Yepp.. I’m in Holland! I’m here for 2 reasons. First, to get some special attention to the bike. Captain Magadan emailed me weeks ago suggesting I come to see his best technician at Hyperpro to get my suspension worked on. His friend Bas was kind enough to make an appointment for me to come in on his day off!! You know he’s good if...
I could have stayed on the barge for more than 4 days.. the time went by so quickly for me. I had an opportunity to catch up on my blogs, sort through photos.. I was working full time.. There was only an opportunity for short little breaks and some quick photos on board, but then I was back to work. I knew it best to take advantage of this time, because...
The remaining 4 days were lovely and gorgeous.. I really enjoyed this wonderful break on the barge.. It was a nice easy going journey compared to the rugged, rigid shaking about on the bike. For the most part uneventful, so I will just fill the rest of this blog up with photos.. Hope you enjoy.. I had mentioned on facebook and not able to express in a...
Time to leave our good friends in Mirny. Still blown away by how much we were looked after again and again.. Igor had made a connection with a barge in Lensk and we needed to be there by 8 AM. Lensk is 250 km down the dirt road, so Captain Magadan decides we should leave at 3:00 AM to get there on time. 3:00 AM!! Why don’t we go a day ahead? Well because hotels cost...
Welcome to Mirny!! Large diamond mining town of 40,000.. AND, we made it to the motor-cross event! Big Igor, as we call him is racing today in the Monster Energy suit.. I am behind him, Ilya directly behind him, and the Igor we stay with is next to me, as well as lots of their female friends. They use the dug out areas around the mine for a track...
Another beautiful day on the Viluisky Trakt in Siberia! Another day, another challenge… Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE MUD?? I had to wait for the car to be pulled out by the Wazik before I could go past. Those Waziks can do anything and go anywhere.. I’m not sure why anybody around here would own anything but a Wazik. They can even kit them out with wood...
On yer bike… A good ol’ Australian saying comes to mind. We got off the ferry and had some fairly nice roads. The one thing Walter brought up before we left is that today is the half bridge. It’s a bridge that crosses the water, but it just ends half way across and you go into the water to finish. How weird!! He told me the trouble they had with it last year...
Had a really nice run on the Viluisky Trakt today.. rigidy again (that’s my new word), but feeling comfortable and cruisin’. Walter waves me into a café for some lunch. The villages are more frequent along this stretch and there are roadside café’s for travellers. This is a true pleasure. After travelling the Road of Bones, new road and old...
I spent my first day in Yakutsk just catching up on regular life stuff. Doing laundry, and washing each piece of our riding suits one by one. Two hours in the...
Walter did carry on that night so as to meet his French friend Arnaud, who was staying in the next town called Khandyga, but needed to move on the next morning. I arrived in the rain about 9 AM, and called Walter to get instruction of where to go. Arnaud was just ready to leave and they would meet me instead. As upset as I was the night before, I was really glad...