Getting used to the idea ....
... both me and the girls. It is going to mean 10 weeks of hard work and we're all bound to miss each other though I'll be in touch daily by GSM or Satellite phone. It seems so distant still with only 3 days to go...
First stop on Sunday is alittle R n R after the bike has been prepped from the air trip - off to Niagara falls.. as you do of a sunday !
Well, I left Dublin a week ago yesterday, so far been away for 7 days, been driving for 5 of those, done 4000km, no bike trouble (touch wood !), no hassles, no rain (almost), 1 time zone crossed, 4 encounters with the police and just 1 speeding ticket ! Internet a real pain to access and finally managed to upload pictures...
Week 2 - slowing down a little...Sunday 11 June, Speedo KM 19,352, Glacier National Park , U.S.
Left Moose Jaw today to head towards Montana to Glacier National Park to link up with Mark (who will do the Road of Bones section with me on his modified Kawasaki KLR, while simultaneously pushing me on my super-comfy GS !!). Covered over 900 KM of boring Saskatchewan prairie roads to the Montana border before the Glacier came into view...
Eagle and on from There - week 3Wednesday 21 June, Eagle Alaska, Speedo reading 23,125 KM
I leave Dawson City in the Sunshine and over the Yukon River to the "Top of the World Highway" - a summer-only "highway" towards the Alaskan border.
Beautiful road which crawls the top of the mountains. Weather turns progressively colder and wetter, until it's dumping down - road is dusty and gravelly in the dry but muddy and slick in the wet.
on from Eagle to Anchorage and a few side trips...22 June Thursday, Anchorage, Speedo reading 23,956 KM
Gas in the morning after blueberry pancakes in Andy & Kate's and off I go again. Had a good trip out from Eagle after the roads had dried out a little overnight - made the top of the pass dry despite the low clouds...
travelling - lost a day, stuck in customs...July 1 & 2 Saturday & Sunday, Seoul Korea, speedo reeading 26,668 km
Left Anchorage, finally, thanks be to god ! at 01.00 on Saturday morning. I arrived in Seoul, Korea after flying through seattle and over the international date line to arrive Seoul on Sunday at 17.00 on July 2.
Total culture change obviously. No english spoken. No english signs.
200km of no road or bad road under construction9 July Saturday, Shemanovsk, speedo reading 28,597 Km
It's really lashing down in the morning and I really have doubts about starting... this is the beginning of the ZILOV GAP - 2000km of unfinished highway from here to Chyta. This is the last stretch of the Trans Siberian Highway to be completed. It is a mix of gravel roads, sand roads, sand and gravel roads, no roads, fields, shale roads (which eat tyres ). Fuel may be a problem in terms of availability too.
Hardest stuff I have ever done - the exit West through 2000km of Gobi and Altai mountains - a generous 10% asphalt (sort off !!)14 July Friday, U.B. Mongolia, Speedo Reading 31,393 KM
The last leg - home through russia23 July Sunday, Novosibirsk, Speedo reading 34,505 KM
An early start. A very early start. I'm freezing in the tent. I'm at 2600m and in a valley so although the sun has risen I figure it won't hit the tent for an hour or 2 so I'm up at 5.30.
The last leg - officially European Russia through the Baltics down to Vienna and home !!28 July Friday, Perm (again), 36,650 KM
Happy birthday to me ! No driving today. I pend the day looking for Internet access which is (again) disastrously difficult to find and use, but I succeed. Believe or not (again) no water in the hotel for the next 4 days... seems to be a regular problem for me.... so washing and laundry is out of the question. Instead I work on the bike and buy myself a beer and a t shirt or 2... not a great birthday...
Done. Complete. What I hoped to achieve I did. Around the world solo on my bike. I had some extraordinary good luck and very little bad luck. I met and was helped by some extraordinary people and was lucky to avoded any potential "bad people" scenarios !!