The 'Real' Way Round

Who also thought this was a good idea!!! 2 men, 2 motorbikes, 15,000 miles in 8 weeks, unsupported - it rolls off the tongue for us as well. I have been planning this trip for twelve months and we are down to our last 4 weeks and the butterflies are starting already !!.This is the first entry of many I hope, some by me and some done by our Paul. We want to raise awareness and some cash for The Childrens Society, so please feel free to make a donation either through us or in your own town/city.

Its here !!, all the months of planning (and in these last few days all the packing) have finally come to an end and we're off. At 7pm tonight (1st May) me and our kid will board the Hull to Rotterdam ferry. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about the journey ahead because I am. Its also a time of excitement though and wondering just what might happen and the sights and sounds of all the countries we will visit. Leaving friends and family is never easy, especially when they know you are doing trips like this and the possible dangers we might face as we travel across the globe.

Well we are living a dream and it hasn't disappointed yet !!. The weather has been fantastic and the roads are brilliant, soooo smooth with flowing series of left and right bends one after another which we were taking at 60 - 70. Unfortunatly we managed to get 2 speeding tickets - one in Slovakia and one in the Ukraine. Total cost of the fines was $70. Police have the new and improved radar gun that goes round corners to catch you !!!.

After the epic ride to Kiev(20 hrs) we managed to find AWT BMW garage and booked the bikes in for a service with Yuri, there was a problem with getting the correct tyres but said he would try his best. Sunday morning we left the hotel (10ish) and arrived at BMW only to find out that he couldn't get the tyres!! He did though give us the phone no to the area manager who manages eastern europe and told us he would ring him to tell him that we where going to Kazakhstan and would he try to get the tyres there. So we have to ring him when we get there(more info on this when we know).

Kazakhstan has to be one of the worst countries we have visited - the roads are rubbish, really rubbish. The people we have met have allways been really helpfull most often than not, and that makes getting around a whole lot easier. Aktobe and Alma-ata where beautiful cities but everywhere there's a hole in the ground - they fill it full of rubbish, normal household refuse and this spoiles the countries. We got the same ferry as Ewan and Charlie and when the ferry touches at the other side your at the border gates waiting to get into the country.

Leaving Bisck we head to our end point for this trip...Mongolia, riding through the Alti region of Russia was fantastic, sooooo beautiful - snow capped mountains on one side and grassy plains on the other. It was simply awe-inspirering and hot to boot, not what we thought Siberia would be like. We keep stopping to record the view ( for our up and coming dvd, for sale at all good car boots ha ha ha ) and take photo's to prove to the doubting Toms that we did it.

Back at Barnaul and Hotel Siberia we book in for 2 days and take time to wash our kit and catch up on sleep. We don't go to the bike bar as we don't want to outstay our welcome and have a quiet meal in a chinese resturant. I speak to the receptionist ( Irina, Whose very foxy ) and she informs me that Ewan Mc Gregor stayed in the hotel in a single standard room and she has photo's of him at the hotel. We parked our bike's in the same spot as he did...whoopee do. In the morning Mark video's her with the photo's( by the way Russian women are very beautiful, well most).

We arrived in Barnaul and went to the bike bar to see if there was any new developments on the tyre situation! We got talking to a young bloke called Andri Anderson who worked in a motorcycle shop and we explained our prediment and he said he may have some our size..... fantastic!! We made plans to meet up the next day at 09.00am and he would take us to his work place in Novo Sibersk. With the tyres hopefully sorted we arranged to meet up at the bike bar later that night and departed back to the hotel (the same one as Ewan Mc stayed at by the way).

we booked into hotel Slavyanka for two days as I was unwell (de-hydration we think) and spent the second day, Mark washing the wind screens and head light protectors myself taking off the helmet visors and protection systems and washing those. We also wanted to change some dollars and ask the hotel receptionist who rang round and found some where open (the time was 6.30pm). We got directions and a small map from her, here goes a mini adventure in this big adventure. We head up the street trying not to look to much like tourist's but fail miserably!!

We have our usual breakfast - cheese ,tomato, omlette with black tea and juice. Its a Russian thing, salad for breakfast. We are not big fans of salad but we are getting used to it now !!. The sun is shinning and the roads are good but its still a big ask to get to Moscow - which is still 1000 miles away ( bugger ). We rode all day and arrived in a town called Perm. Moscow will have to wait a little longer. I feel ten times better after my little poorly spell and tomorrow we should be in Moscow and 2 days off to recharge our batteries and see the sights this beautiful city has on offer.

Alarm call goes off but I am awake already - no change there then !!. Breakfast was probably the best we've had, although very similar to all the others. We are now set into a routine, I get two juice ( one each) while Mark gets his breakfast and gets two tea's while I get my breakfast, two helpings this morning. Every where we go, each hotel, the bikes cause men,women and children to stop and stare. Men talk about them in groups of two/three.

After the long ride, we don't get up till 11am. We do some filming on the balcony of our hotel room. We decide to change some dollars and then go sightseeing. Red square, Kremlin, lenin's tomb and of course Mc Donalds....... really - Mc Donalds next to the Kremlin... unbelievable!!. We wanted to go and see Lenin, however he's only open from 10am till 1pm. We find this out at..... you guessed it.......2pm - typical. Still we take photo's and some film footage. Brilliant, we still can't believe we're in Moscow.

We woke quite late and had Mc Donalds for breakfast (I'm sick of the stuff )and head off to change some money in a supermarket. The hotel phone for a taxi to take us to Warsaw. When it arrives it looks like an American cab - weird. The taxi takes us to the perfect place - the old town. We bought a mini guide and took the rest of the day sightseeing ( lots of photo's and film). The taxi picked us back up where he dropped us off and we go to the petrol station for some nibbles and beer and settled down in our room to catch up on the world cup.

We got up at about 7am and packed the bikes. We weren't sure if breakfast was in with the price but I said I wanted a cup of tea - the usual cup of black tea with one sugar - something me and Paul have come to, like as its very refreshing. The man on reception proceeded to bring us bread rolls, ham and cheese so I guess it was included. We set off with some directions I got off another guest to find the elusive Kutna Hora, and by luck, chance or because we've got good at it, we got to the Chuch of Bones at 9:30am.

We awoke a little late after last nights frivoloty, but not to worry - Holland and Arnhem was not far away. We left at 10am and got onto the Berlin ring road and found the motorway to Amsterdam. We blasted all the way at 80/90mph and was in Arnhem and looking for a hotel by 3pm. We exchanged some dollars in a bank and got some directions to a hotel, a best western about 300metres down the road, ( how lucky are we - the Dolby curse must be going !! ).