French Foreign Legion

This man thought flying from Paris to Tokyo was too easy. So he drove - through Russia, with love...

- WORDS AND PHOTOS TOBY THYER

Paris to Tokyo. Budget-ish airlines will fly you for as little as 300 quid. Although for that price you get a free 20 hour stopover and an imprint of your seat neighbour's elbow in your earlobe.

Or, alternatively, you could get in your Peugeot 104 and just drive. Allow us to introduce Renan Favigny...

If you're dead set on driving between the French and Japanese capitals, there are undoubtedly better equipped vehicles to do the 8,000 mile journey in. Why did Renan decide to set off in a clapped out Peugeot 104? He explains: “Anyone could do it in an expensive camper. People spend tens of thousands of euro on gear. I wanted to see if I could do it in something ordinary people can afford.”

This particular 104 was actually Renan's first car. Completely stock, he picked it up 10 years ago for €1,000 in Brittany. You probably wouldn't pay that looking at the car now, but he insists it was an honest minter until a few months ago. Driving intercontinentally can take its toll.

Renan's first long distance expedition was from Paris to the Scottish Highlands. The first attempt saw him promptly break down five miles from Dover. Not wanting the British Isles to defeat him and his Peugeot, he tried again, this time arriving safely beyond the wall to a warm welcome of a hearty haggis and the strangulations of bagpipes.