RTW 2014

Planning, paperwork and passportsThe Visas arrived today thanks to Real Russia visa agency and we now have everything we need to get to the Mongolian border.

We set up a charity donation page this week so please be sure to visit it and help support a special project at Portsmouth Samaritans.

Trying to fier out how to put my location in the blog.We have a SPOT locator and it will be useful if we get into trouble and need help. It's main task is to ping our location to friends and family.

The bike is in 1,000 bits and everything needs changingJust a simple gearbox re-build is how it all started but it ended up with a change of just about everything on the bike.

I think I have worked out how to add our location to the blog. It is not easy! But I think I have added a llink to our Spot thingy and it might transmit our location. It has 3 buttons.
The first is "We are OK"
The second button is "Whoops we might need help"
The third button is the SOS button and if that is pressed - well we don't know what will happen but International Rescue are meant to swing into action.

I have set up a sponsorship page for Portsmouth Samaritans for a very special project called Night Owls

Sam arrives to join the teamSam is a bear given to us by Caroline at Portsmouth Samaritans.

He has a green crash helmet and he will be on the bike with us all the way. I don't think he needs any jabs but he might need a passport.

I have set up a sponsorship page for Portsmouth Samaritans for a very special project that the Director is going to create this year.

Night Owls project at Portsmouth SamaritansThe Director of Portsmouth Samaritans (Mary) has a brilliant project that we are supporting called "Night Owls"

It is all about supporting people in distress - by in the middle of the night. Things can get tough during the day.

They might be even more intense at night or the early hours of the morning.

What can we say about Denmark? It really is a great little place with wonderful people and great beer.
Our first campsite beside the sea is serene and beautiful.

The lady at reception welcomes us in faultless English and we sit by a lake in the warm sun after our first day in "Europe"
The country is famous for Lego and Lurpak. Not much else. In Copenhagen they have signs up for the Eurovision Song Contest and we see a countdown clock and a film crew or two filming the streets and perhaps some contestants.

Tallinn is so wonderful it should be a World Heritage Site. It Is!
Perched high on a hill and fortified with turrets and tourist shops stands Tallinn.
A guided tour of two hours revealed that Estonians had a very successful and bloodless revolution from he Russians called the Singing Revolution. Over 150,000 people gathered in 1980 and sang songs that were Estonian and not on the communist party's Approved list. They got away with it and so they kept singing Estonian and the rest as they say in History

Russia! We arrive in St. Petersburg in warm sunshine and a feeling that the journey started now. Sweden and Denmark are lovely but they feel familiar. This feels completely different!

A trip round Red Square and photos of all the sights fills our day while we get processed by the Mongolian Embassy.

The metro takes us easily to nearby the Embassy and the the metro stations and just as grand as St. Petersburg! If you find yourself in Moscow, make sure you use the metro and take a camera.

Bikers attract some attention on the road and we are no exception. A biker rolls up while we get Some fuel and invites us to follow him to his "club-house".

This becomes the haunt of the Night Wolves of Torzhok and we are greeted by the members having a Sunday afternoon together.
We are welcomed as honoured guests and given a tour.

The cool air of the countryside is brilliant as we head for the Urals.

Apparently Stalin moved industry from the West to the east so that the Ural mountains acted as a barrier. Good thinking.

As we arrive in Nizny Novgorod, looking for a place to stay a chap chats to us and takes our picture. He tells us he is a Biker and hopes we have a great time in Russia.

There is a rhythm to each day in the saddle. Mornings are early starts to avoid the lorries who tend to start later and also we like to avoid the heat. Since we arrived in Siberia we still leave early but after a hot coffee and wearing all the layers we can find.

An empty road and a full tank of fuel are great things to have. Also the large 4x4 Lexus and Mercs are not up yet.
Coffee after an hour is very tasty and a roadside caff will always serve eggs and sausage.
Typical garage and cafe on the road

It's cold, flat and empty for miles and miles every day.It's cold. I don't know what I was expecting but a little bit warmer than this for sure. It is nearly June and the wind from the North is very cold.

are generous and warm-hearted. The philosopher Sting wrote,"the Russians love their children too".Countless times we have been treated with unbelievable hospitality.

Stoppie the bike genius drove us round town to find scarce parts, we met his Mum and his lovely dog Chedder.

Evicted from Kazakhstan today because our visas don't start yet. This will be a problem when Homeland Security ask me ,"Have you ever been refused entry to another country?" I will have to tick the box that says YES.

We left Russia near the Kurgan border and it was bitterly cold as we reached the customs post. We were waved through Russia and drove 200 meters of no-mans-land to Kazakstan.

We meet Stoppie the Ace mechanic with Marina, Julia and Sergie. Plus Marsha,Ted and Victor.After our disaster the previous day we still have 300km to the next town which is Novosibirsk. The plan is to ride slowly and carefully to the outskirts and find a motorcycle repair guy.

On the outskirts we get to the airport hotel where they have WiFi and the lovely receptionists Marina and Julia offer to help.
We are taken under the wing of these lovely people.
Soon a motorcycle turns up and off jumps Andrie "Stoppie"

In the middle of nowhere, grey skies and a cold North wind it gets worse. Much worse.The back of the bike wobbles and A howling noise comes from behind me that is not Sharyn. It is the big bearing that holds on the back wheel.
Up ahead I see a tun-in for trucks and so we limp another mile and pull off the road into a junk yard with a cafe and a tyre changing shed for trucks.

Here we are ,fully prepared for a visit to Chelyabinsk, the site last year of their famous meteor. You just can't be too careful.Here we are ,fully prepared for a visit to Chelyabinsk, the site last year of their famous meteor. You just can't be too careful.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor

Now we take an enforced journey on the Trans Siberian Railway.
We had to take the pragmatic decision to leave our beloved bike with 3 nice Russian bikers. It is 450 kms back to Chita and 1200kms to Kharbarovsk where we might find a bearing for the gearbox or we might get one sent in. There really is nothing here for hundreds of miles.

Adventure travellers always say it is best to go with the flow and enjoy the new turn of fate. To fight circumstances will be tough and lead to a spoilt journey. So we go with the flow and get a lift to the railway station 20 kms away.

The last strawWe headed off on the Amur Highway with only 5 days of travel to do. We had our spare cans although the tough part was behind us and there was a full tank and fuel in 150kms today.

We leave the train and take the plane.After a 36 hour train journey we arrived in Vladivostok. At 4 in the morning. So we found a hotel near the station and crashed. 

We had finally made it all the way across Russia and we could see the Pacific ocean for the first time. But it was shrouded in mist. Never Mind. We had made it. 11,000 miles, 8 time zones and a few adventures too.

Hi from Nigel and Sharyn,
Our US part of the trip is nearly over. We are going to write it up when we stop travelling and you can read about our adventures soon.

(Note to travellers: Blogging is really time-consuming, especially when you are riding a bike and camping. There are just no hours in the day, or no wifi)

With Homeland Security on our tail, it is time to leave the US and fly to Emsworth.