A KITE-POWER expedition backed by a Burnley firm has received a surprise blessing - from Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Three British adventurers, sponsored by Burnley-based VEKA, aim to ride into the record books with the first crossing of the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia, by kite-power.

The Network VEKA 2004 Gobi-Kites Expedition was launched with a last-minute surprise when the country's ambassador passed on the personal blessing of the Dalai Lama.

The team had gone to the embassy in London expecting simply a send-off ceremony from ambassador Dalrain Davaasambuu.

But they were speechless when he produced three threads of red string, known as 'the Dalai Lama's Ties,' which the Buddhist world's spiritual leader had given him as a blessing for the adventurers.

He explained that he had recently met the Dalai Lama, who took a great interest when he told him of the expedition.

Professor Brian Cunningham, 61, who works for VEKA, Rossendale Road; kite-buggying veteran Peter Ash, 34; and professional buggy designer Kieron Bradley, 30; will make the crossing later this month, covering around 1,000km (650 miles) of some of the world's most inhospitable desert terrain, in temperatures that can soar to 105F by day and drop below freezing at night.

The expedition is being sponsored by Network VEKA, an independent window and conservatory installers' trade body, as an endorsement of its motto: "Reliable in the Extreme."

Backed by Prof Cunningham's wife Christine, as first-aider and photographer, the team will travel by 4x4 from the capital Ulaanbaatar to the Altai region then ride the three kite buggies across the desert back towards the capital.