Day one was difficult.. Difficult to leave blighted by bad weather that matched my mood

Day two got wetter..
Day three got colder!

Hoping to get to Italy today 29th April.. Hoping to see the sunshine.. But crossing the Alps will no doubt be chilly.

Hotel in chur Switzerland overnight.. Forecast says snow, but it looks OK so far.

my youtube channel with video updates

I'm also updating twitter.. @trackdayrider

__________________
Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

3 days on the shore of lake Garda gave me time to relax a little..



the weather caught up with me and a dull damp day on Friday meant I moved on on Saturday morning. 24 degrees and travelling was warm! but got over the uninteresting flat Po plain of northern Italy to camp in the rolling hills south of Bologna.



I plan to stick around here until the end of the week before moving to Imola for the Italian round of world superbike.

__________________
Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

Been a while since I updated this thread...

After the Imola world super bike round I travelled around Italy for a couple of weeks until the motogp round at Mugello.. a long held ambition to get to that event was well worth it. Check the youtube video for my feelings about the event...



After that I headed south and crossed to Greece at the beginning of June.



A very happy couple of weeks at holiday destinations in Greece until I eventually crossed the Turkish border.

Turkey is a country of contrasts. Holiday destinations on the south coast. Messy in the middle and the lovely north coast along the black sea. Lovely countryside spoiled by the amount of rubbish deposited along the shore and coast. Amasra is a highlight. Lovely little seaside town. and the road out of it is fabulous if a little roughly surfaced. But is get progressively busier and less "pretty" the further east you go.



Crossing into Georgia was a delight. It feels like a nice place to be. Overnight wild camping just south of Potti was "accompanied" by a the local cops who stayed all night. Not sure if that was for security or just to make sure we moved on - I had hooked up with Stuart and Oli who were travelling to Baku along the same road for a while.

Making the trip to Tbilisi in one day was a bit of a drag, but not out of the way with decent roads. Tbilisis was initially a cacophony of traffic, noise and general chaos, but as I had to wait for my Azerbaijan visa to start it gave me chance to look around and the old town is a great place.



the driving is chaotic - lots of police (judge dread style) cruisers. and lots of very damaged unroadworthy and dilapidated old cars competing for space with new expensive motors on packed roads around the city. Tbilisi is a city of contrasts, One very scruffy and falling down in places, another modern shopping on hectic busy main roads and the old town with tree lined cobbled roads and lovely old shops and street cafes.



If you're tired of Europe's "perfection" its acceptance of modern tourism that basically feels like just one step away from home. Tbilisi is the antidote.



I've decided to stay put fora while - My Kazak visa doesn't start until the 13th July and I might as well be in a place I like rather than stuck in Baku with no way out until the visa kicks in.

__________________
Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

Just to add a footnote about Tbilisi for anyone heading this way..

In my experience it is significantly warmer than the coastal region on Georgia.

The traffic is busy but no worse than most cities i've ridden in.. just don't hesitate and ride/drive confidently even if you don't know where you are going.

Head for the east side of the city - It is where the old town is located and is easily the best side of Tbilisi. Statue of St George and the dragon in "Freedom Square" (that replaced a statue of Lenin during Russian occupancy)

Hotels/hostels are plentiful and vary from cheap rooms to plush hotels depending on your budget/requirements.

Living is cheap - at the time of writing one Georgian Lari (GEL) is worth about £0.30 and food and goods are not expensive.

It feels like a less "polished" version of Europe in east. The people are genuinely friendly and seem pleased that you are visiting their country.

Lots of people speak some English, but like any country are happy if you make the effort to speak a few words.

__________________
Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

After Georgia I spent some time chasing a ferry ticket in Baku until I got to Kazakhstan. A 6 hour entry shambles let me in eventually.






From Aktau I rode to Beyneu then up to Atyrau on the Ural river - heading for Uralsk and then onto Aktobe. Long diversion to avoid the direct "road" between Atyrau and Aktobe that I have been told is tough going. I think a bit too offroad to put the versys through I think.

Plenty of time to take the "scenic" route to get to the Russian border by 3rd August


BTW on the first day in Kaz I travelled from Aktau to Beyneu and was extremely close to running out of fuel - I neglected to refill my spare fuel cans prior to travelling. At a fuel stop I managed to put in just over 20 litres.. Interesting when the tank is quoted at 19!

But was on fumes by then. Lesson learned.


So just over two weeks to cross Kazakhstan. Rough roads, dirt track, gravel, packed sand and pretty much every other "style" of road you can imaging and the bike coped with it all. A TKC80 rear tyre provided more than enough grip in any conditions and the demands of burning hot new tarmac - including a section of still wet un-dressed tar that coated the underside of the bike.

The Heidenau K73 "wet" front lives on! 15000km of hard roads and its still only about half worn.



I crossed into Russia via Semey in Kazakhstan - the site of Russian nuclear tests from '49 to '89. Not a place to hang around too long I think. I am now planning to get to Irkusk by the weekend and spend a little time around lake Baikal and onto Ulan-Ude before making the journey to Vladivostok

PS a very useful app for your phone/tablet is maps.me which works for offline navigation once you've downloaded the routing/maps - using opensource mapping it is THE most useful app I've ever had the pleasure of using. For any journey you might want it is highly recommended

__________________
Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/