Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Job done! Just about. This is the arctic circle calling, we have all six members of our convoy in one piece, but the same cannot be said for the bikes! The day our local friend blew us out on the shooting our bike started making the odd horrible noise from the gearbox and this gradually got worse. We rode into the night and ended up at a tiny little town where we bumped into several other teams and ended up sleeping in the town hall! A local guy also invited all 13 of us to his house for tea, vodka and something to eat which was an amazing experience. The next morning however the bike sounded terrible and would barely move, a suspected thrown bearing in the gearbox to blame but absolutely nothing could be done about it where we were. I managed to get the bike going and it was better in higher gears but a wrong turn out of town which led us to a dead end saw me loose my cool and whole lot of swearing, helmet throwing and ripping the windscreen off the sidecar ensued. We eventually got on the road and made good progress for a while but the bike was getting worse and then the wiring on the bog hopper bike literally went up in smoke. So the Tremlin bike towed them into the town 1km away and that's where our bike finally gave up the ghost. After unsuccessfully searching around town with the police for a mechanic, the painful decision was made to truck the two bikes the final 200km to the finish line. We had an awesome four hours in the police station doing shots and eating with the cops, then a Kamaz truck and a crane turned up and loaded the bikes on board and we set off into the night at 8:15 with the Tremlin bike still running. At about 4am in the biting arctic wind the final bike of our convoy expired within 40km of the finish line despite a great last effort by Cookey and Keysey. So in the end the truck rolled into the finish line with two bikes on the back and towing the third with a frozen Cookey who had been towed for the best part of an hour and a half in minus god knows what temperature. Not the way we had imagined our finish to the trip and I'm sure it's something that's gonna bug me for a long time. That said we had an amazing time seeing some of the most remote but beautiful places that very few foreigners ever see. We've got some great memories and made some awesome new friends. Plus the Siberian people have been the most hospitable people we've encountered anywhere. So... As for the Urals themselves. I started this thing truly expecting to fall in love with them but can sum up my thoughts as follows. I still have the bike ** some text is missing **
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
life on the zimniks is harsh, fucking cold, desolate but beautiful. If there's one thing we've learned it's that rating systems on cold weather gear is a load of bollocks. If it says -40 then it will probably keep you alive at that but just about! We camped two nights ago in -25 and had a painful night. Our feet are suffering the worst, you just cannot warm them up. But sometimes the rest of you is sweating when you have to kick the bike about 100 times to get it going, then you breath heavy and your balaclava freezes and your goggles mist up and then that freezes, so you have to take it all off and start again! We were under the impression that we wouldn't see any towns until the finish but as the sun set last night we came across a little town where we stayed so managed to warm up and met another great local and went out for a meal and some drinks. He was supposed to take us shooting this morning but hasn't turned up so we're gonna hit the road. To be fair he was throwing up last night after drinking a bottle of cognac so I'm sure he's tucked up in bed. We've now got about 400km to go 'till Salekhard...
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
well we've made it to Nyagan which is the last big town before the zimnic of the river Ob, and generally regarded as the last place to refuel our batteries and repair the bikes before the push to the finish line. The local police however had other ideas. We arrived in town to a police blockade who were very nice but insisted that we went to the station and then to a hotel of their recommendation(which happened to be right next door to the station). They weren't keen on us going to explore town but we went anyway and then noticed a shady looking character following us all night! But we managed to meet a really nice local guy who took us out for some drinks and had a blast anyway! The police have said they'll give us an escort out of town tomorrow and it seems like they're just trying to get us out of their jurisdiction ASAP, whether its for our good or theirs we don't know! Tomorrow we try to push past the last little fishing resort 60km out of town and on to the zimniks. There's a couple of minor things with the bikes we'd like to have sorted but due to the police 'escort' we haven't been able to. Hopefully we'll sort things on the road and the zimniks will be fun to the finish line. Famous last words?? Time will tell...
, Kuminskaya, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
well, we signed up for a hell of an adventure! The last two and a half days have seen us cover about 350-400km, convoying with Ben and Arran of 'The Bog Hopper Express' and James and Ben of 'Putin Up With the Tremlin'. All went smoothly with the launch and we hit the road with high spirits and adventurist glints in our eyes. This soon turned to a look of fear however as the rear wheel on the bike developed a tendency to lock up inexplicably which would then spear us onto the opposite side of the road! Thankfully, oncoming traffic here is sparse!! That problem seems to have reaolved itself for now, and so we carried on!! After our first night camping under the stars we pushed on past Tavda and that's where the fun began with tiny little snow covered tracks that resemble ski runs more than roads which are great fun but super hard work. After another nights camping we expected more of the same but the roads deteriorated and we continuously had to push the bikes in very soft snow. Ben and Arran then accidentally ploughed their bike off the side of a bridge culvert and into a snow bank. It took our bike towing and the rest of the guys and two passing truckers to pull it out! We eventually made it, completely knackered, to this town where we've managed to find cheap digs for the night and some vodka which we've definitely earned! We've learned that there's a fuel shortage in town but have been told they'll be some available in the morning. Fingers crossed, then we can see what the road will throw at us tomorrow...
Kerala, India
JOB DONE!! At 3:22pm yesterday we rolled victoriously across the finish line. It's actually quite a wonder we made it at all as rob and Ed were overcome with an all conquering need to thrash the rickshaws to destruction on the final leg of the journey. But sure enough baldrick II made it and became the first baldrick in history to make a finish line celebration. It was a sad time indeed when we had to hand the keys to our humble and honest steed back and once again became run of the mill tourists. However this feeling was quickly forgotten as we downed kingfisher after kingfisher until the wee small hours, and caught up with some teams we hadn't seen for quite some time. Tonight is the big finish line party so there's sure to be drunken shenanigans aplenty, although hopefully more teams turn up today as there was only about 18 that had finished as of last night! Thanks to everyone who's been following our blog and especially to those who donated their hard earned cash. The taj mahal'ics job may be done but the team will ride again. In fact we're already planning our adventure for 2013. We hear Siberia is nice in February..........@
Kerala, India
although we didn't leave the sweet hotel with the swim up bar till late 'cos the ausies had to pick up their tuk from the mechanic, we actually covered some good distance. 311km in fact which took us to mangalore for the night. The day passed by pretty incident free although we were lucky to not sustain some front end damage after hitting the mother of all pot holes at 50kph. However it did launch rob into a tirade of descriptive four letter words, although as much aimed at himself for not seeing it in time as at the Karnataka highways agency for their shit maintenance. Today we were on the road at 7am, but again the air was turned blue after baldrick II broke down 20km later. The problem was a fuel tap that was no longer allowing enough fuel through. So we bypassed it straight into the carb. However we didn't have a piece of pipe long enough to reach from the reserve section ** some text is missing **
, Palolem Beach, Goa
ok so the last couple of days have been very unproductive. We made the most of our scheduled day off in baga, although it was strange having lots of tourists around after so far being the centre of attention everywhere we went, and yesterday checked out with a view to covering some serious km towards cochin. However the ausies developed carburettor trouble due to we think a dirty batch of fuel and we had to keep stopping to clean it out. By 4pm we'd only covered 100km and had stopped for a drink when we realised we were at the exact turn off where tanner and rupert(two guys we hadn't seen since the launch) were staying. We took it as a sign and spent the evening, and indeed most of the night, sitting at the swim up bar and drinking Gin and tonic. Although some of us aren't feeling very supersonic this morning, we've now got to cover some decent ground today. The ausies found a mechanic to flush the fuel tank and fit an inline filter so hopefully our now three tuk convoy can hit the road drama free. Famous last words...
Goa, India
what a difference 48 hours can make! Two days after the day from hell we awoke with the whole team in good spirits and we'd also met back up with the Ausie team 'shah rukh khan't touch this' who we'd been convoying with for a few days but had to leave when they needed the assistance of a mechanic. Little did we know when we awoke that we were at the foot of what is considered by motorcyclists in india as one of the best driving roads in the country. And so with the crisp morning air pushing baldric II's power output from 7hp to maybe 7.1 hp we attacked a great stretch of road twisting and turning through stunning mountain vistas. If it wasn't for the odd Indian pothole repair job to keep you on your toes then this thing would be on a par with the best in the alps! After a few hours the quality of the roads deteriorated slightly but the scenery did not and in the end we covered about 300km and made it to malwan which is right on the coast and gave us the view of the Arabian sea that we'd pictured in our minds. Today we made the relatively short hop down to Goa, and again we have not been disappointed. What a stunning place! We have checked into a little villa with the ausies and are going to stay here another day for the full moon party tomorrow night. What a difference 48 hours can make, but that friends is what makes a trip like this so great - you don't know whats going to happen from day to day.
Maharashtra, India
let the record show that yesterday was hell on earth! It started badly at 2am when rob was hit with his second bout of Delhi belly and went downhill from there. At midday we braved checking out of the hotel and out into the tropical sun. But the heat in the rickshaw was mental and so as rob (severely dehidrated) sat there driving(between 'bathroom' breaks) Jenna would poor water over his head at well timed intervals from the back seat and Nic would hope that the lady gaga he was listening to would take him far away from the whole situation. We decided that we needed a short day but several wrong turns including one that took us onto what has to be the worst road in India through several crowded villages and railroad crossings meant that we found somewhere to stay just as the sun was setting. Today we faired a little better although we lost a bolt that holds our exhaust on, the clutch adjuster snapped and our roof rack lost some mountings. However these were fixed with little drama. still, onwards and upwards! We now reckon we can be in Goa in two days, and Jenna's found what looks like a cool place to stay tomorrow night. Although we've heard that before!! Oh one thing that we forgot to mention on a previous blog was that we made the local paper in Vadodara! It's all in Hindi so no idea what it says but a great souvenir none the less!
Daman and Diu, India
day 5 finds us nestled squarely in the tropics with banana trees and sugar cane fields abundant. The promise of booze after 2 days spent in the dry state of Gujarat has brought us to the tiny state of Daman and Diu where we have gotten our first (wholly unspectacular) glimpse of the Arabian Sea...Hoping the view from Goa will be a vast improvement! On the plus-side, the Kingfisher was, indeed, flowing (as was some shady whiskey) and so we remained in good spirits (pun fully intended)....are currently having ourselves a nice little lie in to recover, as we seem to be at the front of the pack and making good time! Off to brave the insanity on the outskirts of Mumbai this afternoon!
