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.

Wednesday 13 August 2008

To begin any journey you must take the first step.


Mike and Jo flew home yesterday after travelling for 12 months on their BMW they nicknamed 'The Elephant.' You can see photos of their amazing journey at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/hannan/
I shall miss them and hope to see them in Australia one day.
Last night I had a meal with Wendy choi, the lady who arranged our bike shipments for us. She also wants to travel and asked me about Turkey as she heard it was a dangerous country. Istanbul excluded as I never went there, the rest of the country is very friendly. Any country you choose someone will tell you it's dangerous but usually they are not speaking from experience. Wendy is doubtful about her travelling abilities and feels 'safe' in her job, not knowing if she will ever have the courage to go. I felt the same before I left. Once a plan was laid out and more information gathered, the ball started to roll and here I am in Korea! You never know what tomorrow may bring, travelling or not. This is the hardest thing I've ever done but also the most rewarding because of it. I doubt I could be much further away from my 'comfort zone' and like I've said before, living a rich life has nothing to do with money or possessions, it's all about experiences.
A small boy in a shopping centre today got separated from his mother because he was too scared to step onto the escalator. I held out my hand and he took it, taking the first step with me and he was fine. Sometimes you just need a helping hand to take the first step.

Tomorrow I move back into the Namsan Guesthouse for my last night in Korea. It's a case of shuffling from one place to another trying to find a room as everywhere is fully booked.
Friday is the 60th anniversary of Liberation day and is a national holiday. I hope the bus to the airport is still running! I've enjoyed Korea very much but I'm looking forward to America. Naturally I'm nervous at the prospect of going alone but given the size of my feet I can take the first three steps in one go!

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