Day 47 – 23rd May 2014 leave 8.30am Miles rode 251 Ardahan – Yerevan
What a day! The women in Yerevan are beautiful. I left early today, nervous about the bike, I was heading for Armenia. Nobody had spoken to me about the country and I hadn’t read anything about it but it was on the map and I was intrigued. I rode out of Ardahan and the sat […]
Day 46 – 22nd May 2014 Ardahan
I had a productive morning, I jet washed the bike, brought oil and at 12.30 I started servicing the bike, ok I wasn’t in a workshop but waste land (the hotel called it their car park). I had some spares, oil filter etc so by about 2.30 when the heavens opened I had just about […]
Day 45 – 21st May 2014 leave 8.15am Miles rode 190 Agri – Ardahan
I left early with the intention of riding to Georgia, after an amazing start it turned bad! The main road to the boarder took a long loop so I decided to go straight over the mountain. My sat nav wasn’t impressed and didn’t recognise the route, my map did. It was about 50km over the […]
Iraq (Kurdistan)
I’m so pleased I decided to visit this wonderful country. It’s dry, very hot and it’s only mid May, in July and August it will be in the high 40 degrees and I wouldn’t want my European white skin to suffer that, especially on the bike. I leave Iraq (Kurdistan) with only positive memories, the […]
Day 43 -19th May 2014 leave 7.45am Miles rode 141 Field in SE Turkey – Hakkari
I woke early and the farmer came by at about 7am, I really don’t know if he was ok with me pitching the tent or not? Anyway, I gave him a packet of cigarettes and he went away smiling. Early in the morning a couple of Germans bikers passed and throughout the day I kept […]
Day 42 – 18th May 2014 leave 12.15pm Miles rode 205 Arbil – Field in SE Turkey
Haval contacted me at about 8.00am and said the TV station would do the interview this morning. At about 11.00am the TV crew arrived at the hotel where Haval worked and for the next 30 minutes they interviewed me and took film of me riding the bike. I have no idea how they will edit […]
Day 41 – 17th May 2014 leave 10.00am Miles rode 186 Arbil – Rawandiz & back
After fighting my way out of Arbil I rode north towards the Iranian boarder, I passed over two mountain ranges to get to Rawandiz, the roads at times were awful but there weren’t many cars about. I know I’ve said it before but what amazing riding, so many switchbacks, such amazing scenery and gorges. Rawandiz […]
Day 40 – 16th May 2014 – Arbil
At the centre of Arbil sitting on a raised hill is the Citadel which is he oldest continually inhabited city in the world, it was very hot but I decided to walk up to have a look. I was the only person there and as I started to walk inside I thought wow, one day […]
Day 39 – 15th May 2014 leave 1.00pm Miles rode 127 Dahuk – Arbil
It’s bloody hot! I only rode 127 miles today but I was knackered when I arrived in Arbil. The heat, dust, appalling roads, cars & lorries that have no idea about ‘lane discipline’ and there were road blocks every 20 miles or so, either police or military. They were very friendly asking where I was […]
Day 38 – 14th May 2014 leave 9.00am Miles rode 270 Urfa – Dahuk
I love the ritual of preparing the bike and myself to leave every morning. I check out of the hotel and take 15 or so minutes loading the bike checking everything is ok before I head off. The start of the ride was dull and boring, I could have been in Essex! I played Oasis […]
Day 37 – 13th May 2014 leave 7.30am Miles rode 335 Kayseri – Urfa
Left early today and rode across the mountains all day, there were very few cars about and it took me 1 1/2 hours to get to the first small town at 1500 meters high. I pulled into a dusty cafe and the men came out ‘welcome’ they said with a smile. Late morning having spent […]
Day 36 – 12th May 2014 leave 10.30am Miles rode 71 Cappadocia – Kayseri
I had a nice lay in this morning followed by off roading in Cappadocia for an hour and then off to Kayseri to collect my Carnet de Passage from DHL. I couldn’t find the DHL depot so asked someone and a very kind man told me to follow him. It took over half an hour […]