London England-Europe-Russia-America. 26 countries, 19661 riding miles.


England, Wales, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, South Korea, Japan, North America (19 States, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York) Ireland.
9882 miles (flights/ferries as the crow flies) TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED 29543 Miles/47545 Kilometers

Trip Schedule

Ace Cafe, Stonebridge, London 7pm Mon 21st April-Send off with Riders Digest magazine. http://www.theridersdigest.co.uk/distribution.html
Official start-St. Teresas Hospice, Darlington, Co. Durham 11am Wed 23rd April St Georges Day.
Farleigh Hospice, Chelmsford, Essex 1pm Tues 29th April.
Dover, P&O ferry, 10am Thurs 1st May.
Europe 1 month.
Trabzon, Turkey to Sochi, Russia Tues 3rd June. 90 day visa.
Zarubino, Russia to Sok Cho Korea Mon 28th July.
Incheon, Korea to Seattle USA, via Tokyo, Japan Fri 15th Aug.
JFK New York to Gatwick UK, via Dublin, Ireland Wed 24th Sept
Official finish-Farleigh and St.Teresas Hospices dates TBA.


Many thanks to our sponsors!

I'd like to thank everyone who helped make this trip possible.


CitySprint www.citysprint.co.uk/
The Riders Digest www.theridersdigest.co.uk/

A special thankyou to Frank and Liz at http://www.triumph-online.co.uk/ for such generosity. They gave us almost all the spares and tools we needed to keep the bikes running across Russia, just because they were proud of two British guys wanting to ride two British bikes around the world.

A big thankyou to Graham at http://www.bykebitz.co.uk/ for the Airhawk seat cushion. Without a doubt the most comfortable bike seat I've ever had. Much more comfortable than a gel seat!
Thanks to David Gath at http://www.motohaus.com/ for the Ventura headlight guard. It saved my headlight on many occasions on the Amur Highway.
Thanks to http://www.wemoto.com/ for the brake pads.
Thanks to Rick and everyone at Casade Moto Classics, Beaverton, Oregon, for helping me at such short notice. http://www.cascademoto.com/

Thankyou to everyone who has given their time and effort to ensure the trip went smoothly.
It's the small companies who really make the world go round.

Thankyou Mark & Lee for ensuring we had a good send off, Roman for the tyres in Volgograd, Mikail & the Iron Tigers for the use of their shop, Phil & Dot for their friendship & inspiration, Wendy for shipping the bikes from Korea (& buying me dinner 3 nights in a row) Mike & Jo for keeping me sane in Korea, David Janos for amazing hospitality, advice, collecting my bike from Seattle & taking me sailing! Stan Hellmann for showing me the best of Oregon, Greg for air freighting the bike home & of course Geoff, for helping me realise my dream.

Thursday 10 April 2008

Let not the sands of time get in your gravy


My sole transport transports my soul - Alan Kelly

With hindsight, (do hinds have good sight? I've no eye deer...) I would never again try to plan a trip of this scale and still be working a 50hr week. I've only two weekends left to get ready, with far more than 4 days worth of things to do, so it's Bob Hope and no hope for me then. Geoff's already packed having decided which clothes to take. (Picture 'Man At C&A' strutting to the Bee Gees, and a supercilious expression) It's a catch 22 but I need the money. Especially after discovering someone had taken £250 from my account with a cloned card. I suspect due to a phoney phone call. A sure way to make a tall man short and withdrawn. The Gorm on the "help" line asked to check my identity. After quick glance in the mirror, replied "Yes, it's me." He was as vacant as a condemned outhouse. But it's no use blaming the cistern. Some form of form had to be filled, to formally inform necessary information, as per norm. An account of my recount of my account. Being on form I suggested a reform to save this performance. The gorm was true to form. With no access to my money for 5 days and a 15 day wait for a refund. Joy.

Perhaps moving all the bottles in my drinks cabinet to the top shelf would be a sure way to raise my spirits, if only I had one. So I turned to my bike, my oasis. Even that proved to be a mirage.

The only thing feeling more drained than me is my bike battery, after discovering the alarm faintly chirping like a distressed sparrow. Geoff's bike is also alarmed, but that's due to his style of riding. After a close examination of my bike, there was no obvious reason for the alarm to sound, so I tried to reset it. Nothing happened so I turned on the ignition to deliberately set off the alarm. Nothing. I hit the panic button. That didn't work either, so I did what any normal person would do in a similar situation and hastily introduced a size 13 steel-capped toe to the rear tyre.
"If I had any idea what I was doing you wouldn't be so chirpy then, would you? No!" As if threatening an inanimate object would help, but there's always a first time. After admitting defeat, and turning the key from 'bereft' to 'doornail'...it stopped. It's not pining, it's dead.

My electrical tester's instructions appeared to be in Polish, so assuming it's only good for Pole volts, connected a charger, hoping for the best. More joy.

While the battery is currently re-volting, I'm left to stare at an empty space where my car has been parked for 6yrs, after selling my BMW 3 series coupe. One of a precious few cars I can fit in comfortably, and I loved the 6 cylinder engine but alas, surplus to requirements and I need all the money I can get for this trip. It was rarely driven, but kept for the sake of owning a car, and for transportation of friends and family who are unable to comprehend the joys of motorcycling. You can lead a horse to water...


The £600 I got for my car has paid for my sat-nav, the spare clutch and brake levers and cables for both bikes, (£180!) a tankful of petrol and two pies, leaving me with £20.
I walked to the petrol garage the next day for a pint of milk and some crisps.


"Any fuel?" asked the garage owner.


"No thanks" I replied, "I've just sold my car for £600 and I'm left with this £20 note."


"That's ok" he replied, "You can put the crisps back."


It's all gravy...

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