The Caspian Boomerang Trajectory

This is a retrospective, so let me take you back a year or two and I'll begin...

Being from the UK just getting to France can seem like a bit of an adventure but having done that a few times over the years it wasn't quite the big deal it once was. Being bomabarded from all sides by travel adventure stories of intrepid bikers in distant continents, it seemed like the next step was to go beyond the comfort of western europe whilst keeping to something that was of a scale and size that felt manageable.

So my original plan was to travel to the eastern border of Turkey. I know everyone probably has their own definition of the edge of europe and this was mine. But as I dwelt on it, going to Turkey and, err, then back again seemed a bit flat. Not really even being sure where the eastern border of Turkey was, and what other countries were close, I dug the maps out, well, logged on to Bing, and took a closer look. I immediately spied the Caspian Sea, and a boyhood dream to visit was rekindled. From there a circular route around the Black Sea started to emerge, with the added excitement of visiting Russia!

After originally thinking I was looking at a 3 week trip, I decided that this had now become 4 weeks, confirmed by Lois and Austin at one of their seminars, when they suggested a similar route as one of three that could be done in a month.

This got vetoed by my long suffering wife for a year or so but wind forward to November 2016 and at last the opportunity to 'purchase' some extra days holiday from my employer and ask if I could have four weeks of vacation in one block. My wife's final hope that this mad, bad and thoroughly dangerous plan would be scuppered before it had even got off the ground. My manager's response was initially skeptical as he passed it on up the food chain but then the response came back in the affirmative and we were on!

Excitement, tension, anticipation, stress, anxiety and not a little bit of fear were all to surface at one time or another as I decided on bike, luggage, gear, spares, repairs, equipment, In Case of Ememrgency bits and bobs, and all that even before I had started doing Visas. Well, that wasn't too bad really, just Belarus and Russia, as the Turkish one is just an on-line formality. In fact I did the Belarus one myself and once I'd got confirmation of accomodation, which had to be pre-booked and submitted with the application, it went through fine. It took me three visits to the Russian Visa Centre in London to finally get the supporting documents right, with the right cities named! Oh well, it seemed like a big deal at the time but meant I was more confident at the borders.

I stuck with my BMW F800ST, despite being on the verge of chopping it in for something more adventurey and off-roady on more than one occasion. The only place that looked like I might do some trails were western Georgia and as the rest was tarmac, well, better the devil you know - plus no chain to lube! :)

And so that Friday evening in May arrived and after all the prep, the trial packs, the shake down rides, the boxes of kit lying around the house and garage, I got everything stowed and strapped on, kissed the wife good bye and set off towards Folkstone. Was this real? Was it really happening? Not just another check-out run?

One night in Calais and the chunnel and time difference sorted, I left for Berlin before 7 the next morning and had a steady and uneventful ride across the autoroutes and autobahns of western europe. Then some speed-tourism when I arrived, visiting the Brandenburg gate, Reichstag building and a section of the Berlin Wall, looking somehow more macabre with it's steel skeleton showing through as it starts to decay!

Next day wasn't quite such an early start and it was on to Poland a night in Warsaw. The Polish roads were excellent and carried me forward to Warsaw very well, albeit at the expense of the tolls, but I'm happy to contribute if they keep them like this. Eventually found the Cloud hostel that I'd booked and used my security chain for the one and only time - 5kg of dead weight! Speed tourism again as I shot off towards the old quarter and the castle/palace...