Finished!

Finally made it to Piura. An amazing 19 days - 15 police stops, 6 crossings of the Andes, 5 rivers forded, 4 broken chains, 3 new hats,  2 days in mechanics, 1 night in a police station, 8 hours living life as a trucker - Now heading for the beach! see you all in the UK...

Piura, Peru

After 2390km at an average speed of 17.704km/h, the dishes are done...Piura exists!

Olmos, Peru

Almost picked up the quinella at the "accommodation". Towels, toilet paper & a toilet seat. The elusive hot water remains elusive.

The End of the Road

After Two and a half weeks of wrestling our tricycle across Peru we can now sitback, Relax and be driven about by someone else in a motortaxi whilst making disparaging remarks about their engine revs, overtaking technique or anything else we now feel qualified to comment on.

The day after we left Pimentel we headed off into the scrubby bush of the Sechura desert. after an hour or so Jonno, slumped on the back seat, looked up at Ollie who was slouched over left elbow on the bikes handlebars left hand supporting his chin, we were horribly bored, it was time to call it a day. We decided to go straight through the middle of the Sechura and get to Piura a day early, hand over the keys, have a shower then try and buy some trousers that weren't covered in mud, engine oil and with a massive crotch failure.

We had lunch in a desert restaurant and were served a sort of duck stew, it was a pretty tough old duck, Jonno finished plucking his piece then got all hands and teeth on it, until it became too much and he gave up. Ollie's piece was so unique that after trying to find a part that was edible he stuck his fork into it as a sign of protest and ate the rice with a spoon.

We continued through the desert, dodging the occasional Trucks and Coaches, taking shelter on the hardshoulder if necessary. The strange white lizards that live on the road scattered before us as we rattled on. we came to the delightfully named village of 'New Dark Hole, a strip of makeshift shacks that line this stretch of the Pan-American and completely ran out of Petrol, we poured the last dregs of sludgy petrol from the Jerry can through a makeshift sieve and managed to get about 100meters up the road before the final vapours escaped the leaking fuel tank and the engine died. Luckily the residents of New Dark Hole are very keen on selling Honey, Algorrabina and Petrol and we had stopped right in front of a wild west style shop that sold all three. a man came out with a sieve and a glass Gallon jar filled with petrol which he poured into the tank for 15soles and we headed the final distance to Piura.

 The People of Piura say they are not Peruvian and they proved this by giving directions which made sense, we found the finish line easily, dropped the taxi dragged our filthy bags and selves into the hotel, hit the showers then the pool.

It turns out that drinking cocktails all afternoon in celebration after two weeks of only aniseed tea is not such a great idea, although it is a good way to let off much built up steam. The next day a slightly more subdued group waited by the pool drinking fanta and congratulating the incoming teams.

The evening dinner was excellent, the need to unwind and come together after the whole thing was pretty big, we ate, drank, chatted, and swapped stories of what had happened on the trip. We had a moments reflection for the late Peter Buckley and one of the teams gave a touching Blessing in Gaelic which helped us all give a communal farewell to him. Prizes were given to various teams and revelry continued until the early hours. 

The next day we decided to go the surf town of Mancor spend a few days relaxing then head to Lima for a couple of days before going home.

It has been an absolutely amazing experience, we have driven, eaten and slept in all sorts of strange but exciting places, met all sorts of people and seen many different but breathtaking types of scenery. We have also far exceeded our original target of fund raising and would like to thank all our sponsors for their generosity All together the event raised almost 50,000GBP which will go a long way improving the quality of life of the the Llama and Alpaca farmers of the high mountain and their families.

Thank you for all Your messages of support throughout the event see you when we get back!

 

Huaraz, Peru

fording rivers in the jungle, finally met our match and put the moto onto the back of a truck and lived like a trucker for a bit. Bad conditions crossing the andees (again!) holed up in mountain copshop for the evening in the gaffers office! Didnt get far with discussion of police tactics@

Pacasmayo District, Peru

A hot shower & an actual bed. What a novelty!

Lima Region, Peru

In the same hotel as a lot of Dakar Rally folk, with their set route, reliable, powerful machines and comfy, well stocked support vehicles... Pussies.