The story goes that when JFK visited Berlin, he announced to the people, in an act of solidarity when it was DDR, that ‘I am a Berliner!’ A ‘Berliner’ in German is a donut. The crowds all cheered and laughed, but I’m told by my German friends that they didn’t make that connection and were [...]

My bike arrived yesterday. We phoned the cargo bay in the morning and were told that 2 motorbikes had landed. A short metro ride later, a few conversations with a couple of Ruski’s, and we were reunited in a cargo cage. Both unscathed, we wheeled the bikes out and then proceeded to scratch our heads [...]

A quick update as I sit here sorting photos of Russia and Mongolia for what I think/hope will be the highlight of this ride report.

As I said, we got into Moscow early. It was a strange experience being in open space again and took a few hours to lose the train equivalent of sea-legs. We [...]

We’ve just arrived in Moscow (4:40am train arrival) after a mind-numbingly boring and uncomfortable train ride. Firstly, there is nothing remotely romantic about being couped up in a tiny  cabin with 4 bunks and the interminable sight of Birch tree forests (some of which were on fire!). We didn’t manage to get a cabin together, [...]

Sent all day yesterday at the cargo bay of the train station. A chap named Yvegeney was massively helpful in our bid to get the bikes onto a train. They went on at 2am (we hope) and we’re catching the trans-siberian tonight at 10pm. It will get us in at 4:40am into Moscow and the [...]

I’ve still got updates and photos to put on from the 16th July but I’d prefer to wait until I get a good run at t’internet because I want to change the format to put full size photos of Mongolia up there and do the scenery some justice.

In the meantime, I’m stuck in Irkutsk because [...]

The Finns have progressed on from Irkutsk and are stuck near Krasnojark with mechanical problems. I am holed up in Irkutsk waiting for Kristian and Gesa (whom you will meet in the next few days update when I get a chance to upload photos and text). The weather here is grim and I’m looking forward [...]

Heading north for Russian border out of Kazakhstan.

The following day the countryside began to change with rolling hills and the temperature started increasing. It was very pleasant riding and I was glad there were some bends in the road, so again I ploughed ahead and tried to find some enjoyment in the riding. We stopped [...]

In the morning we got up and headed north out of Almaty. It was a day of hot riding and reasonable roads. We were keen to visit the Sharyn Canyon which besides the Grand Canyon, are the only two in the world. Besides the absence of cactus’ and the scaled down size, it closely resembles [...]

I was up 8am and although Sami was up at 6 and was gracious enough to not disturb me in my royal boudoir. I donned my white robe and found him out the back changing his front and back brake pads. Breakfast, as agreed, was served at 9am and exactly to our specification. It was, [...]