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more from Matts travels –
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2nd August 2008, 1.50pmIts me people! Im in some overpriced hotel in Toshkent, Uzbekistan. Im just smelling out the business centre to use their internet
Tomorrow I hit Kazakhstan, smelly undies n all.Neen, dont worry too much, whenever i get a bath, i just keep my socks and chuddies on and wash em that way
Thanks for all the encouragement folks, i really appreciate it
Im almost starting to believe that me and the fridge might just make it, but the tough stuff begins soon. All the preparation and lugging stuff has been for the last few thousand Kms.
Fingers crossed.
2nd August 2008, 9pm
N41 17.778E069 16.084Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
I woke up early to try and get into Kazakhstan and as close to Krygyzstan as possible.
My early departure was ruined by an ex soviet 4 star hotel!
I tried to leave at 7,30am but despite clearly stating that they accept all credit cards, they wouldn’t accept my visa till the bank opens at 8am.
At 8 I went back to reception, come back at 9am was their reply.
I went back at 9 to be told that the bank was closed and they wouldn’t accept my visa card until Monday. They were expecting me to stay until Monday and refused to give me my passport!
I demanded that the manager be called and after 2 hours of battling soviet mentality, I managed to get them to accept my card and I got my passport back.
I eventually got on the road at nearly mid-day, so much for my early start to try and beat the heat of the day.. My plans of getting into Kazakhstan and close to Krygyzstan were put on ice for the day and I headed towards the city of Tashkent, still in Uzbek, but only 20 or so km’s from the kazak border.
Along the way I took a wrong turn and ended up at a quiet Kazak border post by mistake, I don’t think many people entered through that border as they were very surprised to me come revving up to them!
A quick U turn and I was back on the road to Tashkent.
I reached the city in the full heat of the afternoon, after 2 hours of driving around looking for a hotel I was dripping with sweat.
I finally got a taxi to guide me to a tourist hotel.
As soon as I pulled up I knew it was going to be an expensive night!
They were very happy to see me pull up, wet with sweat and with full gear on, filthy after 5 weeks on the road!
So here I am, sat in a plush room, being robbed blind because I’m a tourist and all I wanted was a bed and a cold shower.
On the plus side, as I was contemplating raiding the spirits in the mini bar there was a knock on the door and a complementary bottle of wine appeared shame I can’t drink it as I would be hammered, looks like the miniature vodka’s might be on my menu after all!3rd August 2008
N42 19.130E069 34.952Chimkent, kazakhstan.
Leaving todays hotel was easy, but leaving Uzbekistan wasn’t!
The fun and games began when the Tashkent border was closed for some unknown reason.
I was back tracking yesterdays route and I saw a policeman on the side of the road, I also heard his whistling but I was going too fast to stop.
A minute later I passed a police car and the policemen jumped in their car and I then knew they were after me.
I slowed and quickly reset my maximum speed reading on my GPS.
They came alongside me looking not very happy, time to play stupid tourist!
I pulled over and they are jabberring Russian at me, I show them my maximum speed reading and shrug my shoulders.
It seems I wasn’t speeding but from what I worked out motorcycles weren’t allowed on the road I was on. They weren’t too happy that I hadn’t stopped the first time but a couple of cigarettes smoothed the situation.
They gave up with me and sent me on my way.
The next border crossing also gave me a ‘niyet’ to motorcycles, and the next!
The 4th border was also a ‘niyet’ but they bought me iced tea and feed me melon, after photos were taken with the border guards I was told by an english speaking guard that the only crossing I could use was 100kms away!
The same crossing I had accidental surprised yesterday!
The border was the same backwards and forwards from one office to another, I was eventually told I could go.
Off I went slowly, only to be called back again!!
Turning in the gravel I dropped the bike! Border guards came rushing to my aid, then they all wanted photos of them posing on the bike!
That was Uzbek done with, time for the Kazak border……..I pull up to the Kazak border and I see to Italian teams from the Mongol Rally, as I walk into customs they italians are with the customs man.
We exchange greetings as we are on a common journey and they tell me that they have just had to bribe the customs man 30dollars because its lunch time!!!
Stupid italians, cigarettes normally work, but unlucky for me because the same guard then expected me to give him money!!
In the end he managed to get 5 dollars out of me the help things along.
After an hour or so I was in, finally, this is where the journey really begins for me.
On the road I caught up with the Italians in their Fiat Panda’s and they bought me lunch of eggs, strange cheese soup and melon.
I think there may be some emergency toilet stops tomorrow!!!!!Latest updates from Matt with thanks to http://www.disturbingthepeace.co.uk
4th August
N42 51.580E074 36.015 Bishkek, Krygyzstan, 500 or so km’s ridden.
I left Chimkent in Kazakhstan and headed towards the Krygyzstan border.
It was fantastic days riding,a cool breeze, the rolling Kazak hills on my left and the snow peaked Kyrgyzstan mountains on my right.
I had a great roadside mystery lunch of unknown meat and other unknown stuff!
I was also having my usual hunt for a grade of fuel in the 90’s, not the 76-80 octane rubbish that is mostly avaliable.
I also had the fastest border crossing yet,out of Kazakstan and into Krygyzstan within 30 minutes without any hassels or running backwards and forwards,unbelievable!
Kyrgyzstan is obviously poorer then Kazakhstan but still has the usual soviet monuments dotted along the roadside.
The roads are actually better than in Kaz but the driving is way madder, I felt right at home!
I also saw a first today,4cars all trying to overtake a lorry at the same time!!
3 was my record in Iran , I never thought I would see 4 trying!
The only reason I’m in Krygyzstan is because its the most direct route to get to Alma Ata in Kazakstan, I have about 100km’s to do in this country and I was just going to blast through and back into Kaz.
I stopped off in Bishkek to take photo’s and a couple of German tourists tipped me off about some cheap lodgings, so I decided to stay the night .
Tomorrow I want to drive off my maps and check out the stunning mountains before heading back into Kaz.
I still have a few thouands km’s of Kaz to getthrough and it would be a shame to leave the stunning mountains of Krygyzstan so quickly,I won’t be coming back here so I want to soak up some scenery.August 5th
N43 13.976E076 47.484Almaty, KazakhstanOn a perfect day scale of 1 to 10, today could have been a 10 if it wasn’t for my stomach troubles!
It started with me finding liquid gold in Krygyztan, 95 octane fuel!!
I haven’t seen any of that since europe.
With a full tank I ventured up into the mountains of Krygyzstan, it was beautiful, I kept stopping every 30 seconds to take another photo.
After going as far a vehicles could go I pulled over to take in the view and noticed that I was leaking coolant again!!!!
This time I decided to do away with the tube inside the coolant expansion bottle, I’ve had enough of the Honda losing fluids!
It was time to go back into Kazakhstan so I headed to be border and was through in about an hour.
I seem to be learning the ropes when it comes to borders!
My next heading was Alma ata or Almaty as its known.
The wind for the first 100km’s was as strong as I’ve ever ridden in, I was fighting to keep control of the bike a lot of the time but it eased off and scenery was stunning.
Rolling plains to my left, the Kazak steppes to my right and the snow peaked Altay mountains in front of me on the horizon.
I stopped for a roadside dinner of cold soup made of yoghurt/cheese?and potato fritters and I had my first english conversation with a kazak woman.
She was an english teacher (also selling cold cheese soup) and was keen to impress upon me that kazaks are very intelligent people.
I couldn’t say one way or the other so I just agreed with everything she said!
The rest of the afternoon saw the Altay mountains getting closer and closer and I wanted to give Almaty a miss.
I don’t like cities and cities aren’t very biker friendly but I had to change some money to see me through the rest of Kazakstan.
I really wanted to sleep rough this evening, I’ve had enough of rip off tourist hotels but the sun was getting low and I was approaching a city of 1 million inhabitants.
On the approach into the city I saw a grubby little hotel that I knew would be cheap.
It took a while to get rid of drunk on vodka Kazaks from the bike but eventually they got bored with me and the bike and I checked in.
I can honestly say that if I had a tent, I would using it in this room! Roll on tomorrow!6th August
N45 54.870E077 06.004
Last nights flea pit hotel was horrible, I had to sleep with my ear plugs in.
Got woken up at 2am and told to put my bike in the back of the flea pit because its safer.
They could have told me that when I checked in a 6pm!!
There was another bang on my door at 8am and I was told I had to leave!
I went to take a quick shower and there was no water!
I left very tired and not happy.
Getting out of Almaty was hell and total gridlock so I’ve only done 85km’s today.
I came across a beautiful emerald green lake (the first water I’ve seen in weeks) and I decided that this was my home for the day!
I only have 1100km’s of kazakstan to do and I can’t enter russia till the 10th so I figured I would spend the day and night here instead of pushing on and sleeping by the road somewhere.
There are only a few people about so I’m going to hide my stuff and go off in search of supplies (water, ciggies and food to cook).
I have a bottle of wine chilling in the lake and there are a few trees for shade and a lovely cool breeze.
The only downside is that there are ants everywhere, but I will seal myself up in my bivy bag tonight and hope that I don’t wake up tomorrow covered in them!7th August
It was a good day yesterday, I felt a real sense of achievement. I have passed within 25km’s of China on a 20 year old sports bike that most would consider as scrap! An afternoon stop for fuel turned into a mini adventure as a man wielding a Winchester pump action shotgun wanted to swap my bike for his Mercedes! Of course I said no, so he then offered me 7000 dollars for it, saying it was worth 10,000 dollars in Almaty!!! I’m now thinking that the Honda will raise a handsome sum for the charity in Mongolia! He left without the Honda but we took photos me doing my best Clint Eastwood impression with the Winchester shotgun! Finding a camping spot was difficult and I ended up sleeping 10 meters from the road. Getting to my camp spot was a mini adventure in itself, what looked like solid ground turned out to be soft sand! If the was a sportsbik freestyle event in the olympics, I would have won gold! My front wheel went sideways in one direction and my back wheel in the other direction. I hit my camping spot sideways!! God knows how I didn’t drop it!8th August
N48 44.023E080 49.332 North of Ayakoz, Kazakhstan.The Kazaks call this area the land of the Seven lakes.
After a terrible nights sleep by the road, I got riding bright and early.
The mornings are the best time to ride as the temperature is not too extreme, the afternoons are always in the high 30’s but so long as I’m moving its not too bad.
Within 20 or so km’s everything changed, the road surface went from bad to worse to diabolical.
I have ridden over 250km’s on corrugated roads (Golfplaat straat) with 20cm’s deep ruts from the lorries and holes so deep you could loose a child in them!!
It was more like driving over a lunar surface than a road and I have spent all day wondering if me or the bike would break first!!
I really thought that maybe I would break my wheels,once in a rut from lorries,if a deep hole appears, there is nothing I can do but brace myself.
So my day was spent mostly stood on the pegs trying to avoid ruts and holes.
The highlight of my day was seeing an eagle in the road,it must have been 1 meter high and it was beautiful.
As soon it saw me coming towards it, it flew away before I could take a photo.
Towards the end of the afternoon I saw anotherlake surrounded by hills and mountains so I ventured off road along a track to take a swim.
As I’m ahead of time to get into Russia, I decided that this would be my camp spot for the night.
I did my washing and took a swim, getting out of the lake I noticed that the back of the bike was at a funny angle.
Futher inspection of the bike revealed that I had snapped the rear subframe!!!
I was no suprise considering the weight I am carrying and the state of the roads that I have been riding on, its been the most extreme days riding.
I re packed the bike and limped back to last little village I had passed looking for a welder, but no welder could be found!
By now the sun was getting low on the horizon so I thought it s best to go back to my idyllic lakeside camping spot insteadof riding slowly to the next biggest town and trying to find a welder in darkness.
So tomorrow I’m going to splint the subframe with 2 tyre levers, straps and cable ties and then drive
carefully to the next town and look for a welder in daylight.
Luckily I now know the right word for welding after my oil sump smash fiasco so finding a welder shouldn’t be too difficult and I have 2 days before I can enter Russia and I’m only 300 or so km’s from the border so I’m not worried.9th August
N50 20.506E080 18.070 Semey, Kazakhstan.150 km’s from the Russian border
The day started with me trying to make a splint my broken sub frame with a tyre lever and grips.
It just wasn’t possible, the break in the frame was too muchg for the tie grips to take,they just keep breaking.
I had two choices, go back 40km’s the way I had come or go forwards 60km’s to the next largest town to find a welder, I chose to go forwards.
So I packed the bike so all the weight was on the side of the frame thatwasn’t broken.
I rode at 20kmh for the 60km’s trying my best to avoid the holes, ruts and bumps that was the road.
To be honest,I really enjoyed it.I had a full tank of fuel, plenty of water and I knew that I could overcome far worse so far on this journey .
After a few hours of riding I arrived at the next largest town, now I had to find a welder.
I started driving around and saw a garden full of steel,here was the place to ask.
The man didn’t have a welder but led me to a neighbour who did have one.
The neighbour was certainly suprised to see an Englishman at his door asking to use his welder but led me into his garden where a old massive electric welding machine lived.
He sign languages that he had no welding rods,luckily I had bought some with me!!!
A small crowd of locals arrived to watch me weld the sub frame, I repaired the frame by welding a big bolt across the crack and it was not pretty but strong and fixed.
I gave the man some miniature bottles of vodka but he wouldn’t accept any money.
After drinking tea with my helpful stranger I was back on the road heading to Semipalatinsk, near to the Russian border.
The roads got worse and worse but I had learnt my lesson from yesterday, this is not the Paris/Dakar rally and I must slow down!!
I can ride the roads, but I’m pushing the Honda beyond its limits.
Heading to Semy I saw a Mongol Rally team who were having problems, I pulled over to see if they needed help, their fuel filter was blockedafter they filled up with petrol mixed with diesel!!!
I gave them a spare filter that I was carrying and went on my way.
It was lucky that I began my day with a full tank of fuel and that I had been driving slowly as the next stretch of diabolical roda had no fuel stations for 300km’s.
I mangaged my best fuel consumption so far, the whole 300km’s on one 22litre tank full of fuel…
I’m Sure my PD5 fuel additive helped me achieve this.
Semey is a large industrial city and while driving around looking for somewhere to stay I saw the Mongol Rally team that I had helped earlier, they knew of a cheap hotel an I followed them to a truckers hotel that cost about 7$ for the night!!!
My cheapest accommodition of the whole trip and it had a sauna available for 3$.
Tomorrow see’s me leaving the ‘stans’ for good, next stop Russia!!N53 20.212E083 47.325 Barnaul, Russia. 10,11 August
The last two days…………
I left Semey, Kazakhstan yesterday later than planned as I didn’t want to leave the Mongol Rally team that I had convoyed with that day and shared my hotel with stranded.
The biker code is, you don’t leave someone stranded, but they insisted that they would find a mechanic for their broken Panda.
I left Semey and headed to the Russian border at about mid-day.
I arrived at the border at about 2.
It was much cooler and dark clouds loomed on the horizon.
I got through the Kazak border in about 2 hours and joined the line for the Russian border,It was a long line and they would only let us through 1vehicle at the time.
After an hour or so of waiting, It got much colder and the heavy rain began.
By the time I had unpacked my waterproofs I was already soaked!
After another hour I finally was allowed in to begin the entry process.
The first office took about half an hour and was the usual visa check and filling out of forms.
The 2nd office was for registering my vehicle and paying taxes (200roubles).
The problem was I and a few other teams had no roubles as we had come in from Kazakhstan and we only had tenge or dollars.
The unhelpful sour facedofficials would only accept roubles and there was no money changing facillities.
Teams were would change dollars, one spanish team had been there all day!
Luckily a Kazak who i had been talking earlier took pity on me and changed some dollars for the roubles needed for the vehicle tax.
After lots more hours of waiting, I was finally in Russia, it was the most time consuming border crossing of my whole jouney.
So I entered Russia in the rain with the sun setting , almost no fuel, no roubles and no tent!!
Immediately a country had a different feel to it as you enter and it takes me a few days to get used to a new country so i usually feel a little on edge till I get a feel for the roads, traffic, money, people etc.
I found a cash point machine so my money problem was over but by now it was dark, I was tired and hadn’t eaten all day!!
I tried asking locals for directions to a hotel, but they just stared at me like I was an alien!!!
I decided to try and drive the 350km’s to Barnaul where there would be hotels.
After filling the bike with fuel I pushed on for half an hour and realised that it was madness and I was breaking the golden rule of solo travelling on a bike ‘never ride at night’.
I couldn’t see the roads properly, it was a new country and I didn’t know the conditions from the roads…
So I decided to camp next to a road in my bivybag,it was raining hard and I was very cold.
After a couple of hours…. my sleeping bag was wet and I was cold and miserable.
I awoke at 5;30am after only having a couple of hours sleep,cold, wet, tired and hungry.
I had to grit my teeth and just get on with it,every kilometer to Barnaul felt like 10km’s.
I shivered for the first few hours from riding in stillwet gear and I was feeling absolutely miserable, missing my family and questioning my sanity until I found a cafe and I could fill myself up with coffee and get warm again.
I can’t believe how the temperature has changed so much,yesterday driving through Kazakhstan it was in the 30’s, now the temperature is 22.
I’ve had weeks of super high temperatures and the drop has come as a shock!!
Finally I reached the city of Barnaul and the sun had come out and I was feeling much more positive but I still hate cities!!
After hours driving around looking for a hotel a kind family led me to a hotel, arranged the room and even arranged secure parking for the bike.
Bless you kind Russian family, I don’t know who you were but you arrived when I needed you most!!
I just wanted to flop into the hotel bed, but my first priority was to replace my tent stolen in Uzbek, I’mnot having a night like that again!!
After a taxi ride to a few camping shops I found a suitable tent and a fairly reasonable price.
A quick visit to the supermarket to buy coffee and food(1 packet pasta meal in 36hrs isn’t enough!)
And I was finally able to flop into bed only to be woken up half an hour later by my phone.
So here I am now wrighting this blog and then I can finally sleep!!Inspring stuff, makes me feel rather pathetic for taking the car to work today as it was raining!
REMEMBER to donate to the excellent cause Matt is supporting
Sure isnt an easy task for Matt from what we read, it puts into perspective what long distance stuff is about, not exactley glamerous as portraide in the long way down etc. As we are all aware, but rarely mentioned, every time we throw a leg over a bike the danger to life and limb is present more so than other forms of everyday transport. In Matts case, and the other competitors, there life is also in the hands of the indiginous people. Some of those places are practically war zones to us Westerners, but the more difficult the challenge the greater the achievement I would expect.
N51 37.706E085 44.031 Altay Mountains, Russia. 12August
Last nights Soviet era hotel was something straight out of the 70’s, I think the mattress was also from the 70’s as I spent a restless night with mattress springs poking me in my back!!
I woke up late in the morning and still tired but ready to get back on the road and out of the city.
As i arrived at the secure parking where the Honda had spent the night, my Russian saviour from yesterday (I now know he’s called Victor) pulled up in his Lada.
We exchanged sign language greetings and he had come to apologise that he had guided me to a hotel and not home with him to stay the night with him and his family!!
He then went to ask if I had fuel enough and if I had eaten, my answer to both questions was yes, he then gave me 500 roubles (about 20$) and no matter how much I protested, he would not take it back!!
He then guided me out of the city onto the correct road I needed!!!
What a wonderful man, thank-you Victor.
My GPS told me that I was only 700km’s from the Mongolian border and my spirits soared.
All the weeks of travelling have been leading to this moment and I never dared to even think about it, the journey was too long and I have just taken one country at a time.
In the early afternoon I entered the beautiful Altay Mountain region,I stocked up on food and decided that I would stop early today to dry out my sleeping bag and set up my new tent.
So I am now camping in the woods, drinking coffee, eating a pot noodles, fresh bread and delicious Russian pastries.
Tonight I will sleep well in my new tent, with a full belly and only 450km’s from the Mongolian border.
The highs are so much sweeter when you’ve got through the lows!!N49 46.875E089 02.219 Russian border with Mongolia 13 August
What a fantastic day, today has been one of the best days of my whole journey so far!
The Altay mountains are absolutely beautiful, I can see why the Russian flock here in the summer time.
For bikers, mountains always mean fun, great scenery and twisting roads, well imagine 400km’s of it!!
I have driven through, past or over every type of mountain, imainable.
Desert type mountains, rocky mountains, blue and green slate type mountains, snow peaked mountains, the lot!!
All of the time with eagles soaring above, mormots dashing across the road, goats, sheep, cows and camels wandering all over the place.
I stopped for dinner on the peak of a mountain and had freshly baked salmon and bought myself a crazy Altay hat to wear!!
I wanted one of the twangy mouth instruments that the locals play, but 20$ was just too much, there are so many Russian tourists that all the prices are inflated.
I was trying to get to the Mongolian border before it closed at 5.30, but I must have been stopped a hundred times to take photo’s!
I got within 20km’s of the border at 5.30 so I started looking for somewhere to make a camp.
I got stopped by the police entering the border town and had none of the fabled corruption, just a driving licence check.
The town speed limit was 40kph, as i passed the last of the towns houses I gave a little more gas and a policeman with a speed gun jumped into the road!!
I pulled over and he showed me that my speed 79kph was, whoops!!
I thought that I would now be losing some dollars, but they just wanted to play with all the buttons on my bike and my GPS.
I think I got lucky because they got an urgent call to be somewhere else and they let me go!!
So I am now 5km’s from the Russian side of the border, tent pitched basically in the middle of nowhere.
There are no trees and I can see for miles in all directions, surrounded by barron rolling hills and mountains,its perfect, I can’t hear a single sound, pure tranquillity!
I’m half hoping that maybe another rally team passes by as this is a bottleneck point for the teams entering Mongolia from the west and we can exchanged tall tales of adventure and troubles!!
Tomorrow Mongolia. YIPPIE !!!!!N48 57.832E089 58.315Olgiy, Mongolia! 16August
Yesterday I pulled up to the MG border and met 3 teams from the Mongol Rally, we got along and decided to convoy. Thankfully they also agreed to carry my equipment to make the bike lighter! The ride into the country was awesome, absolutely no roads, loose gravel and me on road tyres, the back tyre bald from the ride across a good chunk of the globe to get here. It was quite an experience and I had one or two ‘moments’ but nothing too serious and I did drop the bike! The corrigations were so bad I wondered if the bike would shake itself to death!! There was also a massive hill climb where the cars were struggling to make it up with the loose rocks and gravel. One car ripped its exhaust clean off and all vehicles were struggling with the altitude. We arrived at the first town to look for fuel but it was only 80 octane so we decided to push on the th next town to look for better quality fuel. At the next town better quality fuel couldn’t be found so we all filled up with 80 octane and looked for a camping spot as it was getting late. A suitable spot was found and a camp fire was made and vodka was drunk in celebration of our arrival into MG. The next morning whilst doing routine checks it was discovered that 1 car had a blown head gasket, another had smashed their shock through their car and snapped a spring in 3 places and I had broken my sub frame again! So we headed back to town to find a garage. A garage was found and repair prices were agreed and a swarm of men began working on our vehicles. After a full days work (mechanical bodging), and my off road tyres fitted we were all rolling again. As it was dark, we all headed back to our previous nights campsite to get some food and sleep ready to start a new day afresh. The next morning was an early start as one of the teams really wanted to make up the lost day at the mechanics. We all headed off in convoy and the terrain got progressively worse but my off road tyres had turned the Honda into a 2 wheeled Hummer! I was ploughing through all surfaces with no problems at all, then came the first river crossing. The fiat uno ploughed into the water and got stuck! It was all hands on deck to push them out and eventually the cars were over, it was then my turn and the Honda stormed through with no problems at all! The day saw 3 more river crossings and not once did the Honda miss a beat, it seemed unstoppable! We all stopped around 2 for a quick noodle break and the rain and wind began. All the teams huddled in their cars and I took shelter behind a car. After the noodle break all the teams stormed off with me in hot pursuit, the rocky terrain that I had been ploughing through was now as slippery as ice and I had a big ‘moment’ where I slipped on a rock, the bike lurched sideways and the momentum ripped off the top box and a rock bent the rear brake lever! But a least I didn’t come off, god knows how, but I’m thankful! The rest of the afternoon was spent with me dicing with death trying to keep pace with the cars, I had more than one scare and decided that enough was enough, at the next major town I was going to part company and ride my own rally again. I had ridden 200kms off road, I had not eaten properly (while the car drivers were munching all along) and I not had the chance to stop when I wanted and take the photos that I wanted to take. At Hovd we stopped for fuel and I told the teams of my decision, I was exhausted and just needed to stop. They were sad to see my leave but I have to do what is right for me. So I got all of my cases out of the cars and fully loaded up again I checked into the local hotel and fell asleep immediately.
N47 06.521E092 50.533Dzereg, Mongolia 16, 17August
I was up after 10 hrs sleep and still aching all over. I re packed the bike and ditched all the surplus weight that I could. I left Hovd at around 11am and made my way out of the town slowly. The bike had completely changed in its handling characteristics, yesterday it had been sure footed, ploughing its way through everything, but today, loaded up again it felt too clumsy and I was feeling nervous about it. The road leaving the town was diabolical and the bike felt way too heavy at the back and way too light at the front. There was nothing I could do but ride on, grit my teeth and hope for the best. After 15 or so km’s I went to use my front brake and I had no front brake!! One of the mechanics who had fitted my front tyre had forgotten to replace one of the bolts in the brake caliper and it had rotated up off the disc! I stopped to repair the problem and a car pulled up and 2 local men jumped out to help. There wasn’t much they could do but the extra hands were helpful and I thanked them with my last miniature bottle of whiskey. With the caliper refitted I nervously pushed on and with every passing hour my confidence grew again, but the handling was still at best not very good. I pulled over at a track side café for a cold drink but ended up sitting with a family of 10 drinking warm milk and eating goat and noodle soup. It was good to be interacting with locals again as the rally teams that I had convoyed with seemed nervous of locals and were only interested in racking up the km’s. I was given a melon and got riding again, the corrugated road was a ever changing blend of thick gravel, rocks or sand. I have found that riding at 60kph is the right speed to skip over the corrigations, plough through the sand and gravel, but there was still a few moments when I thought I was coming off, but I always managed to get control at the last second! Today I have seen camels, yaks, eagles and lots of Gers (or Yurts) dotted along the landscape, it has been good to be travelling alone again. This evening I have had lots of locals come over to my evening camping spot. They usually want a cigarette or something and are not afraid of asking, I give them a coffee or a cigarette and they leave happy. Tonight I had just got in my sleeping bag to go to sleep and there was a revving of motorbikes outside my tent (I’m camping almost in the middle of nowhere), I poke my head out of the tent and receive the greeting ‘thank you, I am a wrestler, tabak, tabak! Apparently, he and his friend had got drunk on vodka and had fallen asleep in the mountains. I give them a cigarette and coffee and the cheeky monkey wants my Petzl head lamp because its dark and his motorbike headlight doesn’t work! Sorry my wrestling Mongolian friend, but its not my fault that you got smashed on vodka and fell asleep. After he gets refused another cigarette, he and his friend get bored with me and start up their bikes and wobble of into the dark! It must be a very tough life here so I’m not surprised that they use alcohol to escape their daily hardships. I wonder what tomorrow will bring…………..
N47 03.189E093 11.007Altay, Mongolia 18August
The day started with me looking for fresh drinking water, I knew I had a 300km stretch with no fuel or water, just desert, so I wanted to be well stocked up on fluids. I eventually found the local water pump and filled up my containers, went to the local garage to fill my jerry can, but it was all locked up and nobody knew where the garage owner was, its lucky I had filled the bikes tank the night before! It was only 90km’s to the last town before the wilderness where I was sure I would be more fuel. At the next town I found the garage but it was abandoned, so I started asking locals if there was benzine in the town, they said no! Around the centre of the ‘town’ there were 20 or so motorbikes, they all had benzine, so there must be fuel somewhere to be found, they wouldn’t be making a 180km round trip to the last town I had come from just to get fuel! I drive around asking everyone for benzine, followed by a pack of kids on push bikes, when I get stopped by a van full of oil drums. This was the benzine and they had heard I was looking for it, so they came looking for me! A tube was placed in an oil drum and they syphoned the benzine into my waiting tank and jerry can. I was now ready to make the journey into the ‘wilderness’ stretch. The first 120km’s flew by with my confidence growing in my ability to handle my overloaded 350kg bike off road. The tyres handling the sand now I have learnt to relax and half ignore the bike squirming under me. It seems the secret to riding off road is to mostly just ‘gun it!’ I had learnt that riding the corrigations of the road at 60kph made them bearable, but at 80kph I just skim the top of them with hardly any vibration at all. I wish the whole journey could have been made at 80kph, but the ever changing surface meant that those speeds never lasted for long. I was enjoying myself too much and riding too hard for the Honda, I was having a personal ‘Paris-Dakar rally’ when I hit a large rut, me and bike took off skywards and we both landed with a nasty thunk! Too much confidence cost me a bent foot peg which now catches my centre stand making it lower and that now catches more rocks! I stopped to take pictures of camels when I noticed my number plate at a strange angle, the tell tale sign of a bent or broken sub frame……..again It was defiantly time to calm down! A late afternoon lunch at a roadside shack of goat and noodles and I began the last 100km stretch to Altay. 30km’s later saw the beginning of the thick gravel again, its at least 10cms deep and all of my ‘moments’ have been on it. I hate the stuff, if I veer just slightly from the tracks worn into the gravel by trucks, the bike goes all over the place and is almost uncontrollable. Those last 70km’s were hellish, but I had no ‘big moments’ today. In the last 20kms the track got really bad and one of my panniers came loose and bounced down the road. I re-attached it and entered Altay worn out from the day. I found the local hotel and got a room for 17 dollars and I can honestly say its the most grim and disgusting room I have ever stayed in, ironically I’m in room 101!! I unloaded the bike and found that my pannier ejection has caused an unopened pot of jam to spread its sticky contents all over my stuff! So todays score is…..loads of itching from last nights camping mosquito attack, 1 bent foot peg, 1 bent centre stand, possibly 1 snapped sub frame and the contents of 1 pannier covered in black current jam. I think tomorrow will be a maintenance day!
N45 48.197E098 23.540 19August
Absolutely in the middle of nowhere, off the beaten track, Mongolia! The day started with a rude awakening at 6am with a banging the door of my miserable hotel room! I answer the door still half asleep and the parking security man is stood there saying ‘motorcycle’ !! I haven’t got a clue what he is on about, so I say 10am and close the door and go back to bed. Five minutes later, he is banging on the door again saying ‘motorcycle 1000’. I haven’t got a clue what he is on about so I say 10am again and close the door. Five minutes later he walks in my room saying ‘1000, 1000’ by now I’ve figured out that he wants 1000 mongolian money (I’m not sure what the money is called, it could be monkeys, spangles or smarties!) anyway, it amounts to a dollar. I pay him and he leaves me awake and angry, why didn’t he ask me for the money when I had parked up the bike for the night! Within an hour the hotel staff are up and about banging doors and generally making far too much noise for a man trying to sleep. I give up with sleeping and get down to filling myself up with coffee. The first order of the day was to pack up all my stuff ready for a quick departure, I got the bike from parking and then went on to try and find out the mongolian word for welding with sign language. Once I had found out what the word was I hit the market place opposite the hotel in search of a welder. Within minutes on was found and 15 minutes and 2 dollars later my sub frame was braced and re welded. Back at the hotel I cleaned out my pannier full of jam and packed the bike up. The middle stand and foot peg weren’t damaged enough to warrant any attention but it was then I noticed fork oil everywhere. Damn, it looks like my previous days Dakar experience had also blown a fork seal as well as killing my speedo cable (which I had forgot to mention in yesterdays blog!). All in all, yesterday was quite a day for damage! I checked out at exactly mid day and went searching for a bank to change some dollars into Mongolian spangles and I found some 92 octain fuel. It was 1pm when I left Altay and I headed off on the road I needed to my next city destination some 400kms away. Some 80kms later there was a fork in the track and I was not sure which track I should follow. I went a kilometer down the track that I thought I should be on, but it wasn’t as well worn as the other so I doubled back thinking the most worn track would be the one to the city. After another 50km’s or so I hadn’t hit the town that I expected to be seeing, but I carried on. After another 20km’s a very small town appeared, it was now 5pm and my stomach told me it was time for goat and noodles again. Inside the café I asked if this was the town I expected to see on my map, no was the answer, it was in a tiny village 30kms south of where I needed to be! On my map there wasn’t even any tracks to the village, let alone out of there! Luckily the village had fuel for sale but at 2 dollars a litre! So I filled my tank and waterbag and headed approxamatly in the direction of the road I needed to be on and made camp an hour before sunset. I am truly in the middle of nowhere tonight camping in a desert with black rain clouds on the horizon. The silence and tranquillity is something you could never find in europe, its quite strange! It may cost me half a day or more to get back on the road I need to be on, but until then, its just me, my bike and the silence.
N46 11.230E100 43.198 Bayanhongor, Mongolia 20August.
After writing last nights blog I thought I had better work out exactly where I was! You can imagine my surprise when I found out that I was following a track that was leading through a good chunk of the Gobi desert! My planned route was only to skirt the desert, never to enter it! I didn’t let it worry me too much as I saw I had only 200km’s of desert riding to do and I was riding on a track that was showing on my map as a stippled line, not ideal but I had just enough water and fuel to get out…….just! I figured that I needed to ride as to get maximum fuel consumption, that is at a constant 60kph so I could get out, my map indicated no villages or towns on the track. I set off with high hopes but very aware of the situation I was in, one mistake could be fatal. The first mistake happened a couple of hours later, riding at 60kph in sand leaves little reaction time for the obstacles in the track. I saw the deep soft sand too late and hit it at 60, the front of the bike folded and I was catapulted off. My first reaction was to pick up the bike, if it leaked any fuel I was in big trouble! I managed to haul the bike up out of the sand without any fuel loss, mostly due to the bike resting on its pannier and not flat on the ground as it normally would be. I hadn’t really hurt myself, just my pride! This was my first ‘off’ in the whole journey and I was hoping that I would cross Mongolia without any falls, maybe I was hoping for too much. My shoulder and bum bone were sore but luckily that was all. I started the bike up and continued on without trying to dwell on it, but certainly slower than before. After an hour or so I saw some Gers and you can imagine my surprise when I saw a hand operated petrol pump, 5 litres was bought and my petrol problem was over, I could certainly make it out. I was getting physically and mentally exhausted from the ride, the concentration and focus needed for riding on this track was wearing me out. A little later I saw some more Gers by a fast flowing river and I recognised the café sign outside one of them, excellent, a chance to rest, drink some milk and fill up with water. I checked my map as the Ger filled up with people watching me, as has been usual in my travels through Mongolia and I realised that I had to cross the river! It was over knee deep and very fast flowing, I decided to take this one slowly, not gun it and create a ‘bow wave’ as I had with the others. This was my second mistake of the day!! I should have ‘gunned it’, as half way through at the deepest and fastest flowing part of the river the current was stronger than I could hold and me and bike toppled into the water! My worst fear had been realised, a drowning bike. As quick as I could I hauled the bike upright, I don’t know how as I was already exhausted, but I managed. I sat on the bike, soaked to the skin and silently preyed that it would start, after what seemed like an eternity she fired up and I powered through the last half of the stream without any trouble. Once on the other side I emptied my boots of water and wrung out my socks and I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep on the spot! I wanted adventure and I was getting more than I could take for one day, but I still had 100km’s to ride to get out of the Gobi. The last 50kms were like a blur, my exhaustion was taking over, after each toilet stop I could hardly get my leg back over the Honda, I just wanted to sleep but I knew that I must carry on. Finally I reached the road I should have been on and the town loomed into view, I have never been so happy to see a town before. The local hotel was found and I negotiated the cheapest room I could and flopped onto bed, exhausted and aching. I was awoken an hour later (as seems to be usual) by a knocking on my door and 2 young guys saying “Motorcycle, Mongolia yes, Mongolia no!” I still have no idea what they were talking about but I made it clear that I was sleeping and to come back later! I now sit here writing this in the hotel restaurant, it is full of Mongolian christians, singing hymns and “amen’ing” everything. I’m just too tired to care as I haven’t eaten a proper meal in days, maybe that’s partly the cause of my exhaustion. I haven’t had a day off since Tehran in Iran and I think tomorrow will be a day off for me to rest and recuperate! I also managed to lose the key to my side panniers with my clean clothes in! I still have the plastic part of the key on the key ring, but the key part is gone! I guess tomorrow I will have to ‘break in’ to my own bike as my boots are still soaking wet!
Bayanhongor, Mongolia 21 August.
The day started late, 11am. I had a good 12hrs sleep and woke up aching all over. For those who don’t know me so well, I have a spinal condition. I wear morphine plasters which keeps my ‘baseline’ level of pain in check. I normally only wear half a plaster but for the last week I have been wearing 1 at a time. Today was a 2 plaster day, the first time ever! I dragged myself out of bed and decided to take a walk around the market, its there where you can see how people live and what they buy etc. I bought lunch and was already knackered again! So it was back to the hotel for a nap. A couple of hours later I was feeling much better and I decided it was high time for a haircut, I was starting to look a bit woolly and my last No1 crop was in Iran, time for a Mongolian No1! I went back to the market and I turned into a big spender! I bought a carton of cigarettes, got my haircut, bought a fake pair of Adidas sunglasses (I lost my good ones in Romania many moons ago) and stocked up on coffee. All for the princely sum of 10,000 smarties (10 dollars!!). Back to the hotel to watch some Olympics but I can’t, there is no power till 6pm! Don’t ask my why, it comes on a 6 and when I woke up this morning it was off again, I had to shave with my Petzl head lamp on! All in all its been good to have a day off, I needed it for sure. I still ache but I’m feeling refreshed and ready for the last leg of Mongolia. I shall be in Ulaan Baatar in 3 days at the most where I give the CBR and all of my kit to the rally charity.
N46 15.853E102 46.696Arveyheer, Mongolia 22August.
Its amazing what a day off can do! I awoke with my batteries fully charged and ready to tackle whatever the road threw at me today. Surprisingly the road didn’t really throw much at me! The first 10km’s or so were tarmac and after that the track was a doddle, by european standards what I was driving on was diabolical, by Mongolian standards it was pretty good. I have ridden over such extreme terrain recently that today was a picnic in comparison and my spirits were high. The only real challenge today was a ferocious cross wind that whipped up the dust till it was a complete ‘whiteout’. I would have to stop because I couldn’t see the track at all and any exposed skin felt like it was being sandblasted! When I stopped for the dust to settle the wind was so strong I would have to put the bike on its sidestand because I could hardly hold it up! There was a reasonably small river crossing but the Honda never missed a beat and was probably thankful for the wash, but the river weed still hangs off it as a memento of its near drowning a few days ago! Last night I had dinner with 2 of the Mongol Rally teams who were about to do something ridiculous, drive at night! They said it was the first time that they had done it, but they were rushing to the Mongol finishing party in UlaanBaatar on Saturday. I left them at around 10pm while they were filling themselves up with energy drinks to go through the night! You should have seen the state of the Nissan Micra’s they were in, they were almost destroyed! I don’t think the Mongolian government will allow the Mongol Rally to continue in its present form next year, they are just filling up the country with scrap cars, whereas the rally I am part of is trying to help the country, not fill it with junk! So I am now trying to enjoy my last day or two with the Honda, UlaanBaatar is only 450kms away and its just dawned on me that the end of my journey (with the Honda) is in sight. I don’t expect to be in UB tomorrow, 200kms of motor cross a day seems to be my physical limit, so I expect to arrive on Sunday afternoon. I’m trying to imagine getting up and not having to ride, but I can’t! The urge to keep riding has been with me for so many weeks now that the thought of being still seems quite strange. Some days I feel like I could just keep going till I ended up where I started from and if it wasn’t for me missing my family, I probably would!
Saturday 23rd August.UlaanBaatar, Mongolia.
I made it!!!!! I had heard that the last 450km’s was proper road so I decided to do it all in one stint.I Ieft my hotel room at 7am, loaded up the bike for the final time, jumped on raring to go and the bike wouldn’t start! I knew straight away what the problem was, dry battery cells……again! (to all bikers reading this and thinking of making any distance tours in hot conditions, get a sealed gel battery!) I unloaded the bike again to remove the seat and as it was too early for the shops to be open to find any distilled water it had to be Mongolia’s finest mineral water! The bike started immediately and I was off on the final leg of Mongolia with the Honda. There was a bitter cold wind and the water by the side of the road was frozen and within minutes, so was I! As predicted it was constant tarmac all morning, eagles by the side of the road, scared by the noise of the bike soared into the air and I was soaring with them. All the months of planning, weeks of riding, the highs and lows had lead me towards this day and UlaanBaatar. I stopped more than usual, partly because I was frozen and partly because I was wanting to enjoy my last day of freedom with the Honda and meet more people. After a while I was getting bored with the road, it wasn’t the reason I had ridden to Mongolia, then, exactly five minutes later and 125kms before UB the road just ended and it became track again!! I wished I hadn’t thought the road was boring! I threw all caution to the wind and ‘went for it!’ I put my ‘Dakar race face’ on and was flying past land cruisers and the like with ease and I was defiantly making my motocross tyres work! I had a few hair raising moments as I was motor crossing on a fully loaded sports bike but I was loving every minute of it, putting all of my off road experience with the Honda to good use. It turned out that I wasn’t that much slower than if I had been on the road! Then, 30km’s before UB the road began again, brand new snooker table smooth tarmac. My motor cross tyres were humming on the brand new road and I was singing in my helmet as UlaanBaatar came into view! At the sign to the city I pulled over to take a photo, I really wanted a photo on me stood on the Hansen Honda, I felt on top of the world, but I couldn’t find anyone who could take the photo, so I had to make do with a picture of the Honda near to the UlaanBaatar city sign. Once inside city it was quite a culture shock, Mongolia has a nomadic, rural culture but UlaanBaatar is modern vibrant city not unlike any other city in the west. I then had the task of finding the location of the CDPF (childrens development and protection fund) offices so that I could donate the Hansen Honda to them. This was not as simple as I had hoped as the directions that I had were vague at best and the two contact numbers that I had were not working! After an hour or so of driving around I gave up, totally frustrated I called my wife to check through the charity rally emails and try and make contact with someone to guide me to the CDPF offices. An hour later I was sat inside the CDPF office, because it was late Saturday afternoon we couldn’t complete the hand over process officially, so I handed over the keys and paperwork, left the Hansen Transmissions Honda with them and arranged to return on Monday to officially hand over the Hansen Honda. Accommodation was arranged at a guest house and so ended my long journey with the Team Hansen Transmissions Honda. She had been a loyal and trustworthy companion and I don’t regret for one minute my choice of motorcycle to make this long and difficult journey. The only real problems that I had with her were of my own making and I am sad to see her go, but I hope that she will raise a handsome amount of money to go towards helping poor Mongolian children. And now begins the very last stage of my journey, to travel to Tianjin, China to hand over the Hansen Transmissions ‘green cheque’ at their new Chinese premises for 88 trees to be planted to offset my carbon emissions. On my journey I have tried to ride as economically as possible, I have used a fuel additive every time that I have filled my tank which has increased my range and reduced my emissions by ten percent. Now, with the help of my team sponsor, Hansen Transmissions, I can fully offset my carbon emissions with 88 trees which will be planted around their new premises at Tianjin, China.
Sunday 24th AugustUlaanBaatar, Mongolia.
Todays blog is mostly going to be a thank you write up. Many people, websites, businesses and organisations have helped me make this journey of a lifetime possible and without them it may not have been possible. Firstly I would like to thank my team sponsor, Hansen Transmissions in my hometown Lommel, Belgium (www.hansentransmissions.com). They encouraged me to make my journey as green as possible and to consider the carbon footprint that I would be leaving and to decrease it as much as possible. I have done everything possible to reduce my emissions and I will continue to keep my emissions as low as possible by travelling by train where possible. I have carried the Hansen Transmissions name with pride and will continue to do so all the way to their new premises in Tianjin, China.Massive thanks are also due to the website Disturbing The Peace (www.disturbingthepeace.co.uk) and its members who encourage extreme motorcycle riding. If crossing a third of the globe on a 20 year old sports bike isn’t extreme, then I don’t know what is! They have supported me from day one, be it with web space, web design, donations, advice, parts, encouragement, and they gave me my own space to spam their website, for that I will always be thankful. You guys rock! Thank you Bob Morley from http://www.smellybiker.com who sponsored me with his Wanderlust world gps mapping and gave me space on his website to blog to all world travelling bikers. Big thanks are also due to RevIt Sport (www.revit.eu) for giving me full dakar motorcycle kit and waterproofs. They are a great friendly company who’s biking clothing is fantastic and kept me warm in the cold and cool when the heat was on, I can fully recommend their clothing. Also big thanks are due to the following companies who sponsored me with their great products……..
http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles
http://www.Camelbak.com
http://www.PD5.co.uk
http://www.HeinGericke.co.uk
http://www.jtsprockets.com
http://www.hiflofiltro.com
http://www.Trangia.se
http://www.Cycle-netUK.com
http://www.Europrinting.be
http://www.Racevisors.co.uk
http://www.Eurotunnel.com
http://www.Renthal.com
http://www.Bikealert.com
http://www.Rema-tiptop.com
http://www.Haynes.com
http://www.kla4tje.be
http://www.Ultraseal.com
http://www.Betablocker.co.uk
http://www.Zxrworld.co.uk
http://www.publi-joni.be
And now for the personal thank you’s, there have been so many of you helping to make my dream possible that the list would be too long. You know who you are and I have been truly touched by your kindness, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. And now for the last and most important thank you to the most special person in my life. She always believed in me, always knew I could make it even though some people scoffed or doubted me. She encouraged me and has been my tower of strength when times were tough. And that is to my partner Liane, a man couldn’t ask for a better woman and even though I call her my wife, we are not married. When I get back I plan to change that and we are going to get married. I have carried your wedding ring since I bought it in Iran!Thank you darling, I love you. XxxWELL DONE MATT, A SENSATIONAL EFFORT
A TRUE BIKERS JOURNEY
Remember to back him, you can still sponsor him!
Thanks to http://www.disturbingthepeace.co.uk
What a journey, what a ride. Well done Matt on completing your epic journey, and thanks for sharing it with us all. Dramatic or what!.
Thanks for all of the positive words guys.
Ive been back a few weeks now, but have been sick as a dog!
The doctor found some mystery infection in my blood and Ive done nothing but sleep since I got home. He took more blood yesterday and if it hasent cleared up im off to the tropical disease department in the hospital (I will know in a week or so).
As soon as Ive got my energy back I will post up pics of the journey.
Also…..to those of you who donated….THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
It kept me going in the tough times, I didnt want to let anybody down!
] Thanks for the update Gix [
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