Sorry i'm lazy sitting here in a kiwi pub run by an Aussie in Riga Latvia so i copied from my log

27/3/12
The man at the hotel said there is a road from Manthali to Janakpur but it involves a suspion bridge, meaning less traffic as only motorbike/pushbike/pedestrion can go over it. This means a 160km trip about 6-7 hours instead of a 583km at least 2 day trip, sounds good to me.

It was a nice ride to the suspension bridge although I had trouble getting directions in Manathali, one guy seemed to be sugesting that the Kathmandu way was better. When I got to the bridge there was a truck being loaded on the north side, seemed to be by most of the village all getting some Rupee for every bag they carried over. It was a dirt walking track up over a ridge and down to the bridge which had a que of people heading in each direction. This ment a bit of a squeese getting through at some points and the bridge got a good swing going by the middle, the policeman who was controlling the numbers on the bridge was a bit shocked to see a me but that is normal.

Once I got to the road I found the truck that was being unloaded with ques pushing to get loaded. So I rode past and upto a bridge to no where, umm and from no where, new built with no entry or exit just 2-3 stories high spanning 50m maybe. I had been told there was a new road on the south side so headed off down the piece that was still being constucted, this lead to a detour which was shit. It has dust like what the Aussies call bull dust which covers all the holes and rocks and makes it look nice and smooth.

After about 20min of this I had my first true crash, after 1.25 ish years of travel. Don't stress mum it was climbing a hill covered in this dust, which consealed a rock, and I lost the front end falling down onto a bank on my left trapping my foot under the bike. Lucky it is so light it was easy enough to pick up, then rode to the top of the hill and decided to have a break.

Finally a bike come along so I stopped him to check if I was going the right way, I had been told it was a new road, and found out I was heading to Kathmandu not Janakpur, BUGGER.

Once back at the village I found the right road, ie the one I hadn't been down yet lol, and after a very short distance it become the most beautiful new road I have ever seen. Oohh man it is amazing, like in the movies when you see the roads it Italy, can not wait for them, lots of twisty bits getting higher and higher then a 180 and continue to climb. When I got to the top I saw a awesome sight of even more brilliant road going down the other side hehehheee. If any bikers read this, this road is between Manthali and Sindhulimadh, not marked on my map or any I have seen.

Soon after Sindhulimadh the road turned to shit, in fact for a few kilometers there is no road you are forced into the river bed to ride down. They are widing a section and none of it is that hard a ride just ruff.
I got to the turn off to Janakpur at about 15:00 so decided to get further along the main road unfortunately not finding a hotel till 19:00.

Check blog for photos and a video of me laughing at what i had to come.
Enjoy the trip
P.S don't plan too much i found the plan went out the window very quickly and often.

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Enjoy your life
http://blairntv650.blogspot.com

Another +1 for New Zealand, but of course I would say that, wouldn't I!? I moved from the North Island to the South Island 20 years ago, and one of the biggest reason was for the riding.

If I was forced to name my favourite sealed road in New Zealand, it would be the run from Murchison, down the Upper and Lower Buller Gorge roads, and then down the West Coast past Punakaiki to Greymouth (well actually I turn off just before Greymouth to have a at "Formerly The Blackball Hilton", the pub that was sued by the Hilton Hotel chain so they had to change their name!

Unpaved road? The Nevis Track near Queenstown.

I'm a lucky guy...

Cheers

Nigel in NZ

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

+1 for Applecross! Just spent the last few days touring around the West Coast of Scotland and the road from Fort William to Applecross via Bealach na Bà was simply breath taking.

Adding to the U.S. list: Route 66, Deal's Gap (318 curves in 11 miles), the Badlands of South Dakota, and the Beartooth Hwy.

Deal's Gap is a great road on a motorcycle. Plus they have photographer's along the road taking your photograph. Watch for police speed traps. I did it on my Triumph Bonneville 4 times back-to-back, which equalled 1272 bends in about an hour and a half approx. A whole bunch of fun.

The Croatian coastline from Optaja to Dubrovnik is over 1000 miles (I think) of stunning scenery and an amazing road to drive down. Motorcycling heaven. I drove it in a car and I'm dying to go back on a bike.

National Geographic has a book out that I am finding very useful: "Drives of a Lifetime - 500 of the World's Most Spectacular Roads". There's a road for every taste in that book.

I have driven these two areas. True they are great roads and scenic.

I recommend the drive from Fort William to Mallaig via A830 is a must do. @ Mallaig take the ferry and go to Armadale and visit the curious photo gallery and art shop and of course the Armadale fort.

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Chandrasekharan Badrakumar
Stainton, North Yorkshire, UK

I am not sure about motor bikes but my favourite drive of the trip to Mongolia and back (in our Landcruiser) was along the 7 Lakes (I think locally it is called Halfkul). It is a track but is a good to drive, going up one side or other of the lakes and winding upwards between them, high up into the mountains. There is a superb spot to camp between lakes 2 & 3 and superb viws in both directions all the way up and down. I filmed the whole lot up and down but unfortunately have not had time to edit it yet.

The Lonely Planet says you cant drive the last section between lake 6 & 7, but I lost count and drove the whole way. But apparantly they improved the road just before we got there so that the President could land in a helicopter and be driven down. At the end of the road a single track contiunues up to the end of the last lake (and beyond into the mountains). I could have stayed for weeks!

It is off the road to Pendzihikent (close to the Uzbek border which was closed to foreigners when we were there in 2011), this road was pretty bad, with no-where to get off the road to camp so we ended up putting the roof tent up at a fuel station just after Ayni and watching football and drinking tea with the guys there.

Warning - if you take the road north of Dushanbe do not go through the tunnel - take the road over the top! The tunnel was pitch black and under water (I would guess at least 300mm), with huge pot holes that you can't see because of the water. We just bashed through in the cruiser but cars we getting stuck in pot holes and cars and trucks alike were stopping to survey damage once out. To top that there was a huge bulldozer blockuing the tunnel in the middle, which resulted in cars trying to use both sides of the road in both directions, mayhem. Luckily I drove through a crater to one side that all the cars were avoiding when the dozer moved and made it through (but nothing followed me for some time). I had the camera running and took 19 minutes top clear, but fealt like a lifetime and could have taken a lot longer.

Transfergarruson highway in Romania is vgood and nothing on it.
Icefields Parkway and Going to The Sun Road N America.
Not forgetting the road to Sort in Spain

Id say NZ both islands while your there but south island if you have to make one choice, road cambers are a real hoot.

Watch out for the car drivers (nutjobs) also having fun in the cambers coming the other way.

Lived in Kiwi for five years but from the UK originally.

Mezo.

If there's a few things I learned recently this is one.

The amount of times I heard someone say ..... "Thats a good road"

I've learned that their interpretation of a good road is well ... variable.

A good road can be:
Smooth tarmac and easy on suspension following 100kms of potholes.
Gravel and potholes following 100kms of smooth.
Twisty and winding after 3 days of motorway.
Motorway after 3 days of twisty .....
Scenic, regardless of the road ... etc you get the idea.


Personally I like sports bikes so enjoy fast winding roads with good surfaces and no speed cops. Therefore my recommendations are:

Scotland - most of it north of Glasgow.
France, most of it south of Paris.
Tasmania australia - yes australia! the Hobart to Strahan road is 200kms of winding excellence, the best in oz.

Scenic .... then
Scotland (see a theme here)
New Zealand
Himalayas India to Nepal
Alps in Europe lovely!


There will be plenty others but these spring to mind for me.

oh here look here Best Biking roads

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Steven
Perth to Perth 2012

It has been a bit more than a year since I first started this thread, and I am very grateful for all the responses. The proposed RTW trip is now only two years away! Meanwhile, Manali-Leh trip planned this summer with son riding pillion on an Enfield. Keep the ideas coming. Thanks.

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CJ
2014 Monster 1200S, 2007 X Challenge, 2016 1200GSA, 2024 CRF300L Rally

stelvio over rated in my opinion, and very hard work on a bike, the turns are too twisty. There are much better roads in the Alps.

my two choices would be Tiz n test in Morocco and Transfagarassan (sorry, can't spell it!) in Romania

haggis wrote:

Quote:

Scotland - most of it north of Glasgow. France, most of it south of Paris. Tasmania australia - yes australia! the Hobart to Strahan road is 200kms of winding excellence, the best in oz. Scenic .... then Scotland (see a theme here) New Zealand Himalayas India to Nepal Alps in Europe lovely!

Guess I don't know how lucky I am, live in Tasmania out of the city on a good bike road, and luckily spend three months a year touring Europe, anywhere non-flat, so Alps.

A bike in each port as they say, do they say that

The Hobart to Strahan road is technically good, especially near the Strahan end near Queenstown. Another pleasant road is the east coast road of Tasmania. Ok, most roads here are quite good, just not down the middle, it's like riding from Lyon to Marseille, just a wide valley great for those travelling by mobile lounge room
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Paul

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Hi,

I am going to add another one to this great list. It is in Spain, but not the Spain everybody know... this roads are in the north west of Spain, it is something like Scotland



There are nearly more Km of coast in Galicia than the rest of Spain. The landscape is gorgeous, the food is delicious, the people are amazing and there is no tourist at all... and the wine ohh mama

The route between Vigo (south,) and Viveiro is one of the best, but there is so much to explore.



And another reason... apparently there is an island (Cies Island) just right in front of Vigo with the BEST BEACH IN THE WORLD and I'm not saying that... check this link.

Top 10 beaches of the world | Travel | theguardian.com



Enjoy!

Martin

Rode the Sierra Madre from Tecoripa to Yecora, Mexico along Hwy 16 today, 200+ K's without any traffic! Ok I passed 1 bus, 2 wild boar, 2 deer, 1 squirrel, heaps of cows and dodged a couple of dozen football sized rocks and only 2 potholes. Its as good as any mountain road I've ridden to date, sensational in fact! More tomorrow ;-)