Motorcycle Travellers' News Report - December 2016, 105th Edition

"...Cheli gave the wake up call over the loudspeaker the next morning, March 1st, to inform us that the Ocean Endeavour was travelling through Lemaire Channel, and that if we weren't out on deck right now, then we should be. Ekke went up to the top deck at the front and stood there for ages, watching as the ship broke through the ice. It was cold, so I joined him a bit later, cozy in my yellow parka. The bow of the boat, usually closed to passengers, was opened up and offered more beautiful views with icebergs and glaciers all around. Just as we were going into a narrow part of the channel, people started pointing and getting excited. We looked and saw a wall of snow and ice falling into the sea about 500 metres in front of the ship - avalanche! So the ship slowed down and waited for the waves, caused by the falling ice chunks, to subside, before continuing through the channel. Some minke whales swam by in the distance, a magical sight in picturesque Lemaire Channel.

...After breakfast the Zodiacs cruised out to an iceberg graveyard, Iceberg Alley, a bay where icebergs would get stuck for years. The shapes and colours were stunning, deep blues and greens when the sun hit them just right. Fellow passengers on kayaks and paddle boards could be seen enjoying the calm waters and bright sunshine while paddling about among the bobbing icebergs. After a wet landing on Peterman Island, the furthest south that we would reach on the cruise, we hiked over to a group of gentoo penguins who again displayed their playful penguin antics such as waddling, pecking and chasing. One of the ornithologists, Jim, pointed out a new species of penguin to us, a lone Adelie penguin, identifiable by the white circles around its eyes. It was great to finally see a different species of penguin after seeing thousands of gentoos.

Jonathan Shackleton was also there on the pathway, and he warned us about the fur seals and how they could suddenly turn aggressive, so to give them a wide berth. They were really playful, and we watched as a couple of younger ones wrestled enthusiastically. Jonathan also pointed out Shackleton Mountain, named after the famous explorer, who was also his cousin, so I asked if I could take his photo with the mountain. Further along, another guide, Noah, warned us of a precarious cornice overhang of snow and sent us around it. Ekke stayed and chatted with Noah, watching a drone, brought with prior permission by a couple of passengers, fly around the island, taking videos. I walked up to a viewpoint, and it was so warm that people had shed their parkas and sweaters, with one fellow posing for photos with his shirt off. Global warming?

I'm not sure that the Antarctic is the place to learn stand-up paddle boarding

After lunch, our afternoon excursion to Half Moon Island started with a walk up some rocky slopes, past some beautiful glaciers lit up by the spectacular sunshine. On our guide's walkie-talkie we had heard someone excitedly reporting that 'Kevin' had been spotted further up on the cliffs, and we wondered who Kevin was. It turns out that living among a colony of thousands of chinstrap penguins was a single macaroni penguin, christened with the name, 'Kevin' by the staff. We walked in the direction of a crowd of people that had formed on the hill, past some lazy Weddell seals to where they were gathered, all trying to get a glimpse of the special penguin. Jim, an ornithologist, gave instructions as to how to find Kevin, in his hilarious Irish brogue. He gave me some binoculars and eventually I saw the distinctive yellow tufts of feathers of the crested macaroni penguin sticking up among all the penguin heads. I officially declared it the cutest penguin species of them all. And the super zoom camera came in handy once again."

There he is! Spot the lone macaroni penguin amidst the chinstraps!

Road blocked by a landslide

"...By 3am that morning, Alistair woke up rather sick with food poisoning. At 6am ! He was feeling so bad, I went down, to the hotel reception to get a doctor. Soon after, two medics arrived and gave him an injection after checking him. One of the hotel staff was helping with translation.

At 7:30 / 8am, Alistair got much worse and was having severe abdominal pain. I walked to reception again and asked them to help as we needed to go to hospital. It was a different crew at reception. They called an ambulance. Traffic was bad at that time and it took some time to arrive.

Alistair was then examined by the paramedics in the couch of the hotel reception! The verdict was that he had to go to hospital. A common occurrence in Kyrgyzstan. One week earlier, our friend Howard was also taken to hospital, for food poisoning, and put on a drip!

The ambulance was UAZ 4 wheel drive, with rustic engine and nothing much inside to lay down. It stank of diesel inside, but did the job.

Siberia ambulance and yurt camp

One of the receptionists at the hotel came with us, as we needed help with translation. Not many people speak English around here! That was very kind of the staff. At the hospital, we were taken to a consultation room, where a doctor was already working with a patient. We waited a bit and he examined Alistair. He was then taken upstairs where I was not allowed to follow!

What happened then is what he described to me later. Basically he had his stomach washed in the inside, in a rather crude but effective way! He was given a lot of warm water to drink, then had to make himself throw up in a bucket, by inserting his fingers down his throat, while Erlan, the hotel receptionist, was holding his head! After being repeatedly made to do so, he was then taken to a small room that had three small beds. The doctor then gave us a piece of paper with a list of stuff to buy.

Erlan took me to one of the many pharmacies in site, and we came back with two bottles to be used as a drip, and lots of old fashioned ampoules containing different liquids ( no idea what it was!).

"Riding the last year through Australia has highlighted what I already knew: your mode of transport, when overlanding the globe, affects every aspect of your life and should never be considered a separate entity. Just because you love riding a bike it doesn't mean that you'd love travelling long-term on two wheels.

Motorbike overlanding fiercely dictates your life's luggage, and I don't mean the kind of panniers you can attach to your steed. It means having to live in a tent if you can't always afford accommodation and, most importantly for me, it means being highly restricted on how much time you can spend 'in the bush', as the Aussies call it. This, for me, has been the biggest sacrifice of all.

In 2009, we spent a month crossing the Somali desert and then three weeks again crossing the Sudanese desert. On Matilda, our less-than-trusty-Landy, a month was our stock-up pile timeline. The luxury of long-term self-sufficiency gifts the most remarkable experiences but you need some room to afford yourself that luxury. A motorbike side-box just doesn't cut it. When you disconnect from the world, from phone reception, from everything, it has a soothing effect on the soul that few can even imagine. The one aspect of overlanding I love, more than anything else, is heading out into nature for weeks at a time. In Australia specifically, this would have to be the most priceless experience of all. And the bikes are stopping us dead in our tracks from doing that. Even if you must re-emerge for only a short refuelling and restocking stop, it is a break in the solitude nonetheless. It breaks the spell.

DAY 1807, bush camping along the Gibb River Road, Australia

On the bikes, we can't go past a whole week without having to make some kind of contact and, more importantly, it won't be a relaxing week either. Water must be rationed and fuel too, especially if wanting to move around a bit. Sure, you can stretch it to 2 weeks if you don't ride much and are happy with 2-minute noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner to have the privilege of solitude. But those days, at least for me, are long gone. Yep. I want my cake and eat it too.

I simply crave more freedom and comforts than the bike can offer me. ...And don't even get me started on tent life. That ain't no way for a princess to live, damn it!

I love camping, I always have, but after 5 years I am just a teeny tiny bit over having to live in a tent. Pull it up, take it down, scorching heat, bone-numbing cold, soul-dampening rain and acrobatics to get changed. Every day, in and out. Meh. And while it's somewhat true that a bike (and its corresponding tent) can get you places even a 4WD can't reach, it can't keep you there for very long in the kind of comfort and luxury I wish to now become accustomed... and that's my primary gripe."

"India, that's a wrap! Just the most amazing adventure destination possible. India has something for everyone, and no shortage of colour, noise, chaos, spectacular scenery and crazy roads, delicious food and the most diverse mix of people.

Feeling a little sad as I filled up with my last tank of fuel for this wonderful trip of 9 months, and 20,000 km's across incredible! India and Nepal. I'm going to miss this amazing country and this wonderful REH machine that has served me so well without any faults or mechanical breakdowns.

The north east states have been just stunning and an amazing adventure on wild roads, especially out to Longwa, Nagaland, and catching the ferry over to Majuli island in the middle of the Brahmaputra... highly recommended destinations!

Happy travels and safe riding to all the Himalayan brothers out there. Look after your machine and it will reward you back!

Thank you India and Nepal"

"...for many years I had been craving to ride to Sikkim, the Jewel of Eastern Himalaya. Many plans failed and got re-planned with no immediate success. While I left my regular paying job for no particular reason, I realized that there wont be any perfect time like this to break the long pending jinx. I started this ride from Pune and rode all the way to Sandakhpu, highest point in West Bengal. Moved on to Darjeeling and then finally to the one of the most happening capital – Gangtok."

Waterfall in North Sikkim

"Robert Edison Fulton Junior completed a solo round the world tour on a two-cylinder Douglas motorcycle way back in 1933. One of my favourite parts of his inspiring story is that he left England with a white dinner jacket. It didn't take long for it to be ditched in an effort to lighten his motorcycle and 'unstufficate' his journey. Most long-term travellers write about similar experiences of taking too much 'stuff' with them and eventually ditching it along the way.

A heavily laden motorcycle provides many challenges especially when off road. So it is much like any other outdoor pursuit, light travel is certainly the aim... However, there were a few items we really found we needed and wished we had left with from the outset."

Liz and a police bike in Songkhla, Thailand

"...'Fancy kayaking up Tracy Arm, and spending the night?' Jason asked me and our mate Josh, an experienced whitewater kayaker with a quiet gravitas about him. This won't be a day at the beach like paddling across the lake to Mendenhall Glacier, I was promptly informed. Tracy Arm is a narrow fjord 50 miles southeast of Juneau leading to Sawyer Glacier. There are zero rangers in attendance; it is deep in the Alaskan wilderness. 'Okay, let's do it—what's the worst that could happen?'

...A mere five minutes passed when a colossal piece of ice smashed down from Sawyer's face. A tidal wave akin to the wave machine at Florida's Typhoon Lagoon rolled alarmingly in our direction. The sensation was a torrent of alien sound. 'LISA! Get over here now!' I did so with the utmost despatch. 'And face the glacier, do NOT stay side onto that wave.' While I clung onto the advice as though it was a life raft, Jason bound our kayaks together with the paddles to create more stability. My mind was far from stable. Powerless, I sat in silent horror at the prospect of sitting inside a lean 12-foot vessel about to negotiate a six-foot wave heading straight at me. Bug-eyed and daunted, I forgot to breathe."

"Thin, cold, white clouds drift slowly across the peaks of Slieve League, the highest mountains in Ireland.

These mountains plunge dramatically into the Atlantic Ocean. This is the typical place where everyone takes a picture of the cliffs. The name of this spot is called Bunglass. I'm not sure how you pronounce that in Gaelic... But it accurately describes how I feel after many hours of riding.

The road takes us further south and we reach the next County, Galway. On the shores of a lake, we saw a magnificent grey building called Kylemore Abbey. So we pulled in for a closer look. The Abbey was built around the time of the Great Famine. A rich politician from England came over and spent his sizeable fortune helping the locals, giving them work, shelter and building a school on the estate.

There's supposed to be a beautiful garden on the grounds of Kylemore Abbey, but you had to pay an admission fee - €13.00 per person. That's a big Nope. So we hopped back on our bikes. Nice abbey, though!

...We pass by this RV Park in Tralee. As good a place as any to stop for the night. The RV park is deserted. There's a phone number on the window of the laundry/washroom building, to call someone if we're going to camp. We dialed the number but no answer and no answering machine...

I check the forecast and it calls for rain later on in the middle of night. I stare at our old, leaky tent drying out in the front yard...

So with nobody around, we sneakily set up the tent in the laundry room!

We feel like such criminals... That night I sleep a nervous, shallow sleep, one ear open, listening to see if a security guard is going to drive up, come inside with his flashlight and kick us out (or worse) for trespassing!

It's well past midnight when the rain hits the windows of the laundry room. My feet are dry tonight but I don't get much rest... "

Janneke posts great photos, not too many words!

Will the bike fit through?

"They say there are three letters used to describe drivers in Peru - WTF.

...soon we were into the outskirts of Lima. The traffic started to build up slowly at first and then BAM, we were in the thick of the stupidest, most insane world of driving we have ever seen. We watched countless near misses as cars cut lanes without looking, taxis stopped in the highway, and buses careened out of pullouts.

At one point I found myself within inches of slamming into a parked black taxi car that was in the third lane of a multilane highway. He had stopped because a bus had pulled out from the shoulder which had caused another bus and 17 taxis to all swerve out to miss the original bus, but then everyone had to stop for the other umpteen buses that had also stopped in the highway because of the next 4 taxis who were picking up a few thousand people who had just alighted from 34 other buses that had parked around 65 cars who were trying to squeeze through the next 12 buses while motorcycles passed through the middle of them because another bus was trying to cut across all the lanes because he had missed his turn off, but 15473 people were in his way because they were all standing on the road and trying to flag down the 300 million buses that were all screaming towards me at warp speed that hadn't seen me stopped behind a black taxi car and so on it went for the next 70 kms. Wow. I will never complain about traffic again after this. Crazy. Seriously. Wow.

A very dirty postie bike!

Normally, you drive on the road and expect to make it to your destination. You know there is a slim chance that you could be involved in an accident, but really, the odds are not that high. Well, that is unless you drive in Lima. In Lima, you expect to die and are a little astonished if you arrive at your destination unscathed.

The traffic was completely insane and I really do not know how we did not see a pile up. I wish we had some footage, but unfortunately the GoPro was flat.

We made it out in one piece in the end, my spidey senses tingling like mad as adrenaline raced through my body. What a rush. Scary and crazy and kinda fun all at once. But once was enough. I have no desire to ride an underpowered, under braked, postie bike through that crap again. Well maybe just one more time.

"...We did stop at the highest pass today at 5234 m, but did not stay long... The road today is again in pretty bad shape and the number of trucks is insane. This is a real work out and probably some of the most intense all round days we have had. There is almost nowhere to stop. If you must stop on the verge you are taking your life in your hands."

Trucks on the road to Lhasa

Arriving in Lhasa

"...on the road from Besham to Gilgit... at the junction of the word's three highest mountain ranges. Awesome roads, terrible roads, landslides, landscapes, brooding weather, sunny faces. All adds up to this guy feeling stoked on Pakistan."

Road from Besham to Gilgit

"...There's lots of shrines along the road sides in SA however this one seemed quite unique, it seemed to have a used auto and motorcycle parts theme. Along with the chains, sprockets, oil filters and water pumps, it had a TV!"

Roadside shrine in Argentina

Crossed the Straights of Magellan and headed for Rio Grande. The weather was a bit cold but the wind wasn't so bad. Bad but not so bad, lol. Once in Rio Grande I checked into the Hostel Argentino, and was greeted by an fellow American (Ben) that recognized me. We had met at the Golden Monkey Guest House in Kisoro, Uganda in January 2016. He had just finished a climb up Mt Stanley at the time. This time he was bicycling to Ushuaia. How cool is that!

Gail and Ben the bicyclist

Ushuaia: I hadn't planned on returning to Ushuaia however, SPOT tracker didn't have coverage for this area when I was here three years ago, now they do and I wanted the Fin del Mundo, marked on my travel map."

Crossing Latitude 54

"After 29000 km on the road, I decided to spend 3 weeks in Buenos Aires, where my trip will end.

Market in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires waterfront

My return home was initially planned for April 1st, but with my fast progress, the high prices in Argentina and a bit of homesickness that began being more and more present, I decided to fly back one month earlier."

Ready to ship home!

"The difference between a dream and a goal is a date...

The dream: travel the world on our motorbike.
The goal: Beijing
The date: 1st July 2016

With these three ingredients we faced the longest journey ever undertaken with our bikes, two Honda Transalp and Africa Twin.

We started on July 1st from Borgo San Giacomo, in the province of Brescia, to Ancona Port where we boarded to Igoumenitsa, Greece. From then on, only asphalt, gravel and mountain roads, we passed through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the Pamir, Kyrgyzstan, to enter, end of July, in China, where we started the second half of the trip, with still about eight thousand kilometres to get to Beijing. With an exciting stop at Everest Base Camp.

These pages describe the progression of the trip, some 17,875 kms, were our Ariadne's thread, uncoiled like a wool ball, kilometre after kilometre. From Brescia to Beijing... through 8 countries, during 55 days and 18,000 kms."

go on, you know you want to ride it...
but somewhere along the road is this...

See the video they produced, it's excellent!

"...One of my interview partner told me these true words:

You don't need a brand new bike!
You don't need Gore-Tex!
You don't need all the big heavy stuff!
If you want to travel, get on your coat, get on your bike and start somewhere!
Albert Klein (NL)"

Maurice - somewhere

"...Along the way today we had the pleasure of meeting a Canadian guy Marc. He stopped to say hello, and it turned out we'd been chatting via Horizons Unlimited, an adventure motorcycling network. Marc had just reached Ushuaia last Saturday (one week later than us), and has already caught us up and overtaken us on the road. He is making his way swiftly up to Buenos Aires, as he has rented an apartment for a month. He invited us to join him for dinner, when we reach there, so we can swap stories of the road. That will be fun, and we'll look forward to it...

Nice F800GS sidecar rig!

We arrived in Gaiman around 3.30pm. Gaiman is a town that was settled in the late 1800's by Welsh people. Their Welsh traditions and architecture have been preserved to this day, and the town is a wonderful thing to see with its Welsh flags, and Welsh names everywhere. The town is peppered with tea rooms.

Welsh tea room in Argentina

We are staying at Gwesty Plas y Coed, a Welsh tea room with rooms. Of course Paul was desperate to try out the tea, and had a wonderful plate of Welsh cake, fruit cake, scones, sandwiches, drop scones, custard tart- all very tasty."