Motorcycle Travellers' News Report - Apr/May 2014, 101st Edition

"From Morogoro I made my way down to Mbeya via Iringa and stayed in a hotel right on the outskirts of town, overlooking the main roundabout that leads you to the Malawian border. On route I passed through 'Baobab Valley' situation between Mikumi and Iringa on the edge of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park – it was stunning! All these baobab trees for as far as the eye can see! It was a very welcome surprise, as I didn't even know about the existence of 'Baobab Valley'. Lovely!

That thing of: 'You have to be extra careful nearing the end of a journey', is very true! Although I was still some way from home, I was now in the home stretch and wouldn't have anticipated that I'd come off for the first time ever on tar...and hard!

It was raining a lot whilst I was riding through Tanzania and on route, just before getting to Mbeya I was riding up this beautiful mountain pass. Right before getting to the top I was in the final corner, a tight hairpin bend to the right. I didn't see the spilled diesel in the road though and next thing I knew I was high-sided and skidding across the road on my stomach. I hit my chin on the tarmac first (thank goodness for protective gear!) and then felt myself sliding off the other side of the road. Amazing how many thoughts go through your mind in a split second! First thought that went through my mind was: 'Shiiiiiiiit'. Second thought was: 'Please let my bike be okay'. Third: 'Please don't let me break any bones!'

After I'd come to a halt, I jumped right up as I knew my bike was lying right in the turn and wouldn't be visible to oncoming traffic! I could immediately assess that I hadn't broken anything. Well all my limbs were functional so I figured I came off lightly! I hobbled across (okay I was hurting a bit), to my bike that was now lying in the road and facing the wrong way. There was a man that had been standing at the top of the hill. He saw it all happen and ran down to check if I was okay. All I could say was: 'Please help me move my bike!' Once we got Dax out of harm's way I started with damage assessment. Dax seemed fine, apart from a new dent in the right hand side pannier, a few scrapes and the handlebar guard was loose. My left arm was in a great deal of pain. I hit my elbow coming off and my arm got stuck under my body as I was skidding across the road. My left shoulder was killing me! I didn't think anything was broken though.

After five minutes of going over Dax and myself, I thanked the Samaritan and then I was on my way again. By the time I reached the hotel I had such a headache from a) the knock on the road and b) the adrenalin that had worn off...and I couldn't move my arm. I took a hot shower and plonked myself down onto the bed and promptly passed out after I'd ordered some food. A feeling of urgency started to fill me. I guess because I was now so close from the finish line, and yet so far! Just two more countries to go and I'd be back on home soil! I found myself in two minds. I just wanted to get to that finish line...but at the same time I didn't want this journey to end just yet!"

"...Canon del Pato is a glorious Canyon ride passing through over 40 hand cut tunnels...You can't wipe the smile off our faces, it is glorious ...that is until about 4 km before Huallanca. Cars and buses are stopped for roadworks.

Even if you don't read Spanish, you get the gist of it. The road is closed for roadworks from 7.00am – 12.00pm and then again from 1.00pm – 5.00 pm It is now 9.45 am so here we go again, sitting around for hours waiting for roads to open at midday. We don't seem to have had a lot of luck with the roads since we have come back to Peru, although I shouldn't complain, we have heard of people waiting up to nine hours.

...Finally at 12.10pm after 10 minutes of deafening horns being tooted by impatient drivers they take down the traffic barricade, and we are off and racing, well for at least a few hundred metres when everything grinds to a halt... again. In their highly intelligent and organised minds the traffic controllers on both sides of the roadworks have let the banked up traffic go at the same time. On the very narrow canyon road with one way tunnels, this results in utter chaos with no one willing to give in, so we are now in a huge traffic stand off.

Finally a policeman who is actually in a police vehicle in the line of traffic starts issuing orders and eventually the traffic on our side has to move to one side or back up, there is much consternation, anger and arguing. What a performance, another 45 minutes later we can move.

Click on the graphic below to see what happens when both sides of the roadworks are let go at the same time.

However this doesn't prove to be a great joy as we are now in a huge line of traffic negotiating the tunnels on this amazing scenic road in a huge haze of dust and this continues for the next 20 km. We are caught behind a totally crazy bus driver who refuses to let us overtake him, in fact he does everything in his power including swerving from side to side to prevent it - idiot.

At the next village he swerves with no indication onto the wrong side of the road and slows down to a snail's pace, we assume he is pulling over to stop and let passengers off/on, so Skill accelerates to get past him (on the correct side of the road) only for him to suddenly swerve back in front of us making a un-signaled right hand turn onto a small dirt road.

How we managed to avoid a collision is still beyond me. That has to be our closest call for the whole of this trip. Everyone had warned us about the taxi/collectivo/bus drivers in Northern Peru and to date we have been able to avoid disaster by riding defensively and constantly second guessing their crazy erratic driving but today was on a whole new level.."

"La Falda - We went for a drive over the mountain on this bad washed out dirt road. What was surprising was this was the 'Camino de Artesanias' along which there is a hundred year old farm where they make sweets and chocolates, an Irish Pub, and various shops. There was also an incredible nursery farm here too.

There was a local motor-cross race going on too.

This will get us warmed up to see Valentino next week in Rio Hondo!"

"My front tire was a little flat and there's not one electric air compressor in Nkhata bay. This lad used his bike pump and the promise of 300 MWK to sort it out.

I paid my bill said my goodbyes and headed south down the lake side road towards Lilongwe. After about 300 km's I reached Nkhotakota. I rocked up at a place called Fish Eagle Bay. For 4000 MWK I strung my hammock up under some thatching right on the beach. The food there was excellent and I had some perfectly cooked fish and rice and settled in for the night.

It was incredibly windy that night and I ended up re-orientating the hammock so it faced the wind head on instead of side on. Made for a much more comfortable night's sleep. I then set off for Lilongwe and made it in time for lunch at Chipiku supermarket using my bike as a table I ate outside the supermarket for about 1000 MWK. I then checked into Mabuya Camp like before and took a dorm bed.

This morning I drove to the Mozambican embassy to apply for a visa but was told to come back tomorrow. My plan is to try for the visa tomorrow and if its available the next day I will stay. Otherwise I will head to Monkey Bay and stay for a couple of nights. I only have 9 days left on my visa so I have to be careful. I may try and get the bike serviced in Blantyre. They also have an High Commission there where I can try for the visa again if I need to. I can probably get the visa on the border but I would feel better having it in advance just in case but I'm not waiting around for it. If it takes too long I will just try for it on the border.

I plan on crossing over at Zobue and heading to Tete. Next I'm going to make my way down to Vilanculos via Chimoio. I may only spend two weeks in Mozambique as I know there's a lot to see still in South Africa."

"After meeting Ryno's Ural sidecar team in the Drakensberg, I saw that I damaged the large gear of the final drive again due to the harsh condition I had in Lesotho. Ilya send me the part by DHL that I expect to be delivered at Ryno's shop today.

Ural convention from Ryno's sidecar team, Amphitheater, Drakensberg, South Africa.

Doing my maintenance under the hospitality of Ryno's near Johannesburg

Within a day or two, I will take the road to Cape Town to drop my sidecar to Duncan from African Overlanders who will ship it to India. As for me, I will fly to France to be with Lorraine for the renewal of her French green card - we hope to have a 10 years renewal this time.

In May, I will fly to Namaibia with Lorraine, Jessica and Giorgio for a 2 weeks camping safari with François from Walvis Bay. Then I will fly to my sidecar waiting for me in Munbai, India..."

"...I'm heading towards the Vanilla Coast in the North East. I pause to have a chat with a guy running a motorbike repair place - not quite how they look back home, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

Suzi was kept parked overnight in the hotel reception.

The guys cheered when I rode out straight down the steps - I have to admit I may have looked more confident than I felt, I can't stand it when I know my feet can't reach the ground at all!"

"...Brian and I are heading east on the Yucatan toward this resort town in hopes we will get the chance to meet up with some friends from the road. Ken and Carol Duval have been on the road for several (is it 7?) years (and that's just for this trip…there have been others before). They are preparing to put their bike on a boat to Cuba and add that to their 'been there' list. Brian and I met them in Canada at a Horizons Unlimited meeting a couple of years ago and have kept in touch ever since. They are incredibly nice people, with fun stories and a wealth of experience and good ideas to draw from.

Little did we know that we aren't the only riders descending on this part of the world right now. And lucky for us, Ken and Carol are the common link that connects us with several new friends. Simon and Lisa Thomas are here as well. We've met them before – I think at an Overland Expo. They have a new friend Christine who is riding pillion with her husband who sadly was back in the States working while we were visiting so we didn't get to meet him.

Kevin and Kathy, another couple, are in the area and thankfully we get to meet them as well and an Englishman named Peter, who is headed south like us. Ken and Carol host us for a few days (we hadn't been planning on it but Ken and Carol took us in like the weary travelers we were) and we enjoyed a wonderful bit of time together.

One morning a local rider from Mexico left a note on one of our bikes inviting us to stop at a local restaurant bar, Latitude 20, for a beer. And then there were 12 (or something like that)… He and his wife, Pamela, became fast friends of this informal biker gang and we all enjoyed a great night of great food and conversation, swapping stories, shooting Muppets (it's a story in itself), and stargazing."

"...we make our way to the right of the cathedral, down a narrow pathway toward a quiet courtyard that leads us to Capela dos Ossos, or the Chapel of Bones.

It's fitting that the walkway towards the chapel is quiet. There's a peacefulness about this place that takes both Nita and I aback. The entryway hides any hint at the chapel's grim brickwork; rather its bright white walls are adorned with richly colourful tiles and its ceiling are covered with intricate flourishes painted in gold creating a sense of almost extreme opulence.

Walk a little further and all of that changes. An ornate entryway into a dimly lit room greets its visitors with a rather foreboding welcome: Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos, (We Bones in Here Wait for Yours). Hmm. With a little reticence in our hearts, we head in and are witness to the remains of thousands, used to create one of the most unbelievable places either of us has seen.

Everywhere we look there are bones. Pillars of skulls, walls of femurs and archways of radii and ulna; we're surrounded, at first, by death. It's all very macabre. To our right hang two complete skeletons, one a man and the other a boy. It seems that no one actually knows why they're hung on display though a popular folk tale has it that the man, a habitual adulterer, was cursed by his wife to hang with his heir here for eternity. A woman scorned indeed. The truth could be far less interesting but we'll never know.

In actuality the chapel's creation is much less macabre than we think. While we may believe it's some secret temple to the dark arts, it's actually a dedication to the transitory nature of life – a temple to offer its visitors a reminder that life is fleeting. In that context this place somehow feels far less sinister and far more introspective. Still, it's quite difficult to entirely wrap our heads and hearts around this place, and when we do finally leave it's dim walls it's with a gentle sigh of relief. The late morning light, the open streets and the living are calling our names."

"Having spent a couple of days exploring the excavated ruins uncovered after the Vesuvio volcano wreaked its wrath on Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD, we felt obliged to see what this monster looked like up close. We made the fortunate choice to NOT drive The Turtle V to the trailhead on the mountain. Hopping into a collective van, we headed up through countless hairpin corners.

The climb from the parking area to the volcano's rim was steep but not too difficult."

"...I ended up in a little town called Bahuichivo where I hotelled up for the night.

But not before I found myself facing downhill with nowhere to go. I didn't have the space to turn around so I lay Ziggy down for a well earned rest, spun her around so the front wheel was facing where I wanted to go, then picked up and kept going.

The road to Urique was more of the same and the road to Batopilas from there was one of the most challenging roads in Copper Canyon according to Ivan from 3 Amigos Tours. I decided it was beyond me and backtracked to Creel. I like going off road but these were a bit beyond my experience."

"Another beautiful Hainan Island day, cruising up the mountain roads through the green forests...

A very common sight all over Hainan = vegetable and fruit harvesting / trading... "

Hainan Island trucks

"Got up at 6, had breakfast at 8 and went out to see about a canopy tour at 9. Got booked onto the 9-30 tour and went for safety talk, (do not fall, remember to lift legs when approaching landing, brake to slow yourself down using your strongest hand (grab the wire behind the pulleys), once you are up there the only way down is the bottom of the last wire. There were 10 slides of varying length, some over 100m and 10 platforms high up in the trees. You will be 30 metres above the forest at the highest point. Oh yes and there will be 2 connections to the run wire and one to the safety wire. When on platforms 2 safety lines will be attached at all times.

Think that was it, except order breakfast/lunch for after the trip. Off we went in a van to the start.

Onto the first wire and re run of the safety etc., then attach and off, was not actually scary, but views were fantastic, if you stopped mid wire which I managed 3 times you just pull yourself to the end hand over hand.

As you can see even done in bike trousers and boots, flip flops not allowed (no idea why)."

"We are about 2 weeks into the trip on the bikes and can't believe the diversity of scenery that we have have passed through. Almost every day has been an epic ride with constant changes in altitude, vast plains, national forest, canyons and alpine mountains all thrown in. We are trying to get into a rhythm and settle down to a comfortable 3 hours per day on the bikes. This hasn't been easy due to the distances between towns and places of interest with not a lot of facilities in between. This has meant some pretty long days on the bikes, but I think we are getting a little better at judging and breaking up the big days with a day off or a smaller ride.

While we have been getting into the swing of things and trying out camping gear and fine tuning luggage etc we haven't had chance to update the blog. Also juggling charging phones and cameras etc etc when we do land in a motel. We had no AT&T reception on our mobiles in parts of Arizona and some motel wi-fi I can download emails but not able to send? All pretty insignificant really when you travel through some of the vast panaromas that we have ridden through.

One of Pam's fears with us camping on this trip was the posibility of an encounter with bears. So for our first night camping out we stayed at Big Bear Lake...

No real bears! Apparently the area was full of Grizzlies but they were hunted down many years ago. Stay tuned though as for one of our later camping excursions we were right in the middle of bear country!"

"This afternoon, we went to the Black Market in Ulaanbaatar – a large open marketplace. Based on what we'd read, it sounded like an interesting place to visit with unusual Mongolian items for sale. We had been advised that pickpockets operate in the market, so we took precautions to ensure that any cash or valuables that we had on us were well secured.

Monks blow on shell-horns to announce morning prayers

Within minutes of entering the market, I saw three men watch us and then fall in behind us. We pulled to one side so that they had to pass and kept an eye on them. We were the only Europeans in the whole market and were obvious targets for pickpockets. A little while later, another 2-3 men closed in on Klaus and began to bump into him but he was able to move away and thwart their efforts. Then a woman tried to pick me twice in two different locations. Each time, she moved in close with a scarf covering her hand and her own bag but I was onto her as soon as she came close and was able to create distance and I give her a hard look to let her know I was onto her. The efforts of one, two or three individuals weren't working, as we were vigilant and immediately aware whenever anyone got too close or any touching or bumping occurred.

The thieves then came at us in numbers! We were suddenly surrounded by 5-7 of them and immediately realised what was happening. A couple of guys bumped me and as I avoided them, an old woman pulled on my upper clothing. I pushed her arm away from me and gave her a few stern words and turned and moved aside to prevent further contact by others who were behind me. Klaus and I closed ranks, acknowledged that things were getting too hot and moved rapidly out of that section of the market. The zipper on a pocket on my fleece jacket had been unzipped (probably by the old woman who I pushed away). They would have been disappointed had they managed to pick the pocket – there was only a Mongolian phrase book in it.

Entrance to the Black Market, Ulaanbaatar

We were just too tempting of a target and the thieves were determined. We'd already been in the market for about 20-30 minutes and realised that there was nothing of interest there – unless you want to buy clothing, boots, fabric, washing machines or televisions (nothing for tourists). Having to constantly fend off pickpockets was becoming a real nuisance so we left the market and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we leave UB and begin our trek west through rural Mongolia. "

"...Since my last post I've been mostly in Banos holding up on weather. I did some local riding and then made a trip out to the coast. Been getting rained on most everyday.

Late afternoon, 6pm, on 04 April 2014 Mt Tungurahua (near Banos) erupted sending ash 10k into the sky:

I'm now back in Quito, I had a couple things sent to me from the USA and should have them in a day or two and then I'll head south to Peru. Ecuador is a great place and I've enjoyed the people and my time here however I'm ready to move on."

"One of our highlights was the crossing of a densely forested area in the north-western part of Tasmania. One of the roads there was closed, and so we tried to get through on small 4×4 and foresting tracks. Giant fern trees, deep mud, plenty of birds and insects, mosses and beard lichen made the area look like a scene from Jurassic Park – after every corner we expected to find us eye in eye with a snarling dinosaur... we definitely had some fun there!

Through the mud...

And we had some more off-road-adventures: one was a little 'shortcut' through the mountains, not far from the capital Hobart. We had to fight our way through some really long and deep mud holes, over rocks, through deep ravines, and down steep slopes…. Sounds more like a nightmare? No, we loved it – but it was strenuous...

Breakfast with a view

Oh, yes – the Tasmanian Devil! We almost forgot to mention him, even though we received a lot of questions, whether we've seen him. Well, yes – and no. We saw the little marsupial predator, which can be quite aggressive – but unfortunately only as road kill, and sometimes we discovered its tracks around our campsites in the morning. And of course, we met him in many variations in the souvenir shops, on shirts, as toys..."

"Our earlier attempts to leave Cochabamba in the Disco had ended miserably.

Rescued once again from the roadside following another mechanical breakdown, we took stock of our situation. Recognising that time was slipping swiftly by while the mechanics made fresh diagnoses almost daily, we took the considered and difficult decision to part company with the Disco and continue our journey by other means. Our kind friends had recommended a trip to the Bolivian Amazon, which would give us a complete change of scene, a chance to relax and the opportunity to plan the rest of our trip.

So here we were in a new environment, very different from anything we had experienced to date in Bolivia. Only a few minutes' drive from the airport, the taxi driver stopped to show us a little public park, where a tapir was waking up for the day, on the veranda of the park office. The damp town of Trinidad, with its mildew-stained buildings, contrasted sharply with the pristine cleanliness of Cochabamba, a short flight away.

Our destination, in the Amazon, was a floating hotel, the Flotel Reina de Enin (Queen of Eden), which takes tourists into the jungle via the Rio Ibare (river of birds) and the Rio Mamore (mother river). The Rio Mamore is Bolivia's largest river, which eventually flows into the Amazon about 800 kilometres north of the town of Trinidad."