Jumping into whatever unsuitable vehicle you can lay your hands on and heading off to the middle of nowhere, in a country you’ve never been to before, to find a spot on a map that is utterly ridiculous.

You get points for each pole – the hard the pole, the higher the points. In 2025 we’re brining back the best poles from the past couple of years including: Saharan sand dunes in Morocco; Turkey’s ‘most dangerous road’ D915; a massive car-swallowing salt flat in Tunisia; the road of doom in Albania and the UK’s toughest off road track which is often mostly underwater.

There’ll also be Golden Poles – randomly announced during the adventure and worth shedloads more points. Because they’ll be very, very inconvenient, and therefore excellent.

JOIN DETAILS

Saving the World

The world would be shit without jungles. They are a vital resource for getting lost and stuck and having adventures. And for other important things like humans being able to breathe. So the official charity is Cool Earth, who do an incredible job protecting rainforests around the world by supporting the local indigenous communities stave off the greedy knobs that want to chop them all down and turn them into wardrobes.

Every team has to raise a minimum of £500, and thus the Poles of Inconvenience helps to actually save the world a bit. Anything over £500 can be donated to a registered charity of your choice. But we’d recommend sticking with the official charity, because they’re legends doing legendary work.

Poles of Inconvenience 2022 Rally- On the Road - Winged Victory

Introducing The Golden Poles

Bag a Golden Pole and shoot up the leaderboard, laughing maniacally at those poor sods that weren’t able to get there.

Read more

Unleashing Poles of Refreshment in 2024

Bagging Poles is thirsty work. Meet up with fellow teams, share tales from the road and engage in bonding via the magic of alcohol and comparisons of recent chaos.

Read more

2024 Pitch A Pole Winner Announced

Unwavering dedication to inconvenience with a complete disregard for practicality. Check out the most audacious submissions.

Read more

A Guide to the Most Suitably Unsuitable Vehicles

“Bollocks to the rules – let’s tell everyone to steal their neighbours Ford Fiesta. Or borrow a donkey from a farmer… Or bring whatever’s on their drive.”-Mr. Tom

Read more

Fancy a Different Brand of Misadventure…

Mongol Rally Logo

MONGOL RALLY

MORE INFO

Monkey Run Logo

MONKEY RUN

MORE INFO

IOAR Logo

ADVENTURE RESEARCH

MORE INFO

Rickshaw Run Logo

RICKSHAW RUN

MORE INFO

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