Life2 on-tour

04/11/2024

It’s that time of the week!

Episode 61 is out on YouTube.

A bitter/sweet kind of day sadly.

❤️

Carl's Dad was really looking forward to sharing our visit to the Panama Canal and so we had mixed feelings when we got there. https://adventureriderradio.co...

02/11/2024

The dogs of Perú can be a real problem and pretty frightening.

They hear you coming and then chase you. Sometimes you can’t out power them as the ones in these pictures were running at 35km/h!!

Some say call their bluff and stop. If you stop then they stop, but we haven’t had the courage to do that yet as the natural instinct of a large dog trying to bite your ankles is to get away fast!

This was on the road to our hotel and we had to run this gauntlet four times during our stay.

As we have comms I can tell Carl when they’ve given up with him. He then sits down and watches his mirrors and he tells me when they’ve given up chasing me.

Interestingly though, it’s not because there are lots of wild dogs. It’s the dogs that have been adopted by humans that cause all the problems. They become very territorial of their property and they’re also not trained. They’re just left to get on with it.

So it’s us humans that are the problem!

02/11/2024

It was a most epic day, riding up to the Pastoruri Glacier.

The narrow stony road up was beautiful albeit rather bumpy. A slight mishap as I (Isi) hit a rock and flew into the ditch. I guess it’s better than flying off the other edge, which was a fairly big drop!

After much grunting and groaning, we manhandled the bike round and Carl managed to ride it out.

After I stopped falling off the day got better and better.

We decided not to return the way we had come but to continue on the dirt road over the mountains to the other side.

And what a decision that was.

No other traffic at all because it was impassable in places for four wheeled vehicles due to landslides and erosion.

But what amazing views of incredible geology. We were really up in the wilderness, completely away from civilisation and it was fantastic.

Oh, and the hotel had a llama that sat outside the door to the rooms. Cute!

Another epic Peruvian day. ❤️ 🇵🇪

01/11/2024

TWIRLING AWAY…!!! 😂 😂 😂

Let’s see your twirls people!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FzaLs1RNU/?mibextid=UalRPS

01/11/2024

We had another beautiful ride up to Laguna Querococha.

The lake is situated at a height of 3,980 metres, with views of Mount Pucaraju and the Yanamarey glacier in the distance.

This ride was suggested to us by a local and it didn’t disappoint.

An interesting thing that we wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t told us beforehand - on the other side of the lake you can see a ‘map’ of Perú in the mountainside!

There were a few dwellings up there. What a harsh life. No electricity and no running water from what we could see.

We bought some snacks from a young lad with a barrow of wares. He was desperate to interact with us and we tried to have a chat with him but he found it so hard to engage. We certainly enjoyed meeting him and whilst he offered to take our photo for us, he wasn’t so keen to be in the picture himself.

We just love Perú. 🇵🇪

31/10/2024

These guys are awesome and deserve all the support they can get.

They are more than just a little bit responsible for us being where we are!!

The “boys” deserve as much support as they can get in this fantastic venture.

But you won’t just be supporting them, you could win yourself a fantastic prize in the month you enter AND you will be in with a chance of winning a Ural Motorcycle and Sidecar outfit on New Year’s Eve! That would be a fabulous start to the New Year.

So click the link in their post and enter today. Just two months left!!

30/10/2024

Latest video is out folks.

We’re getting good at this…you’d think it would be easy enough!! 😂

Subscribe, like, leave a comment…you know the drill.

😊 🥰

We were finding it difficult dealing with the news of Carl's Dad but we pressed on for Panama - and missed the border completely! Ice 2 Fire is the first leg...

28/10/2024

The ride up to Chacas was amazing.

The road went through the Parque Nacional Huascarán and started in the valley, following along the river.

Then we climbed and climbed, and very quickly we were over 4000m.

With breathtaking views of the Huascarán, snow covered peaks we just kept saying “Wow!!” every time we went round the next hairpin bend!

When you reach the summit you enter the Túnel Punta Olimpíca.

With a length of 1,384 meters (0.860 miles), it is the longest vehicular tunnel in Peru and the highest in the world, located at 4,735 meters (15,535 feet) above sea level. We didn’t realise this fact at the time.

So, we have now ridden through the longest tunnel in the world, the Lærdal Tunnel in Norway, and the highest. Go us!! 😂

We stayed in Chacas, a pretty little town that sits at around 3,300m.

27/10/2024

Laguna Parón is the largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca, on the Peruvian Andes.

We decided to take a bus from Caraz. Ticked that experience. Not to be repeated in any hurry! 😜

It’s surrounded by several snow peaks and formed as a natural moraine reservoir.

The water from the lake was formerly used for the Cañón del Pato hydroelectric scheme but this has now stopped.

The high concentrations of dissolved lime give the water a turquoise color.

A beautiful place.

I (Isi) should have taken my cossie and had a dip. Annoyed that I didn’t but hey ho. I did take one for the team and climbed up the hill to the viewpoint.

23/10/2024

The market in Caraz was a busy affair and huge, extending down several roads as well as in the building.

We absolutely love the traditional clothes worn by the Indigenous women in the Andes. They’re bright and colorful; layered skirts, vibrant shawls, tall hats.

Beautiful.

22/10/2024

Episode 59 is published over on Youtube.

Title kind of says it all...

Whilst Costa Rica was blowing us away with its beauty we received some very sad news...Ice 2 Fire is the first leg of our Round the World trip - Prudhoe Bay ...

17/10/2024

The Cañon del Pato was a great ride!

Probably the most incredible thing was watching a huge truck with a super long, flat bed trailer negotiating the very narrow track. Whilst the top of his cab was literally inches from the rocky overhang, the rear wheels of his trailer were hanging off the cliff edge. Yes, they really were. We saw the evidence when we rode past a few moments later.

Really not sure where he was going but he’d clearly been there before! 😂

These routes are incredible. We’re loving Perú.

17/10/2024

Latest video is out folks.

Honestly, the lengths we went to post the drone over Nicaragua, and then we nearly lost it!! 🤪

16/10/2024

It's hard to think that we are nearing Christmas '24, yet todays blog references Christmas '23. Ho Hum.

Here's the next blog!

We were so near Los Angeles, yet it was not time for us to visit.  Our nephew has an apartment in town and we were due to visit but not for another few weeks.  With this in mind, we headed North East and back into the desert with Barstow as our destination.  We had a fanta

14/10/2024

Carl didn’t sleep very much at all wondering how we were going to get down the mountains from Pallasca.

We had a breakfast of dry cereal and a carton of orange juice - and discussed our options.

There were only two - back the way we came or take the 3N, which, on the way in looked like tarmac from our view.

We decided to ask the local policeman. He said the 100 was far easier and safer. Safer?!? How bad was the other road?!

Not convinced we approached a local man sitting in the square and had a chat with him. He said the 3N would be better but longer and there was construction on it.

We decided that it was better the devil we DIDN’T know and went for the 3N…

It was dirt but easier dirt. The construction was a pain and there was a lot of stopping and waiting while they worked on the road, but being much wider it felt like there was a lot less chance of falling off the edge!

The dust was incredible when we got stuck behind a construction lorry. Our faces were covered in it

We think they’re making the whole road tarmac and that will really open up that whole route through Pallasca. It will certainly be an awesome accessible road when it’s finished.

It took several hours as the going was slow and we weren’t going to make it through the Cañon del Pato in daylight as it was already 4pm, so we stopped at the gas station and asked if we could stay in the unfinished hotel that wasn’t open.

No problem and we got a brand new room, obviously, although they hadn’t connected the hot water at that point so it was a cold shower.

We were just grateful for the bed.

No way would that be allowed on the UK - stepping over cables on our way up the stairs and stepping round machinery etc. 😂 😂

14/10/2024

We decided to take the road to Pallasca. It didn’t look too bad on Google maps… 😂

Boy, what a road it was. It started out following the river through the canyon on very narrow, but reasonable tarmac.

Then the tarmac ended and it turned to dusty gravel. That was ok.

Then it started to climb; and climb; and climb. Very narrow, with steep, hairpin bends, and a couple of steep, sandy sections. We just prayed there wouldn’t be anything coming the other way, like the local bus! Luckily they met us on the straight bits…

Our stomachs churned with the drop off at our sides. It was miles down to the bottom.

We arrived in Pallasca exhausted (it took us around three hours to climb the mountain) and relieved to have made it, but also with a sense of anxiety about how we were going to get out of the place! That would have to be tomorrow’s problem.

Absolutely exhilarating.

12/10/2024

I thought my Spanish was improving.

Went into the bakery to get some rolls for breakfast.

You had to pay first and get a ticket.

I confidently asked for four rolls and paid 4 soles. I thought it was a little steep for four rolls but went with it. Some you win, some you lose.

Got our ticket and handed it over to the lady behind the counter.

She proceeded to load up a bag with far more than four rolls!

Very confused we left the shop and counted them. They worked in Soles, not the number of items and so we got 4 Soles worth.

That was 16!!!

That’s a lot of breakfast… 😂 😂 🥯

11/10/2024

Trujillo was an interesting town.

All of the university walls were covered in wonderful, mosaic pictures. It took years for all the tiny tiles to be placed and create the amazing scenes.

Another opulent, gold covered church with elaborate ceiling paintings overlooking a pretty square.

And a wonderful host, Felipe, from the Hostel Donde Alberto. Five stars for this place. It was fabulous. Felipe really looked after us and we left as friends.

He also proudly put our sticker on his car! Superb.