Around the world, 2003 - 2006

Today did not get off to a great start. I planned my day and went to Granny's to adjust the sag. I had loads of things going through my head and, having put some stuff in the top box, started the engine. I waited for a gap in the traffic and rolled the throttle on to ride straight off the pavement onto the road.

What's the strangest thing you've ever sent?When I was at Heathrow having my bike crated I asked Dave, who was making my crate, what's the strangest thing he’s ever sent?

‘I’ve been in this job for twelve years’, he replied, ‘the strangest thing I’ve ever packed was a penis’.

‘What markings were on the box?’, I asked, ‘one careful owner?’.

‘You’re having me on!’. Exclaimed Pete, he had a shaved head, two nose rings and ‘venom’ tattooed across his neck. They'd been working together for four years.

I was trying to decide whether I would travel with Dom and Leah on their bikes for a few days as we are basically going in the same direction. The only problem is that they get up and go to bed late whilst I get up and go to bed early. This suggests a fairly basic incompatibility. I met Dom and Leah at the bike rally in Creel. Dom is a plant manager and Leah a civil engineer. They met whilst working on the same construction project on the M25. They are riding to Buenos Aires on Kawasaki KLR650’s they bought in Vancouver. From BA they’ll fly to Oz and start up a business together.

The day started off so well.

I was finally feeling confident of making the rally. The bike was running perfectly, there were no signs of any trouble when I changed the oil the day before, I had just fitted two new tyres that would last at least ten thousand miles and I had all the cooking equipment I needed. I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxation as I set off for the border.

I 'asked' to enter the cab. The driver looked at me and smiled. He was pointing to the rear of the train. I was a bit confused thinking he was asking me to go and join all the other toursists again. I looked at him enquiringly and he then pointed down a bit. I clicked. He was pointing at the ladder!

I am now in Valle de Bravo, a beautiful town on the edge of a large lake, only two hours away from Mexico City. It is the 'French Riviera' for the wealthy and a lovely place in which to learn Spanish.

I was going to do a Spanish course in Guatemala but it seems silly not to do it as soon as possible since I'll be spending more time in Mexico than in any other country. I expect to be here for at least a month.

Therefore, I doubt I'll update this site until the New Year.

I wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

So much for travelling light.

I've now bought a bicycle whilst staying in Valle to keep fit while learning Spanish.

The tricky bit is how to take the bike with me as I head south.

Taking it is made more difficult because of the panniers and top box so Andy Tiegs' method won't work for me:

This is what Plan A looked like, but more importantly, what did it ride like?This is what Plan A looked like, but more importantly, what did it ride like?

The next morning I packed up all my stuff into four bags, two side panniers, top box and bag across the seat behind me. I put them on the bike, added my camera tank bag as well, checked the bicycle mounts were tight and set off for my shake down ride.

I'd have to remove the smaller pannier and put the bicycle down the side of the bike.
That gave me two options:

- decide what stuff to leave behind in Valle and continue with only one pannier or
- move the top box back three inches and fit the pannier on the seat behind me.

I spread out all my stuff on Juan’s floor. I reorganised it into piles and soon realised the only way to ‘loose’ thirty-one litres was to leave my camping stuff behind. This was my tent, tent poles, pegs, ground sheet and Thermarest mattress.

The sweet sounds of ‘Blowing in the wind’ drifted down the street from the open upstairs window. The guitarist also had a good voice.I went into the hotel and found the staircase. I went up to the door and listened for a while to make sure I had the right room.

I hammered on the door.

‘Senor Conte. Per favor, stop that dreadful noise!’

The playing and singing stopped abruptly.

I heard the door being unlocked and Senor Conte opened it slowly to see who was complaining about his superb playing and singing. He did not look very happy.

I grinned at him.

I had just entered Costa Rica from Nicaragua and I was in my usual euphoric state from being in a new country with the added relief of having cleared Immigration and Customs.

About ten minutes later I could see a cyclist up ahead, going the same way as me. That made it easy to chat as neither of us would have to stop.

As I slowed down I noticed her pony tail.

‘Wow’ I thought.

I started to dribble along side her bike.

‘Hi’ I said ‘Where are you going?’

I have wanted to visit the islands for many years. By being in Quito and being able to go at short notice I got a rather nice 45% discount off the normal rack rate.

Here are a few examples of what I saw:

Clicking on an image will take you to a bigger picture on my site www.fowb.co.uk. Use the 'back arrow' to return to this page or 'Home' to see more photos on my site.

There was no traffic and lots of police about. They had close the road. 'No wonder he’s late' I thought 'the traffic must be a nightmare'.

Eventually he turned up full of apologies.

It all started with another dreadful breakfast.

I had asked Aracelli for eggs, toast and coffee. After about half an hour I was presented with a hard boiled egg.

I cracked the top with my knife and was just about to cut the top off when the white poured out onto the table cloth.

Here are a few specially selected new products and shopping experiences available in Peru:

Ricardo had advised me not to miss this road.

There are about forty tunnels as the road winds it's way up the valley.

This was a rare exception - a naturally lit tunnel. There were no electric lights in any of them so, if the tunnel curved it was impossible to see anything when going from very bright sunshine to total darkness.

This has been the saddest day of my trip.

It’s one thing to read or see film about an earthquake, the loss of life and destruction. It’s quite another to visit a town totally destroyed by one and the subsequent landslide.

In stunned silence and almost in slow motion I watched my helmet bounce off the top of the barrier and spin off into the valley below.

I was on my best Lima to Caraz run yet. My earliest start and fastest time. I'd already covered 200 of the 500km to Lima and it was only 12am. I needed to stop for wee number two and was looking for a suitable spot. As I rounded a corner I saw a crash barrier – perfect.

Colca Canyon is almost the deepest canyon in the world. The neighbouring Cotahuasi is 163m deeper but is a lot harder to get to and doesn't have the condor fly by.

Both are twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. From the view point to the river below is just over 1,000 m. I was feeling slightly dizzy sitting on the wall so made sure I kept one leg behind me.

The condors are huge and are capable of carrying off small sheep and motorcyclists.

This was one of the weirdest things I have ever done. My bike has been blessed by a Catholic priest.

I parked in front of the church and found the priest. He had two cars and a lorry to bless before my bike. Truly funded by the profit motive he will bless anything for ten Bolivianos. About $1.20.

Riding down a river is a strange feeling.

Funnily enough it's only open during the dry season.Visit www.fowb.co.uk for more details on this and previous trips.

As I approached the Bolivian border post at Villazon I could see loads of people all over the place. My guide book had said that this was a major smuggling route tolerated by both governments and that I should just jump to the front of any queues.It was only on a second glance that I realised there were two rows of bicycles completely blocking the bridge. Between them lay a pile of ashes, presumably from a fire the night before. It looked like a meeting of French farmers.

What was going on?

They are easy to recognise.

They are always on the outskirts of town and always one storey buildings.

As you drive in every room has it's own parking slot directly in front of the room, like a motel. As soon as you drive in an attendant swiftly draws the curtain behind your car so no one else can see it. You can pay by the hour. The sheets are clean and the water is hot. They also had the smallest towels I have ever seen.

It was not a good sign.

The engine had become very noisy, very 'tappety'.

The inlet gaps had increased from 6 to 40 thou in 1,500kmThis caused the problem - a seized inlet cam follower bearing:

which then .......buggered the camshaft:

(So now I know where the metal on the magnetic oil plugs was coming from).

I watched as Willy tightened all my spokes.

'Do you know what you are doing?'

'Oh yes', he said.The next day I went for a ride into the mountains with Nico.

Even before we got out of the town I realised I had a big problem.

As I rode slowly down the road I stood up and looked at my front wheel over the fairing. It was wobbling like mad from side to side.

Willy had completely fucked it up. Brilliant.

So what's the big deal?

All I did was sit on my bike for nine hours.

I left Sao Paulo just before nine am and rolled into Campo Grande at seven thirty pm. One thousand and one kilometres later at an average speed of one hundred and eleven km/h.

This beat my previous record by 180km.

I suppose it must be a boy thing.

I love Ushuaia, it has a real buzz.

There are tourists everywhere. They are either just about to go or have just returned from their Antarctic cruise. Many of those that have returned said they have never seen so many animals together, hige colonies of penguins and birds.

One lady did say that the sea had been 'a bit rough'.

'What do you mean by a bit?' I asked.

This happened a few days ago to a ‘friend’ whilst riding through no mans land between Argentina and Chile near Chile Chico.

I have reconstructed the actual event as a warning to fellow bikers.

He was in that semi euphoric state having exited one country and almost passed into the next. He was really happy to have left the wild winds and wastelands of Ruta 40 behind and was looking forward to riding the Carretera Austral.

I have wanted to come here for many years.

I really liked the idea of a shot with my bike beside a moai.

Unfortunately, and not entirely unsurprisingly, the frieght charges from Santiago and back were a bit too steep so I had to settle for a rental bike instead.

Oh shit, where did that wave come from?

Two locals had both said the tide was going out.

I was busily photographing my bike Fred with the sun setting behind him over the sea. As the sun got lower the light was bouncing through the spray off the top of the waves producing a beautiful orange mist.

The shutter clunked several times as I held down the button to take multiple exposures.

The natives are friendly.

Visit www.fowb.co.uk for more details on this and previous trips.

I was lucky. Really, really lucky.

My steering damper saved me from crashing after I hit a 'roo at about 120 kmh.It was the first live one I'd seen. All the others were laying dead at the side of the road.

I'd been warned not to go fast but had been having a race with a Landcruiser as we headed towards Miles.

I saw the 'roo hop out of the bush about ten metres from the edge of the road.

For the last year or so I've been funding myself by increasing my mortgage.

I'm having far too much fun to stop but, even as an accountant, I can appreciate the short term nature of my solution.

I tried to get a job in NZ and have just started the same in Oz.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work (contract IT consulting), clients normally want some one for longer than three months which is all I want to work for so I don't miss the dry season heading north through Africa.

The guide book author Hilary Bradt has been to Madagascar 27 times. Either it is an extraordinary place or she has a bad memory.

The Malgasy are the friendliest people I have ever met and the flora and fauna are also unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Instead of returning to Joburg after my ride south I'm now going to ride north and fly 'Le Heap' back to Tana again. There is no need for a crate, the bike is simply slid into the cargo hold on it's side.

It's true. Look:

There are also other very wierd plants and very strange animals:

Elephant's Foot:

A Sifiaka (a precursor to the apes)

I’ve just spent five hours under arrest at the Toliara Police Station, Madagascar.

What was my crime?
Not stopping when the Minister of Tourism’s cortege overtook me, a tourist, on his way to a very important lunch.

I was on my way to the spiny forest at Ifaty, which is full of strange succulent plants. I had just turned onto RN 9 and noticed a policeman at every junction. This was unusual. I passed the first few but then noticed a car coming up behind me with it’s headlights on so I moved to the right and slowed down.

Both my maps said my route north to Diego was the ‘main’ road with Beleanana a right turn off it. Bollocks. You have to turn left for Diego. The one and only sign was hidden by a lorry when I went past.

The road was so much fun I never noticed I was going in the wrong direction.

I only realised I’d cocked it up when I got to Beleanana an hour and a half later.

I watched with some trepidation as five blokes lowered Le Heap off the side of the quay into the boat.

The water was deep.

‘You are not the first moto’ I was assured.

‘What? Drop one into the harbour?’

Five minutes later we were surfing the seas at 45 km/h with Le Heap roped down in the middle of the boat. We pissed past another speedboat full of passengers.

It is completely different to anywhere else I have ever been. The warmth of the people, the amazing variety of landscapes, the fun roads, the extraordinary flora and fauna and fantastic food make it totally unique.

It is Africa:

I'll be back.

It is France:

with French cooking:

Even I thought it was time to head home having faffed around for the last five months.

So where has the time gone?

Er, I spent three weeks in Madagascar and er, a day helping Steve entertain his clients:

er, and a bit of cycling to test the camera remote:

My Swazi shakedown worked very well.

Rather than head off into Mozambique I have returned to SA to fix yet more things:

- The right fork leg leaks oil from the damping adjuster knob.
- The DAM exhaust melted the left indicator.
- One of my litres of fully synthetic fell off the back of my bike and disappeared within minutes.

Whilst waiting for more bits to arrive I went on a four day walking safari in the Kruger NP with www.transfrontiers.com. This was my best vfm safari yet.

If you have never done one you must do so when you get into southern Africa. There is nothing quite like getting close to a huge animal. It's just not the same in a vehicle. Would you rather have sex or just watch?

'Don't take any photos once he's spotted us' whispered Andy my guide.

'That doesn't look right'.

Mark glanced at my rear wheel and spotted one of the bearing seals was fitted badly.

I took the wheel off and he removed the seal. It was completely the wrong size and I had never realised. It had been fitted quite a while ago.

More worringly he then discovered one of the bearings was completely knackered. I had asked Clayton Enslin to replace all the wheel bearings 1,000km ago as part of my big preventative maintenance plan before heading north through Africa.

30% of my mechanical problems have been caused by dealers making mistakes.

On the way through Mozambique towards Tete the clutch was dragging and it was getting harder and harder to find neutral.

It got a lot worse once the engine was hot. I hoped it was the seals on the hydraulic clutch failing again as that would be easy to fix.

When I measured the clutch movement it was a lot less than it should have been so could have caused the problem. However, since I had the clutch cover off I was advised to check the clutch plates anyway.

What a bit of luck I did.

The Blue Ridge Parkway really does get better as you go south.

It was a glorious autumnal afternoon in October and I was going faster and faster as the adrenaline started to flow. The leaves were spectacular shades of orange, yellow and gold in the softening light.

I could see a left hand corner coming and moved slightly to the right.
Even though I had left Connecticut a week ago and I was still feeling a bit weird.

I had felt very unsettled when I got home from my last trip and had only worked for six months before starting this trip.

There's only 1.4% difference in our DNA.

(Reassuringly we also apparently share 40% of our DNA with mushrooms).

One young male came and lay down about five feet away and stayed there for ten minutes.

In spite of thier small size in comparison to gorillas they are a lot more violent. They kill other animals - monkeys and also thier own kind like we do.

Wow.

At 220 Kilos, the silverback is not some one to argue with. He is huge.

Especially when he starts running towards you thumping his chest and roaring.

I've just learnt something new and relearnt something I already knew:

- Don't ride on collapsed suspension
- Don't let anyone work on my bike - Parts 1 and 2

Collapsed Suspension - A very slow 20km on a dirt road bent the shock shaft -> $700 for a 'reconditioned' rear shock. I nearly cried.

Others working on my bike:

Part 1 - The 'mechanic' broke a rear wheel bearing hammering it out with a punch. Removing the broken bit damaged the hub -> $200 for a new hub (to avoid further butchery to remove the new bearing and spacer I needed.

Here's one I took a few days ago of St Georges church:

They really are extraordinary and are carved out of the solid rock.

First dig a big trench straight down like a huge, deep moat. The big chunk left in the middle is the 'church'.

Next start tunelling in at the base to carve out the rooms. They are all therefore one solid piece of roack which is still attached to the ground.