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.

Monday 5 May 2008

East good, West bad...


Geoff's just paid for another hour of internet access, so I'll make the most of it!
I can't connect my camera so photo's will have to wait...

We didn't even notice the border crossing back into France, as we skirted the border twice more before finally entering Germany.
We stopped at a popular biker cafe in the center of the Black Forest after an amazing ride around some of the steepest and twistiest roads I've ever seen. Absolutely amazing! A true biker paradise, far more bikes than cars and all very friendly.
A local biker on a Triumph Daytona who spoke excellent English, pointed us in the direction of the best road in the forest. I think it was the B500, I'll have to check, but it was fantastic. Even on a loaded Tiger I had more fun than a barrel of monkeys. The edge of my tyres finally getting the usage they deserved, but not after taking a mile or so to regain my confidence after avoiding an over zealous VW Golf sliding toward me on a hairpin....happening for the second time that day.
We aimed for Treberg until we discovered the nearest campsite was about 20 miles south. We didn't expect much as it was in the middle of nowhere, but what a perfect place to be!

The Michaelhof Gästehaus sits over 3000ft overlooking a beautiful valley. It was difficult to arrange two nights camping and an evening meal, as the landlady spoke no English, and also quite amusing watching Geoff trying loudly gesticulating unsuccessfully to enquire if Black Forest gateaux was served.
It was cold at night under a clear sky, but feeling the sunrise over the mountains soon warmed us up ready to 'nip' over the border into Switzerland, as Mark put it, carefully mapping out a route avoiding motorways, to avoid a toll. I didn't care where we went as long as it wasn't back home!
"I see," said Mark, so that's East good, West bad..."
It doesn't matter where you go, everywhere is spectacular. The small scenic towns offered immaculate streets, and perfectly presented coffee and giant pretzels in a few cafes that remained open on a Sunday.

There are still border posts, but empty, so no barbed wire to jump the Tigers over a' la Steve McQueen. Lee led us much further than we first planned, but when we accidentally discovered the Rienfalls, we had to stop and stare in awe. So much so we decided to buy more cheese and rolls from the local Co Op garage and locate a spot for lunch. And what a spot Lee found. A huge castle high in the mountain forests overlooking the Rein. All the way to Switzerland for some Camenbert....
The route back to the campsite was more then entertaining, especially when overtaking a car at ahem, 70kph officer, a pheasant strolled in front of me, showering my visor in unpleasantries as I ducked underneath it.

That evening was spent sampling Geoff's splendid Spagetti Bolognaise, and Marks noodles with added chilli for a 'kick', marvellous!

Next morning I was awoken early to the sound of tents being packed onto bikes, as Mark and Lee prepared for the 600 mile ride home. As much as we want them to stay it isn't possible. We waved them off with a big thankyou for everything, then booked another night for a break.
We should stay in Switzerland tomorrow if all goes well.
Bye for now.

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