3rd July 2017
Dave and I set off from his house in Notting Hill, London to embark on a 30,000km journey that would take us through Europe, into Central Asia and then all the way across China to finish near the city of Kunming. We had set 6 months aside, which would get us home just in time for Christmas. I was riding a Kawasaki KLR600, and Dave was on Suzuki DR650. Dave only passed his motorbike test 4 days before we left on the journey of a lifetime. Two idiots, two motorbikes.
Our route. We initially planned to go through Turkmenistan, but we couldn’t get a Visa at the right time so we had to skip it out.
6th July 2017
First update!!
I'm currently sitting in our tent at the top of the albula pass in Switzerland (2300m up) so thought I'd do a post.
The start of our trip was monumentally dull, with two days of motorway riding to chamonix. We split it up camping in a field in champagne country. To be honest it might as well have been the uk, the only give away being some serious French cheese purchased for our dinner.
Motorway riding is exhausting, our bikes have no wind protection so you're constantly being buffeted by 80mph winds. I also wear the occasional bug to my face which is quite painful too.
We arrived in chamonix and squeezed into a tiny apartment with my brother harry and his two friends who are climbing Mont Blanc. I slept on the floor of the kitchen, Dave got the prime spot under the kitchen table.
We then cracked on into Switzerland to stay with daves friend Ferg who works at an international school in crans-Montana. Was weird to share a dorm room again after so many years! Cheers Ferg!
Woke up with a wee headache but no time to hang around as we had the furka pass to tackle. This was what we had been looking for, some serious alpine roads. Switchbacks and smooth corners cut out of cliffs - the bikers dream.
After popping into Aldi we carried on until about 7pm where we saw a tiny track leading off to the left. So we got our first real bit of off road for a few mins and found an absolute corker of a camping spot. Surrounded by cattle, the hills are alive the sound of cow bell music - hope we can sleep tonight!
We cooked up some tortellini in sparkling water because, you know, why not? and have now settled down in our tent for a well deserved rest. Next stop Italy and then on to Slovenia!!
