Hi all,
A few of you have been asking about this year’s London2Tbilisi ride, and maybe even joining us.
KTMmartin has been putting together a nice website with some details, so please take a look. He’s done some nice things with some of the photos I snapped too
We’ll probably get the original website updated soon too - http://www.london2tbilisi.com/
The essentials are :-
- Leave London early morning 3rd September
- Route being worked on, but essentially cross Europe to Bulgaria then down through Turkey. Get to Tbilisi (Georgia, 3,000 miles) after about 10 days for an awesome welcome, see photos - http://www.london2tbilisi.com/?p=MzYuLjY=
- (Its quite possible for people to just stop here, and do half the trip)
- Leave Georgia and cross the Caspian Sea. I gather the main challenge here is an unreliable ferry
- Arrive Tashkent within 3 weeks (total about 5,000 miles)
- Mix of camping and hotels. Nothing booked - just see where we end up! All part of the fun. Travel as light as you can.
- DHL bikes back home and arrange flights back (need to pay your own way)
We’re doing this for fun and charity - Capital FM’s Help a Capital Child. Donations will be much appreciated, and if we do a send-off party I’ll try to invite you
There is an entry fee, to cover admin etc - though there’s a bit more to explain too.
3 of us did this last year, and I was on a borrowed BMW GS Adventure, with little experience. Much of the ride can be done on a road bike, though some of the roads east of Istanbul do turn to gravel / dirt / mud or a nasty mix of all. Some are just bad condition, some being built. Some of the roads in Georgia are worse, but great fun / beautiful. So need some “off-road” capability. This year I’m thinking of getting a Triumph 800XC, and Martin’s got a new KTM 990.
Please let us know if you’re interested, and we’ll pass on your details and get you involved in the audio conferences etc.