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.

The plan was to get as far to Kharbarovsk as possible. The land was dryer and we had a tent if needed but we would probably find somewhere to stay along the way. 
After an hour or so we we bowling along nicely and looking forward to a mid-morning break. Then another disaster. We only had top gear. We could not stop as it is impossible go get going again in sixth. So we kept going, hoping that we could find a rest stop. 

Two Norwegian bikers overtook us and we flagged them down. We explained our problem and between the four of us we realised that we only had one option. 
There was nothing ahead for 800kms and once we stopped we would be stuck. 
So we had to turn round and go back 2 hours to the truck stop at Never.
They bump-started the bike in top gear down a hill and off we went. 

We get back to the truck stop and wheeled the bike into a workshop. Feeling depressed but fortified by Sharyn's cups of tea, I started to take it apart when Paul and Kim arrived on their bikes. 
They bought beers and by 8pm we had the gearbox out to see that it was finished.

Ball bearings littered the oil and there was no point in thinking about finding parts out here. So that evening outweighed up the options of finding the parts, rebuilding the gearbox, finding a workshop, finding the tools and then riding the re-built gearbox the rest of the way round the world.

Here we are with the broken gearbox-before retiring to supper and bed.

I felt dreadful and thought that I had let everyone down and I had a teary moment. Sharyn pulled me through and the next morning we decided to leave the bike and catch the train to Vladivostok.

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