WOW!!!
It looks like the journey of life stuff. Now where do I sign up! Just amazed at all the places you have been and really jealous of all that you have seen.
Keep posting and hope that you are both on back on the road.
I did waste most of yesterday’s workday looking at your site and reading the forum info on your frame reinforcement. I also had a look at the map system from Wanderlust, is it really that good?
When you said offroading, do you mean you just know the shortest distance to your next stop is in a straight line and you just take it? Did you hit a high moutain or a river or something and you can’t get across??
I would probably feel a lot better going round the world in a car, maybe a sturdy 4x4 so all the best to you guys.
Did you ever got to the point where you just wanted to stop? Go back home and call it quits?
Thanks Jimc for the kind wishes. My neck accident and surgery was over 2-years ago now and although I have a few probs’ in the extreme cold, in general it’s not too bad. Lisa’s been having some issues over the last 9-months but thankfully she seems to be on the mend as well.Kevsta…signing up is easy. pack up your life, sell everything, take a deep breath and jump on in, knees tucked into your chest and dive-bomb the deep end…come on you know you want to:P:P;)
Davio…
As far as the Wanderlust map set goes, yep, it’s really that good. Bearing in mind it was put together by a biker for his own trip, being the nerd he is (don’t worry Bob knows he’s a techno geek) he took the map to an extreme where he’d put so much work into it, then thought “****, it’d be silly not to share it”!
Lisa Bob and myself met up in Peru (where Bob’s currently living) and all agreed that the Garmin World Map was far less than perfect. We started trialling his software from then to now.
If you’d like more info have a look here, there’s also a download link. : http://www.2ridetheworld.com/wanderlust_page.htm
Garmin I remember want a few hundred quid for their worldmap, Bob’s is £25. Just have a look at the screenshots to get an idea as to how much more detailed they are, compared to garmins. It’s worth bearing in mind that both Bob’s map set and Garmins world map are both compiled from totally free world geographic data! It’s all open-source stuff.
re your off-raoding question: In some countries much of the infrastructure is so weak that gravel, dirt, sand and mud trails literally are the only routes joining locations/villages/towns. That said Lisa and I love to get to unusual places and really thrill at getting well off the beaten track. That often means takeing routes that are unknown or simply known to be tough and so western tourist/travellers don’t go.
The reward for 4-days of gruelling travel in Mali was arriving at a small hut village, not on any map, finding the chief to ask for his permission and protection to stay the night and realizing via communication with the villagers that they’d never seen a white person!!! We’ve all seen National Geographic and the discovery channel and been taken to the most remote corners of the world, I didn’t realize that there were still places, so remote that a white person was unknown, an oddity. Something to be stared at, poked at, giggled at and studied.
…travel truly is a privelidge!
We’ve now been on the road for 5-years and not once have we thought, “God, that’s enough, I need to go home”! After the accident in the Amazon and the dianosis in Sao Paulo, the fear wasn’t the damage done and the necerssary surgery, it was…No! we’re not ready to finish the journey, we’re totally mentally unprepared to return to the UK anf finish our journey.
Sure, without ‘back-up’ teams and researchers etc, there are times when you find natureal abstacles but you can always find away, up, over or around:D It’s part of the challenge and the reward.
Beofore the Amazon leg our worst day of riding was 13-hours for a gain of 20 miles.
Here’s a few photos from the easier stuff in Mali, again it’s ‘off-raod’
Funny…I just remembered, a fraction of a second after Lisa took that photos of me riding up the incline out of the river bed, I had my first accident. the pannier hit the mud bank (seen just beneath the left pannier) and spat the bike over. I dislocated my shoulder and broke two ribs. you think about daft things when you’re hurt. I remeber that all I could think about wondering what to do about my shoulder, was Mel Gibson in the ‘Lethal Weapon’ films. trust me it hurt more than it does in the films:w00t:
I’ll post some photos soon.
Cheers
Simon T
After long tiring dusty days, these kind of Sunsets seem to make it all worth while!:w00t: Here’s a couple of ‘Bush Camping Photos’.
Cheers
Simon T
By the 11th March we’d ridden, skidded, slipped, crashed and survived North West Africa…just! A delay in Spain has cost us dear and we were a month later than planned, making a crossing East to West, Sudan via Chad a risky proposition. What wasn’t helping was a renewal of fighting at the border, so much so that the respective countries had closed it. shi.t!
We had no choice now other than to attempt the West coast. At the Nigerian border we were stopped in our tracks. Panicked people were now fleeing East. The run up to the general Elections had the country in more turmoil than usual. 300+ people being killed at the border was more than enough to turn us around. Amazingly we’ve seen no news commnetary on this anywhere!
After a few days of researching it was now becoming clear that our only option was to book a ship and sail down to Cape Town or Jo’ burg. We hated the idea. The whole point was we wanted to Ride there.
Miracles do happen…and often in bars when your drunk stupid and the ugly girls and looking pretty!:w00t:
We’d met Barry a South African, who was in a worse state than we were. A deal was struck! he owned a small ‘non-cargo bearing’ plane and he’d fly us past Nigeria. We’d pay for the fuel. We’d land in Soa Tome off the East Coast of Africa 'cause there’s cheap jet fuel, fill up and the job would be a good’n!
We eventually landed on the Namibian border, before making our way South again to Cape Town.
The plane was cramped, just check out the photos.
An excert from our diary:
The first job of the day was removing all the aircraft seats, the lot had to be stripped. With the seats out, anything else that could be removed, was; small tables, even partitioned walls all had to come out. We’d measured the height and width of the plane but being inside again doubts began to set in.
It’s going to be tight. By midmorning the plane was stripped bare…It was now make or break time as we rolled the R1100GS up to the bottom of the makeshift wooden ramp we’d built, which was now propped up against the door to the plane. After a couple of almighty efforts to shove the red lump up the steep ramp it was obvious we were going to need more hands. The airfield fire crew were only too keen to lend a hand. So with Barry and Toll inside the plane and Stefan, Dieter, myself and the entire fire crew outside, we physically manhandled the GS up and into the plane.
It was a tight fit:P
Cheers
Simon T
By the time we’d reached Cape Town we were paying the price. We’d both lost just under 2-stone (25 pounds) of body weight. Now we could think about looking after the bikes making the repairs we needed and prepare for the next leg…South Africa to Uganda (South to North) and back!..there was of course the opportunity to ‘just ride and explore’. No bags, no panniers and no weight. South Africa, what an amazing country.
I’ll try and find some of the ‘bike repair’ photos.
Cheers
Simon T
With the help of our good friend Alf we set about overhauling the bikes at his dads garage (at his home). The engines had faired well but both the bikes needed some TLC and the subframe of the 1100 needed some reinforceing.
…and so the surgery began.
Lisa’s 650 looks more like R3d2 from Sar Wars than a bike.
We’d spent our time in South Africa well. We’d made friends that we knew would stay friends for life, got the bikes back into shape and had even managed to put on the pounds of weight we’d lost comming down the East coast.With bags once again packed and the bikes loaded up we headed North East and up the ‘Garden Route’ towards Jo’burg and made a bee line for Botswana.
…every now and again you see somthing very ordinary that’s demands a second, third and maybe even a fourth look. This is especially true of adverts in foreign countries. This was an advert for a breakfast which , was placed on every table in the cafe…
:w00t:;):P:D:w00t:;):P:D;):D:w00t:;):P:w00t:;):P:P
Now bearing in mind that us Brit’s are easily impresed by wildlife…the Americans have the ‘Bold Eagle’, the Auzzie’s have the kangaroo, the welsh have their dragon, even the Peruvians have a bloody lama. What do we have? sheep and a few million wet pigeons!!!:D:w00t:
Now as motorcyclist we are not allowed into national parks in Africa, with the exception of Uganda and they couldn’t really care if you get eaten by the wildlife or not.
So, all the animals we photographed are wild. Some shot around our camp, other whilst we walked. At the time we were using a regular ‘point and shoot camera’, no flashy lenses, so we’re as close tothe animals as you think we are.
I don’t have the elequance to articulate the emotions of being this close to such amazing wildlife…incredible!
tell me what you think…please!
We were now riding through what looked like the set from ‘thorn Birds’. A barren, vast dry savannah that made up so much of tanzania. We wer using the Great North Road and riding North East for the coastal city of Dar Es Salem, where we pit stop and visit Zanzibar, teh Spice Island.
We were lucky enough to make good friends and spent some time amongst the Massai. We watched the TV countless time sover teh years when programmes would come on concerning Africa and been enthralled as the Massai were filmed. Proud, suspicious and amazing to look at. These guys were the real deal the last of the true warrior tribes. Being around them, knowing first names, drinking, eating and laughing with them was just sureal.
this young lady was looking for a husband.
As thrilling as the Massai were, in equall porportion we were moved and touched by how hard life here. We never got used to seeing the kids with nothing and no hope of anything getting better. We were struck by the courage and dignity of the Tanzanians.
…more to come soon.
Cheers
Simon T
We’d wanted to climb Killimanjaro in tanzania bit at $600 per person, that was just out of the question. With jobs done and and emails sent curtsey of the small cafe in Arusha we headed north for Kenya. The rich English heritage still lingered here and there manifesting itself sometimes in the bizzare like at Thompson Falls outside of Nyahururu. A typical red bricked English country home complete with thick lush green manicured lawns ataop a dusty dry landscape…surreal.
We’d thought about reaching as far as Etheopia, but we now only had 3-months to get back to Cape Town in SA to meet Lisa’s sister and that was pushing it.
We rached as far as Sanburu National Park a day South of the Etheopian border. A national park without a single fence and here we celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday and watched a blood red kenyan sunset turn slowly mauve and then finally midnight blue black, warmed by the camp fire we made earlier.
I rememver waking with a shock the following morning as a very pissed-off young bull elephant made his presence known. We hid in the tent untill common sence got the better of us and we realised that, the tent…really wasn’t all that protective!:P:D:w00t:
…Uganda here we come
Cheers
Simon T
We were met at the Uganda border by dozens of young men and women in makeshift wheel chairs, all with their lower halfs…missing, a result a Uganda still being one go the most mined countries in the world.With passports checked we headed for Kampala and the source of the Nile and from there out due West to the border with Congo and the Ruwenzori Mountains.
Again, we’d hope to visit the gorillias but the cost was $1000 each as so we thought better of it. The reality is of course we’d love to have experienced them but unless you have unlimted dosh, you just cant see and do everything. Who knows another time another place!
We’d been brought up hearing Uganda in the news and for all the wrong reasons. Uganda for us was the country of Idi Amin, attrocities and genocide. What we found was one of the greenest, lushest and friendliest places in East Africa. Talk about fertile. You could plant a brick and would grow something.
That said the poverty and daily hardship of every day life are still visible everywhere.
As a country Malawi is one of Africa’s poorset, but also one of the friendliest.
How can anyone not love acountry who national beer is called ‘Kuche Kuche’, is a premium lager and is 20p for 5 litres:D:D:D
We spent two weeks here just chilling out, catching up on diary and tending to odd jobs on the bikes before heading into Mozambique or Mozam…bleak as we now effectionately call it.
a small problems with bugs. This was happening every 15 minutes!!!
more to come soon
Simon T
…Mozambique couldn’t have been more different to Malawi. As we crossed the border there was a tangible shift in the atmosphere and easy and relaxed was replaced with tense and hostile.
They have good reason to be pissed-off, Millions of mines cover the land. 4-years ago massive floods swept through creating huge mud slides. When the mud moved so did all the mines. “What ever you do”, we were told by officials…“do not leave the asphalt from any road. Do not walk or ride off the roads onto the dirt”. We thought they were exagerating, untill we saw the mine-field clearing teams, loaded up with all the gear de-mining the side of the main road out to South Africa.
We effectionalty renamed Mozambique to Mozam-bleak, which may have been a little unfair on reflection. Although Mozambique was the only country in Africa where we were faced with a high risk face to face confrontational situation, what didn’t help was that Lisa had got her and her bik air born in Ugunda and her rear shock had spilled it’s guts over the floor. Leaving her bike more like a bloody ‘pogo stick’ than a motorbike.
That added to too many miles on the bike, had also over stretched her chain, which was now comming off up to 5-times a day. Only a day from exiting Mozambique Lisa also lost one of her chain tensioner. We ended up secureing the lot with 17 zip ties.
Cheers
Simon T
If anyone fancies a few trips around the world have a look here:
http://www.kuduexpeditions.com/index.htm
It will cost you a bit and you will need some time off work but could be worth it for people that don’t want to take 5 years off:) but still experience the adventure, and of course have support vehicles with you.
Hi Davio,
just wondering…do you know Lee over at Kudu? Nice bunch of guys.
You may even recognise a few of the images from their ‘south american’ section on their website:D:D:D:cool:
Cheers
Simon T
Only found out their site from browsing the net, I looked for the Long Way Down and Long Way Round and somehow ended at Kudu.
Shame I don’t have a wealthy granny to donate me some cash for the trip with Kudu.