HuskyHobo

Adventure Travel & Motorcycle Tours

28/07/2024

Pamir day 13
We are headed to Osh 185km away. We are tired dusty and have not been able to have a proper shower for 3 days so we blatt back down the main Pamir highway. The contrast between the lush green hills and relatively well maintained highways of Kyrgyzstan and the barren Tajikistan is stark. As we descend the valley signs of tourism start to appear. Yurt "home stays" although these yurts are not anyone's home, then there are minibuses of tourists from Osh taking in various viewpoints along the highway, and before we know it we are back in the mayhem of city traffic dodging the trucks and diesel fumes. For at least half the group, who don't have a number plate, we are working our way through the traffic carefully, hoping the policemen in funny Soviet style hats don't show too much interest....
It's feels great to have a shower use a western style toilet and put on clean clothes. Already though I am missing the vastness of and remoteness of the places we explored on this trip. Despite my minor frustrations with how the organiser handled some details with the inevitable problems that arise on a trip like this, I am glad that I tagged along. The most memorable and enjoyable parts of this trip were, for me, the more remote places and never ending difficult terrain, that I would never have planned to visit alone. I am truly grateful to the organiser, and especially the rest of the group, who ensured that despite the language, I felt fully included. I now need to lie down in a dark corner and rest a while!

26/07/2024

Pamir day 12 - a very long day.
We are today, headed 220km to cross the border and get to Sary Tash. The truck has fuel for the bikes and we fill up but it is going to be very very tight, the first 120km continue...up the Bartang valley. What an amazing place it still is. It goes on forever and the variety of terrain is incredible. At one point I find myself brushing thorny bushes either side of the track. I wear mountain bike gloves when it is hot and my fingers look like I have been trying to self mutilate. It is a brilliant, hard, and challenging riding morning. The terrain is technical in parts. Many riders are caught out by rivers, streams or ravines unseen till the last second. The Poles have a predisposition to pace, which on the gravel and sand requires concentration even when the terrain is not technical. The physical effort at this altitude takes its toll too. We pop out onto the Tarmac about 10k south of our lunch stop at Karukol and I am bloody freezing by the time we get there. It is 3920 m. (12,740ft) . No wonder I am cold and knackered but it was a fantastic mornings ride.
We get the bad news that the 4x4 travelling with us has broken down, so we hang about with the stray dogs and mosquitos for a few hours until it is fixed and the truck turns up. As I said yesterday, there is no plan B... so we press on to the Tajikistan border post. A paperwork for paperwork's sake exercise at customs, followed by an equally frustrating one at border control 20m away finally sees us let through. The light is just beginning to fade. We have, as yet, got to cross the Kyrgyzstan border which is 15 km down this very very rough road, we will then need to endure their paperwork nightmare too. After that it is another 25km to the town that should have fuel, and in which we do not have anywhere to stay. I am pretty sure I don't have enough fuel to get there anyway, and I am frustrated. Not because of the situation we find ourselves in, but because it was foreseeable and thus preventable several days ago. The organiser trying to lift the mood, calls it "Adventure". This winds me up even more as I call it "PPPP" Pretty Poor Planning and Preparation.... he gets my point.
I take my out frustration out by simply hammering it (but trying hard to keep 2 steps back from being out of control )accross the fairly challenging no man's land to get to the Kyrg border post. Piotr stays with me and is grinning like a Cheshire Cat when we arrive at the gate. It appears to be closed, and the Russian draft dodger, who is setting up camp by it says we are too late. Grrrr.
A little while later the other bikes and truck turn up. As we are explaining our frustration to each other a bloke in uniform appears, he remembers us, and the border reopens. An hour or so of paperwork sees us processed and let back in to Kyrgyzstan. It is of course now dark. My number one rule is never ride in Asia in the dark. It is quite simply lethal. Now there is no choice. Having been riding off road all day I put my trust in "bike feel" to get me through the inevitable unseen potholes ruts gravel sand and other such hazards likely to be encountered, hoping I don't hit anything too big, deep or hard enough to get another puncture. I am still expecting to run out of fuel, and pass others with the same bike and tank who are stranded about 19km out from the promise of humanity and fuel in Sary-Tash. Amazingly, I actually make it to the fuel station. They wont take anything other than local cash. So I spend about $1 all I have.. on just over a litre. At least that will get me to the hotel that we don't yet have..... It is now 10pm very dark and the truck, having swept up all those who did run out of fuel, turns up. No they have not secured anywhere to stay yet, but they order us to wait and speed off. 10 minutes later they reappear having found somewhere. They have pursuaded the dears to cook a meal for us which is remarkable, because I think they were all in bed!. There are no showers, but a drip of running water to wash hands in and a toilet that stinks and is quite literally sinking in its own p**p ! The communal floor room however seems clean enough and frankly, we are too tired to care.

25/07/2024

Pamir day 11
Today should be an easy day. Courtesy of Zibi's Garmin In Reach, we know the truck is actually fixed and got to Khorog last night. We will head 50 km or so up the valley and find somewhere suitable to camp. The non support truck should then catch up with food water and fuel to get us to the next available fuel station which will be in Kyrgyzstan tomorrow night. Should anything go wrong in the next couple of days, there is no plan B. That makes me nervous. We ride about 20 km along the track past the national park ranger station to a village and find a shop. They don't have water but they do have beer so we spend the last of our currency on two litres each and put it in our bags. We continue up the track, and through a gorge where the rock is very sharp. It is a little bit like riding through a slate quarry. The road which is this unstable slate like rock, now clings to the mountainside. Get a corner wrong and it is anything from a 4 to 450ft drop into the abyss. Further on we find shade and greenery by a spring. Naturally it's the perfect beer stop. 16 litres of beer are placed in the water to cool down and we relax. Half way through I consider that this might not be the wisest move, but by now the first litre and the altitude have affected my judgement and I fully embrace the Polish way of touring......
When it is time to move on of course, I regret it. I do not recommend riding under the influence at the best of times but most certainly not when you have to ride an extremely rocky river bed! Somehow everyone manages to stay upright. We stop at a homestay for some lunch. It's not a fast food joint. We watch a myriad of people cross cross the village fetching firewood (but there are hardly any trees!) and lots of pails of water from somewhere. Eventually dinner is ready. We are waiting, and willing the non support truck to catch up. This morning we had planned on getting much further up the valley but despite our killing time, the truck is still nearly 6 hrs behind. The organiser has asked us to find a suitable place to camp. We clear the two village "shops" of beer (not quite the challenge you would think.... about 12 bottles in total!) and we head just outside the village and find somewhere suitable. The setting is glorious looking out 6000 m peaks but of course we have no tents. A small crowd of bemused villagers gathers around. They are wondering why on earth we are stood around kicking our heels and have not simply booked in to the home stay. However, we wait, drink the beer and wait some more. Just as the light is fading headlights appear, then the two bikes then the the truck. We eat the unheated tinned food and dry bread that has been brought in the truck, and I go to bed early. Waiting around is tiring and we plan an early start. Naturally the Poles continue with vodka!

24/07/2024

Pamir day 10
Today we continue. Without the support truck which is supposed to collect the baggage in Khorog and rendezvous with us tonight. I pack assuming we won't see it, or our baggage for a while! We will turn off the the highway 60 km down the road at Rushton. The "highway"is in fact the 06 which runs along the Afghanistan border and not the 04 / M41 which is the Pamir Highway, that I incorrectly said we were following in my day 6 entry. The views remain as spectacular as ever. However, this is part of the section between Khorog and Danshube. That means lots of Lorrys and huge clouds of dust which is slightly tedious. At Rushton we are glad to turn off up the Bartang Valley. What an amazing place this is. There is an almost alpine view at the turn off, and the dirt track we turn on to, runs for 185 miles up the Bartang Valley. There is a fantastic view around every corner. The going, at first, is not particularly difficult. Maintaining the balance between road concentration and gawping at the incredible ever changing scenery however is. We all have moments where a lapse in riding concentration causes a twitch of the sphincter muscle. In Bernard's case it launches him airborne. He lands face first in the talcum powder dust that has caught him out, and his bike heads off track towards a large rock. No major damage to Bernard. The bike has come of slightly worse and has a very broken headlight and the odd bend. Half a roll of gaffa tape, and a bit of brute force later and we are good to continue to our planned home stay. Finding it proves to be tricky but eventually the owners brother turns up and everyone rallies round to look after us. Despite the fact that the owners are away.... We relax outside in the warm evening and have a wonderful spread and a great stew. The place is incredibly basic. Aish, who is home from medical school gives us insight into history and village life which got significantly easier when some slightly erratic electricity arrived in 2020. A small hydro station was built just up the valley to feed the power company grid. The 67 families from the village avoided being bypassed by contributing a sheep each for sub station equipment..... ! They had to connect and install it themselves. School is a daily 45 minute 1000ft climb on foot up to the "higher village". There is still no clean water supply, and no sewerage or waste disposal. It is impossible not to be humbled and to realise how privileged we are for basics we take for granted in the UK. As expected the non support truck does not turn up which seems somewhat trivial at this point!

23/07/2024

Pamir Day 9
Do we don't we? Stay here and wait for the truck that has not even got the part yet, or come up with a plan that is low enough risk to continue. The problem is that the only practical route is extremely remote, we don't have all the tents for an emergency, and fuel is an issue even if we do rent an alternative support truck. Whatever happens, the import documents that will be needed to get the bikes out of the country are stuck in mountains. We cannot get beyond Karakul without the truck. In the end, the parts turn up and, after a debate in Polish regarding options, the 4x4 and, for reasons I don't quite understand, 2 bikes head back to the support truck. The rest of us will leave in the morning. Everyone believes the truck will, be fixed and will come by this way and pick up the bags and meet us in the evening. I think the chances of that are slim and would tackle this differently, but no ones life is in danger so I sit back and go with the flow. Bernard of course is happy because he gets to have dinner with the SIM girl he wants to marry!

22/07/2024

Pamir Day 8
A well earned day off spent changing some money, buying a SIM card, hunting for a front axle tool and eventually improvising one with a 14mm bolt, and arranging for spare inner tubes to arrive. Apparently we are coming back next year because Bernard intends to marry the girl who sold us the SIM cards!

19/07/2024

Pamir Day 6
Today is a long and difficult ride to a second hot springs. Fatigue and some altitude and terrain challenges are expected. The heavy snow was not. And I can't find my neck tube.... The goggles just collect this sticky snow. I take them off risking frostbite over plunging down an unseen ravine. The riding and navigation are tricky but eventually the snow stops and the clouds rise to reveal a beautiful almost endless plateau. The plateau hides deep stream trenches, that will swallow a front wheel, along with quicksand and occasional rocky river crossings. We collect as a group at a military checkpoint. By the time they let us through the optimistically titled "support" truck still hasn't arrived. We carry on anyway to the town at which we planned a lunch stop. It has warmed up as we descend and ride along the Afghanistan border the riding remains tough. At one point we are extremely off track, in a sandy gravel type ground that has just sufficient vegetation to hide numerous small stream beds. This is bloody dangerous, especially at the speed my Polish friends prefer, but eventually we get back on track and the scenery gets even better. Then disaster strikes. Another puncture. Never mind I'll wait for the non support truck. But it isn't coming... first it got stuck in the quicksand, then it seems it has broken a drive shaft. The guys that were behind me rally round and we try to improvise but cannot get the wheel off.
We flag down a passing 4x4. They agree to help and we lift the bike on to the roof rack where it joins the spare wheel and two trussed and barely alive goats. I climb in with the driver and 7 other passengers and off we set. Whilst I don't like the pitiful bleating that the goats make when the bike bounces and causes them further distress each bleat is welcome. If they stop I'm worried I'm going to have to buy two goats...!
About 4km from the destination we stop. I wonder what is going on, and apparently it is delivery of goat number one. We are invited to join the local bigwig along with the chief of police and chief of army for lunch. They point out that the Taliban are only 100m away, oddly enough in the direction the goat was carried, and tell us "Taliban bad". This is not particularly reassuring, but they seem relaxed enough. Over lunch a big black truck pulls up and out get two guys with guns. Another guy gets out and comes to join us, He is army and he wants a word with the chief. Just then the 4 guys that had disappeared with the goat reappear and after a nod to the boss man we roll again.
In "town", the chief mechanic has tools and we can get the wheel off the puncture turns out to be failure of yesterdays repair...
no one has a tube or a patch big enough. Two guys that have been waiting for us head off the 8km to the next town and I and Zibi, the guy who has been with me all along, were ordered away for food whilst the others took charge of the repair. This is a great team, and we soon get going again. A high speed ride sees us at the planned hotel. Only there is no room at the Inn... This is somewhat disappointing as we already know our baggage and tents are not going to join us this evening. We check in to the hotel 100m down the road which turns out just great. We all shower, say a silent thank you for the first western style toilet since leaving Osh, and sleep really well.

18/07/2024

Pamir Day 5
We are camping at about 12,190ft and wake up early as the sun hits the tents. Everyone is suffering a little from the altitude. I have a minor headache which I know will recede with water. The other guys are taking big doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen. My priority this morning is to unbend my brake pedal that came off worst in a fairly high speed tumble in deep sand. However the non support truck with the incomplete tools went back to town (3hrs each way....) after we set up camp. Eventually it returns but not before a storm, that was in the distance when we awoke, managed to soak us all. Eventually we set off. We climb and go through a valley 80 miles of nothing. It is exhilarating. I am alone when my phone nav has one of its occasional hissy fits spinning around not knowing which way is up. I stumble on a yurt and two houses. Amazingly the guy has fair English and sends me back the right way..... I meet with some others who also went the wrong way due to nav issues. ( I think l the phone simply loses it if it can't see enough satellites or It might be the military playing silly buggers in sensitive areas. It is annoying and disconcerting when it happens because it is always in a remote area.) A while later we get to the meeting point. It is then a short but dusty ride to our Hot Springs accommodation. It is basic and rustic and it's at 4000m ( 13,000 ft). A spa however has never felt so good. Dinner is also basic and is served in what was the family yurt until they built the shack in the pictures. I am cursing the fact that I have never practiced yoga, which must make sitting on the ground to eat a lot more more comfortable. The days exertion and altitude finally get to me and a headache from Hades kicks in. I take some paracetamol and go to bed, leaving those that are up to it to their vodka!

17/07/2024

Pamir Day 4
Murghob was created by the Russians as a garrison town. It shows. Before then this region was the sole preserve of the Nomads and probably better for it. We are happy to leave to the remote village of Razul for lunch, before heading into nowhere along the Chinese border to camp the night. 25km in a puncture brings things to a halt. It should be quick to change but the outfit providing the bikes and "support" doesn't have a tool for the front wheel spindle! ( This is bloody annoying because I have one in my toolkit left at home because this trip was allegedly fully supported and it would have taken me over the baggage allowance) In the time we spend messing about with this, the army arrive. They are not happy about where we are or the plans. An argument ensues. The outcome of which is that after five hours stood in the blazing sun getting eaten alive by mosquitos there is still no resolution. We are taken back to the garrison at Razul and made to wait further while the sun continues its attempt to turn our skin cancerous and the mosquitos summon their friends and family to join the feast. In the meantime two of the group have got separated and no one knows where they are. I know what I would do at this point but is not my tour and the group leader appears more keen to win the dispute with the army officer than resolve the real issues that are escalating by the minute for the well being of the group.
After a long high speed detour in fading light, that was clearly inevitable hours ago, we set up camp in the dark, have a beer and go to bed. Thankfully, the two who were separated had been allowed through on the original route, and had the sense, and strength of character, to stay put at the planned meeting point in the middle of nowhere for 6 hrs without any communication.

16/07/2024

Pamir Day 3
It is raining. My prediction about the mud in the wet was correct. Somehow I stay upright as we descend from the base camp. Others are not so lucky but no major harm is done. We get to the border that gov.uk says is closed. It is not, it only feels that way because we have to sit out unsheltered for two hours and 2 hailstorms before getting let out of Kyrgyzstan. We then travel the 15km of no man's land to the Tajik border. This road was built by the Russians in the 70's It has seen 55 years of landslides and washaways which leaves it in an interesting state. The section crests at 4282m (13,916ft) and then we wait in rain and hail for another 3 hrs at the Tajik border. This is turning in to a long day.......On the Tajik side someone has stolen the vegetation. All of it. This is part of the Silk Road and we go over over Aghbai Oqbatel a 4655m ( 15,129ft) pass. We cover about 150 miles of absolutely nothing except a potholed,rutted and washed away road. Bits of green start to show by the river then there is a remote farm holding an finally we roll in to Murghob and our rudimentary hotel.

16/07/2024

Pamir Day two
After leaving camp we head on up the track and the riding becomes more and more challenging. It is raining and the track is very soft in parts. The reason reveals itself.. there is a huge opencast mining operation. At one point I ride through a thick gloop that is up to my foot pegs and at others we are riding ruts with foot pegs scraping both sides. It is probably the most challenging riding I have ever done and I am really glad that I am on a small bike. The road we want to take turns out to be closed. We retrace through the gloop and ruts back to the main mine and manage to pick up another road that comes out further up the main highway. This track is rocky and steep but it has stopped raining and we pass through a most spectacular gorge. The odd Yurt camps become more frequent and then become villages as we descend. At the main road, I head 15km towards our destination before realising the others went 15km the other way for fuel and food. They have finished lunch as I arrive somewhat stressed at being numpty of the day.. The plan is now to get to Lenin's peak base camp. Rather than take the Pamir Highway, and main road which is pretty good tarmac at this point, we turn off the highway and head down a remote valley crossing the river several times and getting looks of disbelief and the occasional wave from people who are not used to any traffic in a week let alone 10 bikes in a day. We hit a main road for a while, fuel up and then follow the indistinct track that is a combination of sand and mud that turns in to rocks and rivers towards the base camp at about 11,400ft. The Poles set off at breakneck speed. I follow thanking god that it is dry because the mud would be lethal when wet....

16/07/2024

Pamir Day one
After getting supplies and a spectacular amount of faff we finally head out to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. We are headed to the base camp for 7134 m (23,185ft) Lenin's peak . We are not taking the main road. The scenery gets gradually more spectacular as we rise up into the mountains. It amazes me just how difficult it can be riding a motorbike on a track that lorry drivers seem to manage. One however isn't managing. He's broken down We squeeze past and I wonder how the support truck will manage. In the pasture at the top we decide to wait for the support truck and are soon joined by a local herdsman who invites us to tea. 3 hrs later the truck gets through. We won't get to base camp today, and some of the guys are suffering a little with altitude. So we make camp a little further up the valley at about 10,600 ft. A more spectacular location is hard to imagine..

08/07/2024

Finally arrived in Osh and got into the room some 32 hrs after I got up. Showered and a quick sleep and I'm ready to explore the town. Apparently it's one of the oldest cities around. This fact is successfully disguised by the rather mundane Soviet architecture. There appears to be little Chinese mongol Turkish or Iranian splendour to see. Only the petroglyphs dating back to the Bronze Age stand to bear witness to the long history of human occupancy in this place. Sitting on the hotel balcony I watch the dark storm clouds roll in from the mountains some 40 miles away. The wind picks up and the deckchiars and pool loungers clear the fence and make their way under wind power to what must be their emergency muster point in the car park. I am then treated to the most spectacular light show I have ever seen. I watch round after round of nonstop lightning for over 2 hrs. It is windy but the rain does not come as the storm skirts the city. I'm still in awe as I lay down in my bed. Then it dawns on me. Tomorrow I won't be in a hotel. I'll be out in the hills in my hike tent or at best a yurt. If it gets that windy or there is that much lightning there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The scale of this trip has just begun to reveal itself......

05/07/2024

So today Marvin and I are headed East to Osh we are off to a non flying start with a two hour delay to the flight to Istanbul. Fortunately Pegasus Airlines reputation is well documented and I deliberately booked a 6 hour layover between connecting flights at Istanbul so hopefully baggage and I should still arrive on time. Meanwhile Pegasus gave us a £10 voucher for a £12.95 breakfast.......

19/05/2024

Vosges going home
The last day is about 390 miles to “Le Shuttle” and then crack on home. We intend to do about a third of that cross country. We have however built up a considerable debt to the weather gods over the past few days and they have decided it is payback time. It is absolutely tipping it down and the rain is set to head north with us. We agree to slab it on the motorway and hope to outrun the storm at some point. We are surprised then, when after joining the motorway, which needs little navigational skill, that Colin, who is in front, heads off at the next junction….. . He pulls up at a crossroads, faffs with his sat nav for a minute then shoots off down a D road. We follow somewhat confused and slightly perplexed by this turn of events. Things look up about 5 miles later. I can see a lot of standing water underneath the bridge we are about to go under. I can also see a lorry coming the other way and estimate that Colin and the lorry are going to hit the water at the same time. I watch in vain for Colin’s brake light, and then prepare to be amused. Everything appears to happen in slow motion. The lorry’s front wheels hit the far side of the water and a huge arc rises up to peak 3 to 4 feet above Colin’s head. Then just as the wave of water looks like it is about to hit. The second axel sends up another wall of water to reinforce the first. Colin disappears in a wave worthy of the world surf championships. He is totally engulfed. Before these first waves have time to fully subside, axels three four and five of the lorry act In unison to send up another huge wave that is even bigger than the first. Colin disappears and is engulfed again as if the first drenching was not enough. Fortunately he was not knocked off, which is surprising given the volume and force of the water but that also means that this is the funniest thing I have seen in ages. I am in tears of laughter as Nigel calls me laughing his head off too. Karma for changing the agreed plan has indeed been delivered. Funnily enough Colin heads back to the motorway at the earliest opportunity!
The amusement manages to sustain me through the 150 miles or so of torrential rain until we finally escape the weather front and the rest of the journey passes remarkably fast. Probably because I can now see more than 25yards ahead and the riding is a comparatively relaxed doddle . “Le Shuttle” might be an attempt to rebrand and lose some baggage but the service level remains the same ( see the picture)

18/05/2024

Vosges day 3
Today is Colin’s turn to navigate. He is confident (again) that he has conquered the Voodoo code used by his sat nav and all will be well. About 5km up the forestry road from the hotel Colin indicates right at the junction. Bob and I indicate left. Nigel does not indicate at all. He has loaded the wrong file and has no idea which way to go……. Colin sets off and Nigel follows. Bob and I stay put. 5 mins later Colin returns. He is now absolutely doubly certain he knows what went wrong and sets off in the correct direction. Bob and I roll our eyes, adopt the Gallic shrug and follow, safe in the knowledge we will spend quite a bit of time today at junctions . Colin will be punching buttons on his sat nav working out which way to go, while we are looking at a screen that tells us exactly which way to go but saying nothing. This turns out to be exactly how the day pans out….. in the evening debate, we concluded that Colin is perfectly entitled to identify with audio directions that send him the wrong way if that pleases him. Bob and I however prefer to identify the correct route and use tracks to go in the planned direction ! We resolve that henceforth Colin is allowed to plan routes, but must not attempt to navigate them.
The weather was kind in the morning and as we ascended part of the Grand Ballon again. The road maintenance team were out with an amazing machine that flicked all of the gravlons ( loose stone chippings) out of the gutter where they were harmless, and onto the twisty carriageway, where they were lethal. In fairness, a second machine was supposed to pick them up. This machine was however only about 70% efficient. Leaving just enough gravel behind in the middle of the single carriageway to remain both lethal and invisible. We stopped for lunch in a totally lifeless village. Everywhere was shut apart from the hotel restaurant. Turns out everyone was actually in the restaurant… it was totally full and we had to eat at another more basic establishment 5 miles up the road. The day was pleasantly concluded with a Rainbow and spectacular sunset.

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Vosges day 3 Having stayed in this hotel before, we time breakfast to avoid the absolute bunfight and elbow shoving experience of last year. Success, the breakfast room is empty. Alas so is the buffet, the coffee machine, and the mental capacity of the member of staff we turn to for assistance. Hoards of locusts from the waiting tour bus have devoured everything worthwhile. So bread cheese and milky water have to suffice. I am in awe of a tame hawk flying no more than two meters away from me on a country road. I then realise that he is not tame, but has his eye on Marvin my travelling companion (the camel in the photos) who is on the front of my bike. The hawk clearly considers Marvin to be a better potential petit dejeuner than the one we had in the hotel. I wave my arms and Marvin is saved. Bob behind me is totally bewildered at my sudden animation, and wonders what on earth I am try to communicate to him. Colin has set the route for today. It turns out his cartographic skills are significantly better than his navigation skills. It is really good. We twist and turn over several cols and the route successfully manages to avoid coffee stops and eating establishments. This is a bit cruel after our lack of breakfast but we do eventually find places to caffeinate. Navigation was uneventful apart from a car park u turn excursion. This was precipitated by my being more interested in watching a huge dog trying to catch water from a hose which at the time held my limited attention span more successfully than keeping a good eye on the map and route ! Visibility on the top of the Grand Ballon was somewhat limited but we shared the view and the cafe with 469 German pensioners on a coach tour. We finally arrived at the hotel in good time for more beers than usual….. ( hic ) All in all a grand day out.

The weather forecast for this week was not good. Highs of 10 to 12 and somewhat moist. I packed my winter gear. This morning we woke up to clear blue sky’s and the temperature was 20 before 10 am. The rest of the day was spent between 22 and 26 depending on altitude. My gear as fully vented as possible means that I am seriously hot at 22. And totally sweltering at 25. I would like it to rain tomorrow if only to justify my choice of gear and to rehydrate. The others are less keen on this idea. The navigation today, apart from a small detour down a cycle path …… went very well with Nigel leading using tracks on his Tom Tom. There were two occasions when my Garmin also using tracks from the same original file created in base camp indicated a (slightly) different route. We have no idea why and I continue to promote the theory that navigation by sat nav relies on voodoo. I am sticking with tracks and OsmAnd when I am the cartographer because I know I can rely on the result. Colin’s route took us through beautiful forested glades on pretty good tarmac up in to Germany and back into France. That is based on the current border. Many of the quaint buildings along this route have in fact resided in several countries and kingdoms and empires over the centuries. It wasn’t the buildings that moved….. 21st century economics have however caught up with the region, and unless you want to eat at the weekend, finding an eating establishment still in business and and open for more than 60 minutes at lunchtime can be a challenge. That and that alone is the reason I have had 4 coffees 6 cream cakes and a packet of jelly babies for today’s calorie intake… fear not tonight’s accommodation is a monastery and I can atone for my sins.

Today might not go to plan. That is not planning to fail, it’s just that in the route planning I have linked some tracks that experience tells me might not be straightforward on the ground. If that’s the case I’ve got about a 90 mile detour to stick to roads I am confident will be in fair condition. First things first I can’t find my tinted glasses I had them when I checked in. Despite a thorough search they are nowhere to be found. The first 20km is spent with no eye protection looking for somewhere that might sell sunglasses. Bingo £1.20 later I own new shades although I suspect they don’t conform to BS 4110…. The road is picturesque following the edge of a lake to a huge dam. It’s quite spectacular and the scenery is wonderful. After the dam the road twists and turns through the jungle. There are no villages and no crops here. I wonder why the road was built and imagery of US Servicemen and Wiley’s jeeps spring into my head. Then I realise it was probably not that exciting and probably just the access road for building the dam. On emerging from the valley I come out onto what should be a main ish road. Only it’s not. It’s a track in the direction I want to go and a rough minor road in the direction i don’t. I opt for the track as I’m sure this is the route I planned. It is, and the off road track follows the route marked on both my maps (Google and OsmAnd) as a main ish road. It’s not mega technical but it is beyond a novice track and I really don’t want to fall off on my own in the middle of the jungle. I am definitely outside my comfort zone but not quite enough to turn round. The track finally stops at a shanty house. I can see the body of water the road is marked as crossing but no way through. I could activate plan B and go back the way I came, but I’m only a few miles from what I am certain will be a real road. I have some time before I absolutely need to trigger plan B so decide to simply follow some other tracks that I

Nha Trang to Gia Nghia

Phan Thien to Nha Trang

We managed to find a tyre repair kit yesterday. I’m hoping that I won’t need it but I feel a lot happier having one with me. Apart from the obvious kamikaze road users, a puncture is the most likely “problem” to occur. Reacquainting myself with the traffic over the weekend turned out to be just the appetiser. Getting in and out of Siagon at peak rush hour this morning was the real deal. Every man for himself and no prisoners. Go native or go nowhere. The mele at the lights everyone jostling for position reminded me of the crowds you used to get jostling for position at busy ski lifts in the Eighties. I didn’t have sticks to loosen annoying bods bindings, but I did discover that the crash bars were useful for making a claim on the gaps when they opened up. On the ferry, that I thought was a bridge on the route planner….. I followed the scooters down a channel to the side only to discover the bike didn’t fit through the gap where it narrowed half way down. That was awkward. Space in front of me and 200 bikes behind wanting to fill it but yours truly is blocking the way. I was not able to go anywhere until the car at the side of me did and he wasn’t going anywhere until we reached the other side. The bloke on the scooter behind me just smiled and shrugged but I could feel all the knives being honed behind him. Today was 60 miles of dusty, main road with very heavy traffic, and then the coast road, a much more pleasant road to Phan Thiet another 70 or so miles up the coast. The boys had actually planned a nicer route to get to the coast road but that involves more ferries than I have time for. I rode past miles and miles of huge faceless factories and industrial estates bigger than Coventry. Then I found my way blocked by 3 men with automatic weapons. They weren’t pointing them at me but they were ready to, and they weren’t going to allow Johnny Foreigner to ride through the centre of their huge Naval base. I wanted to take a picture but th

Today turned out to be longer than expected. Mainly because my back held up. I headed back north, through the mountains as planned. I discovered a new road hazard. Elephants according to the signs. But I nearly ran over a family Monkeys. Ma, Pa and three young crossing the road, as always on a tight bend. I was obviously too busy looking for the Elephants… they scarpered before I could get the camera out. The first coffee stop saw some clouds gathering and I thought I was going to get wet, but it held off and just became windy and extremely humid instead, I took a ferry that had been designed by Dr Doolittle,(Push me pull U) in about 1874… and encountered numerous locals at various viewpoints who kept offering me beer and spirits. They couldn’t understand why I drank only water. Drive out to a beauty spot, get ratted, and drive home seems to be the Sunday recreation of choice for quite a few Thais. Out of the mountains onto the straight roads and with my back holding up I decided to push on northwards. I can then get 2-3 more days in the remote areas and higher mountains which is my preferred terrain. I think that I have managed to identify the crop that is being planted everywhere. I think it is a type of rubber tree. The leaves are different to a traditional rubber plant but I went past a mature plantation that was being tapped, and the leaves look to be the same as the younger bushes I am seeing planted everywhere. Tonights Dinner menu was interesting. Which one would you choose ? I went for middle column 4th one down. “No Spicy” turned out two involve only two nuclear grade chillies rather than the standard six……… Still no idea what I eat but it was tasty and somewhat piquant….. topped off by a great view across the river from my bargain hotel suite….

The main highways are really not my thing, so I have a quick replan to get to Kanchanaburi as directly as possible but keeping of the major roads. Turns out to be a good decision, Once out of town I ride past miles of paddies. Rice is an all year crop here so you see the full circle from the brown gloop they plant in, flooded paddies and new shoots, that become a bright lime green and that darkens as the plant matures ready for harvest, and then rice stubble that, it seems, is burned before the cycle begins again. Gradually the rice gives way to Maize and sugar cane with the odd Fig or Pineapple plantation. Then I see more of a crop I don’t recognise. My coffee stop reveals a poster encouraging farmers to grow this apparently lucrative crop but its in Thai so I still have no idea what it is …The temperature climbs as the day gets older and I get further south. It’s somewhere mid 30’ Celsius and I am sweltering. The air going through my jacket seems hotter than the water in the shower this morning and I realise that I am slowly being air dried into human Biltong. The route takes me through through a small and very rural village. They don’t get many Thais off the beaten track here, let alone foreigners, and everyone turns to gawp at the lump of soon to be Biltong working out which dusty track does not lead into someones front room. I get to the hotel but my back is killing me again so I reluctantly decide to have the day off riding and to explore Kanchanaburi tomorrow. Apologies for the “Muzak” Gary Tudbury

For now, as I can only spend 3-4 hrs riding, the objective of getting to Kanchanaburi looms larger than having a quality ride so I decide to split the 300mile journey into a blat down the highway over the next two days. The main road out of Mae Sot is not pretty. Concrete highway with concrete barriers, tyre marks and spilt diesel from the lorries that would normally be thundering between Myanmar and Bangkok. It is however delightfully traffic free and wonderfully sinuey over the mountains. a descent to the plain has the lingering smell of overheated brakes and seems to go on forever. After that it’s game over. Arrow straight dual carriageway mainly, with the occasional change in bearing. It’s like the aircraft flight path but less interesting. Lunch livens up the day. I order what some other diners are eating. It looks like fried chicken with lots of green beans and rice. The beans turn out to be green chillies which are somewhat different to green beans when chewed. I’m ok with hot food and this is on the hotter end of the spectrum however the odd purple drink that I have been given as a substitute for the mango I wanted turns out to be the perfect accompaniment. I have no idea what it was but it must have had milk or yogurt in it as it quenched the fire in my mouth very effectively. The hotel is rather nice and this balcony does have a view even if it is of the main street of the previously unheard of town of Nakhon Sawan.

The back is sore but I can move, so I’m going to dose up on painkillers and head south. This is a great road. Big sweeping curves, tarmac in pretty good condition, apart from quite a few areas of landslip, but best of all, not much traffic. The road follows the border with Myanmar and as expected there are quite a few border police checkpoints. I am waved through all of them with a smile or a salute. The scenery is subtly different here. The jungle is less dense with parts of hillside given over to patches of crops. Predominantly Maize and rice, with a wider selection of foods on the small but fertile plains that are found along the river separating the two countries. About 80 miles in my back starts to protest. I follow a regime of roadside stops and painkiller abuse. Once such stop has an absolute abundance of beautiful butterflies. Rather delightfully a butterfly lands on my finger. Not many tourist means no english and no translation costs added to the menu so lunch is £1. The local missionary whom I meet whilst refuelling, advises that I will be unable to complete the exact off road route I planned as it runs trough a Military area. Perhaps that is just as well given the state of my back, although by the end of the day it remained considerably less problematic than yesterday. I continue on the main road as the Maize gives way to sugar cane and the roaming Water Buffalo and occasional herds of goats in the road peeter out. The sleeping dogs that like to lie in the carriageway and those that like to chase wheels of course remain an omnipresent hazard all the way to the hotel. I’m feeling sorry for myself because of the remaining back pain and turn to comfort food. I find a Canadian restaurant serving poutine (cheesy chips and gravy) As a Northern lad I consider chips and gravy to be my birthright so the secret guilt at eating western food diminishes with each chip…. and I blow the lunchtime savings on a rather splendid burger too. The hotel balcony does

After a few days In Chiang Mai to see the Loi Kratong festival, today sees the start of a solo trip to explore south of Chiang Mai. I am keen to get out of the city and back to the mountains. Time is short as the visa waiver only lasts 30 days. I am therefore going to blast .. if you can call 80km/h blasting, out of the city on the horrible dusty, straight and traffic clogged 108 for 100km before it turns to another 100km of busy and dusty, but at least curvy road to Mae Sariang, from where my journey south along the Myanmar border will begin… hopefully. .. I pulled my back lifting my bag this morning and it is giving me hell. I am currently laying motionless in bed hoping it will sort itself out by the morning. I did manage a walk (well more of a waddle really) to the restaurant in an attempt to free it up. Mae Sariang is, by the way, full of people on big bikes and a few scooters doing the MHS loop. There are at least 3 tour companies with big entourages plus a large HOG chapter from Pattaya. The locals have clearly smelt the money tourism brings in. I thought I eat at a local restaurant but, there was English on the menu and I paid at least 50% more, for similar food, than I have become accustomed to. Translation obviously doesn’t come cheap in these parts.

Tour Day 11 Back to Chiang Mai Everyone was expecting this to be a short and easy 95 mile day. In planning I had sneakily put in a 20 mile section of what I knew would be fairly easy local (dirt) road figuring that everybody would be up to this by the final day. It would also get us well off the beaten path into a couple of villages that don’t see many outside visitors. It looked to be dry and was fine for a few miles I was quite confident it would be challenging but rideable. It was mainly… A few parts remained quite wet and muddy. The guys ploughing (literally) and digging out the landslides, hadn’t made the going any easier for the road bike either. As ever the locals, on their scooters, simply put putted by without care or effort… After being teased by short sections of concrete road that promised respite that crumbled away after a few metres, we finally emerged on to a real road. We stopped at the first place we came to for a rustic and quick lunch before heading back to the city. The slow going had cost us our afternoon coffee if we were going to beat the worst of the Chiang Mai rush hour and get the bikes back on time.

Tour Day 10 Doi Inthanon summit Toady is planned as a short day. After a leisurely breakfast and a short but decisive row about the requirement to pay for my breakfast because I had not stayed in the hotel.. we fuelled up and set off for the highest point in Thailand. As ever I planned a more interesting route and soon we are faced with more track, but this time it is dry and not too steep. The two off road novices are up for it so we carry on we pop out of the trees at a settlement cultivating rice paddies with a great coffee stop and viewing platform in the most delightful setting. It is earlier than planned but we can’t resist and chill for longer than we should. Heading into the cloud as we ascend Doi Inthanon it becomes chilly until we pop out above the cloud and is a pleasant 23 degrees at the 8500ft summit. Dodging the lunatic maize farmers who seem in a hurry to dehusk their crop or meet their maker, we stop for a local lunch and then head to our “hotel” The rooms are fantastic but the eatery is closed. Their is nowhere in walking distance and there are no Taxis. The poor girl tasked with reception expects us to go the the 7-11 nearby or ride the bikes. I am not risk averse but I don’t have a death wish either and I never ride in Asia in the dark….. so that simply isn’t an option. I really feel sorry for the girl who is doing a job for peanuts with owners who obviously don't give a stuff about customers or staff. Polite persistence wins the day and the girl eventually summons the help of her friends. We get whisked away on an amazing adventure ending up at what must be the best restaurant for miles with staff staying on late especially for us. What was headed for disaster turned out to be a brilliant evening.

Tour day 9 Pai to Nachong Today is a long day. We start with a great section of the MHS loop. We are aiming for the Mae Surin waterfall, hoping there will be more water than last time I visited when it was more of a water drip..….. The easy route would be to stay on the main road but there are more interesting roads so we stop for a coffee and turn off the main road before Khun Yuam. We come to the route planned and it is of course a dirt track. The two riders with no experience decide to give it a go any way. As is the way we head deeper in to trouble until I pull the plug before anyone gets hurt, and we head back down the track to the main track. I hesitate to call it a road as it is concrete, broken concrete and short sections of what in the uk we would call farm track. Its a long detour and there are no restaurants or coffee shops out here. Eventually we come across what passes for a shop in these parts and lunch on crisps, rice crackers and a luminous juice that looks sort of like a Fanta that glows in the dark. Just as well because our detour has cost us and it is almost dark by the time we get to our “Hotel” which consists of several garden sheds, somewhat optimistically marketed as “bungalows”. Unfortunately the Twin room turns out to be a double and the two guys sharing are less than keen on getting any closer. The place is fully booked with an off road outfit operating out of Chang Mai. So I either sleep on the floor, or decamp to even more basic sheds a couple of km away. The owner offers to pick me up and drop me back for breakfast, My backside sighs relief that I don’t have to get back on the bike and I delay being picked up until I have had a couple off beers to soften the pain. It turns out to be basic but clean and bed bug free so a bonus really…

Tour Day 8 Today sees us transit from Fang to Pai. We follow the ridge from Ban Luang early in the morning, which means its bloomin’ cold again but thankfully it warms up quickly and we are peeling layers off by our first coffee stop. We cant go over the mountain road as we are sticking to tarmac, so we have to go round. This means its a relatively boring slog after coffee on main roads until we hit the 1095. The famous Mae Hon Song Loop. This, like the B500 and NC 500 is a bit of a victim of its own success. It is a great road but gets a lot of traffic. The sections without any traffic are however glorious. Fast sweeping bends interspersed with hairpins and the odd bit of gravel or chewed up road to keep you on your toes. We stop at a cafe with a bunch of 18 BMW GS’s. It turns out its the Australian and New Zealand BMW dealers on a junket for the launch of the 1300GS. It also turns out that the cafe has a power cut, so another cafe with no hot drinks….. Fortunately the power came back on as the waiter was franticly trying to explain what was and was not possible without power….Pai is a throbbing city set in a beautiful landscape with the sole purpose of separating western backpackers and aging hippies from their cash. It manages this with aplomb, and the vegetarian amongst us breathes a welcome sigh of relief at the sight “proper” vegetarian food.

Tour day 7 Day 7 is a large loop. we retrace some of the mountain road back towards Mae Suai, but in the opposite direction, which makes it a totally different ride. Everyone has started to get into the swing of things we didn’t even stop for coffee. I did however have to stop for a couple of minutes to remove the bee sting that was slowly paralysing my right cheek before it injected enough poison to close my eye… I have written about the folly of my MX helmet choice before, but it remains my lid of choice in hot climates. We stopped at a great old shack for lunch. The menu was abugida (Thai script) only and despite the Coffee and Latte written in the decor, no English was spoken. Google translate can be your friend in times of crisis, but the phone was on the bike and I couldn’t be fussed with braving the blazing sun to retrieve it. That made it bit of a lottery. Although the veggie did have her script prepared to ensure she wasn’t served vegetarian chicken again… The food was fantastic. I would definitely seek it out again. The road back to Fang was another first for me and what a cracking road it turned out to be. After the rain it was inevitable that some sand and gravel had washed across the road in parts. Why is it however, that it only washes across just out of sight, on the bends that encourage maximum lean, never on the straight parts of the road where you are upright ?

Tour Day 6 A figure of 8 Loop out of Fang The weather had turned a bit yesterday and we were lucky to stay dry, but the temperature dropped sharply overnight and we woke up to the cold and mist. No worries there was some blue sky and we figured the mist would burn off pretty fast which it did. A short jaunt down the highway took us to a figure of 8 loop that I have not ridden before. The route saw us take in rural countryside and mega mountain roads. We even stopped at a temple. What I hadn’t realised in planning, was that the route topped out at nearly 6000ft. With the colder weather, my T shirt and vented jacket, no wind or waterproof I was bloody freezing!. Eventually we dropped down some particularly steep hairpins to where it was slightly warmer, and stopped at a coffee shop. It must be the only coffee shop in Thailand that does not sell hot drinks, only iced! I really like iced coffee, and this one was, in fact, particularly good. At that moment I really would have preferred a hot one!

Tour Day 5 Chaing Rai to Fang - eventually Today was an eventful day. The earth moved for us over breakfast as we had a small earthquake. It was short, and enough movement to splash the tea out the cup but no damage was done. We later discovered this was a 5.7 quake over the border in Myanmar. Next as we got on the bikes to leave for the day, we discovered a flat tyre. Mine unfortunately. The compressor blew the 3 fuses I had that fit in the holder so I ended up holding a normal bike fuse on the connectors, until the fuse got hot enough to burn my fingers……..ouch. Eventually I got enough air in to be able to identify it as a slow puncture.As we were in the city, rather than mess about fixing it in the car park we set off in search of a tyre repair shop. It cost less than a tenner for a brand new tube, wheel removal, fitting and balancing. Unfortunately for this bargain price we got the apprentice, and it took an age. Finally we left Chiang Rai about 2 hours later than intended. Hence it was dark and mosquitoville as we came in to Fang. Some must have got into my jacket as my arms now have about a hundred itchy bites each.

Tour Day 4 Mai Salong Normally I go to Mai Salong along the dirt roads but today we went to this, the tea capital of Thailand, via tarmac. Not quite as interesting but still an excellent days riding. Chinese food at the restaurant. Using the loo was also an interesting experience. It involved disturbing the family’s parents watching TV in the living room, using the family bathroom, and returning through the living room to wide eyed parents wondering what these westerners are doing disturbing their favourite soaps.