A Middle Eastern tour

We are currently in Damascus and are about a quarter of the way to Cape Town. Since reuniting in Antalya on Sunday - Jerry, Tyson and I have taken a scenic tour though Southern Turkey and have since crossed in to the scorching heat of Syria.

Turkey is a motorcyclist's dream. Excellent climate, few cars on the roads, and glorious coastal roads that wind their way along the mountains. Often the road is just a few feet from the Mediterranean providing ample opportunity to cool off in the middle of the day.


The Turkish people have made our stay particularly enjoyable with their gracious welcoming attitude. Never is there too insignificant an occasion to invite us in for a cup of chai (tea). Even when filling up with petrol we've ended up sitting with the attendant on the forecourt sipping a glass of piping hot tea. In short, Turkey has been as close to the comfort zone as we're likely to get.

On Tuesday we crossed in to Syria and were hit with a sharp contrast. At the border, things moved slowly, and we had to give a few backhanders to several officials to speed up the process. When we did eventually get across we were greeted by a 38 degree wave of heat, which for a pasty Englishman like myself is really quite warm.

Keen to get out of the sun we made our way to Aleppo in northern Syria. We parked our bikes in the centre of town and within a minute were surrounded by locals. They were all keen to shake our hand, find out where we were going, and help us on our way. This was to be a feature of all our time in Syria and a very effective way of getting directions. The locals pointed us down a small side street, which wouldn't have looked out of place in an Indiana Jones movie, and in the centre of the labyrinth of alleyways we found ourselves outside a very swanky hotel. Stone columns, a marble floored lobby and an ornate bedroom were just too much. And, without Ted around to keep us honest, we plumped for the ritzy venue, rode our bikes in to the lobby and found ourselves right back in the comfort zone.



That evening we wandered around the ancient city visiting the bazaars and souqs. In one we were invited in to a secluded alcove to listen to some locals play an Oud (a pear shaped guitar with a bent neck), share a drink, and watch them puff away on their hooka pipe.

The following day we made the most of our hotel and ended up leaving in the afternoon. It was warm again but more like 35 degrees and we seemed to be acclimatising. Making the most of it, we spent the day visiting ancient ruins. Our first stop was a 4000 year old archaeological dig, which required quite a bit of imagination to work out where the buildings were and what they would have looked like. Our second stop was the Byzantine ruins of Serjilla. These were much more intact, and provided ample opportunity for exploring and to ride the bikes around.


But the jewel in the crown was the ruins at Apamea. Situated majestically on top of a hill, we arrived just as the sun was setting. Riding my bike along the 2000 year old street surrounded by crumbling pillars was an experience I'll never forget. A fantastic day.


Yesterday we took in another famous historical site - the Crusader's Castle in Crac des Chevaliers. Not as impressive as Apamea but it was still fun, partly because there was an amusing camel sitting outside.


Last night we descended in to the scorching heat of Damascus. Using our trick of pulling over and waiting to be surrounded by locals, we soon had a couple of them on the back of our bikes directing us to a hotel. It being Thursday, things were winding down ahead of the weekend (which starts on Friday here), but we did our best to explore our surroundings and wandered around the old town until the early hours.

Syria has been one of the most interesting countries of the trip so far. As in Turkey, we've been warmly welcomed by the Syrian people - who are a little more boystrous than their Turkish counterparts. The scorching heat of the Syrian countryside has also given us a taste of what life outside the comfort zone will be like. I'm enjoying the transition.

This afternoon we'll cross in to Jordan - the fourteenth country on our trip and the final one on our Middle Eastern tour. After that's it's Africa and non-stop adventure.

A few pictures from the Middle Eastern leg are available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdsmith/sets/72157605843004857/

One continent down...

The last few days have been eventful. We`ve ticked off another six countries on our list; taken on the full force of Mother Nature; left the European Union; reached the Meditteranean; İ`ve crashed; and the team has temporarily disbanded.

İn the first few days since leaving Prague we embarked on a whistlestop tour of European Capitals. We past through Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest - taking in the sites, eating well, and enjoying the odd drink while watching the football. But we`ve come to realise that cities are best seen on foot and not by sitting on an overheating bike in traffic. So we`ve been avoiding them since leaving Budapest.

Touring through the rural east of Hungary, Mother Nature gave us our first taste of adventure. Having treated us to a few days of glorious sunshine, she decided we were having it too easy and spruced things up with a spectacular thunderstorm. Quick riding and favourable winds kept us dry for a few hours but before long we were surrounded by lightning storms. A deluge of rain followed and the road quickly turned to a river. Seeking shelter in a local bar we made the best of it - enjoying the Portugal-Czech game with the locals. But with the weather showing little sign of letting up, we treated ourselves to another hotel.

The following morning the weather had cleared and we were feeling refreshed. A few miles later we reached the Romanian border and for the first time on our trip had to show our passports. To mark the occasion, Tyson and İ attempted to pull a few wheelies. (Suffice to say we need a bit more practice - the tiddlers we can currently do are more like bunny hops than proper wheelies. But give us a few months and we should have some good pictures.)

Across the border we rolled our watches forward another hour but by the looks of our surroundings it seemed like we`d rolled them back several years. Most of the cars on the road looked like they`d come straight out of the 1970s. About a third of them were the same model - the Dacia 1310 - Romania`s equivalent of the Lada. Another fair chunk of road traffic was taken up by an older method of transport still - the horse and cart.


İn fact, riding through the countryside was like going through a time warp - seeing farmers working the land by hand and carrying bushels of straw on their back. But despite the hardship, people seemed happy. Parents visibly doted over their children who waved delightedly as we rode by. Others gathered on the side of the road discussing the days events and waiting for something interesting to happen. İt was quaint and a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Western Europe.


Although living standards had dropped sharply, road quality remained high and the windy mountain stretches through Transylvania provided no end of cornering fun.



Passing in to Bulgaria İ had expected living standards to take another tumble, but the opposite turned out to be true. Riding along the Black Sea Coast İ kept an eye out for rogue wombles (Uncle Bulgaria) but got distracted by the pleasant smells wafting through my helmet from the beautiful coastal fields.

As we neared the Turkish border İ rode on ahead so as to get to İstanbul early and make the most of the short time İ`d have there. As İ left the others, the sky darkened and soon İ was riding alone on twisty rural roads in another downpour. Remaining stubbornly on the bike, İ soon found myself at the frontier of the European Union and was quickly across the border into Turkey. The same twisty wet roads greeted me on the other side of the border, but now they had a thick layer of mud courteous of some construction workers. İ picked my way carefully through the slippery terrain and eventually got clear of it. After a few more miles İ glanced down at my front tyre, saw that it was clean and decided it was alright to start learning in to the corners again. That turned out to be a mistake.

Although my front tyre was clean the same couldn`t be said of the rear and on a slow left hander the muddy edge of the tyre lost grip and the bike started to slide out. İ did my best to correct the skid but only succeeded in flipping the bike on to the other side of the slippery tyre. The bike fell on to its right hand side and went careering in to the crash barrier on the other side of the road.

Fortunately İ was only going about 20mph and the impact was cushioned by the tyres. As İ clambered off the bike İ took a quick look at myself. No scuffs, no bumps, just a thick covering of mud - İ`d been lucky. But now İ was in a bit of a predicament. My bike was jammed under the crash barrier and was proving stubbornly difficult to shift. Some friendly Turks soon came to the rescue. Barely batting an eyelid at my mud covered appearance they helped me haul the bike out from under the barrier and wheel it back onto the right side of the road. The crash had bent the steering, ripped off one of my tank bags and left a scar-like gouge alongside one of the panniers. The steering was easy to fix and the rest was cosmetic - again İ`d been lucky.

Slightly bewildered by the whole episode İ hopped back on the bike and rode on to İstanbul. With my mind distracted by the crash İ pulled over to fill up with petrol and barely noticed that the price had jumped to over £1.50 a litre - apparently Turkey has the fifth highest petrol prices in the world. A few hours of speedy motoring later İ reached the city İ had been so eager to see.

Despite the crash, İ was glad İ`d gone on ahead. The vibrant streets of old İstanbul were more than enough compensation, and İ spent the next few hours walking among the tourists, gazing over the Bosphoros, and generally enjoying myself. The lads turned up a few hour later and that evening we sat down together for a delicious meal in Sultanahmet. The atmosphere was electric - Turkey were playing the Czech Republic and were down 2-0. But, in what was one of the most exciting games İ`ve seen, Turkey scored a hattrick in the last fifteen minutes and won. The whole town went beserk at that point. Drums and whistles appeared out of nowhere and people broke into song and dance in the street. Every car that drove by (especially the police) were merrily tooting their horns. İt was a marvellous spontaneous carnival and the celebrations went on long in to the night.

The following morning the team temporarily split up. İ left for a butt-numbing 800 kilometre ride to Antalya to catch a flight back to the heart of the comfort zone (London) for a few days of thrilling work. Ted turned around in search of ice cream and started the return leg of his European tour. And Jerry and Tyson set out for a scenic tour of the Turkish coast.

Quite an eventful few days. More adventures to come from Asia and Africa.

Photos of the European leg of the journey are now available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdsmith/sets/72157605721950542/

It begins...

After two years of planning, countless hours of preparation, and training trips to the Mojave Desert and South Wales - we are finally on the road.

We left London at a respectable hour on Tuesday morning and after six days have now reached Prague. In that time we've covered about 1000 miles (or one fifteenth of the total distance between London and Cape Town) and we've passed through six countries - the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands (for about 6km) Germany and the Czech Republic. The last two have been the best so far, with spectacular roads cutting a glorious line through the rolling green hills. To anyone who has seen The Great Escape - the scenery is similar to the area where Steve McQueen filmed his famous motorbike chase. Needless to say we were all thinking that as we sped through it.

Other than the McQueen roads, highlights have been: a visit to the St. Sixtus Abbey in Westvleterin (where we tasted some of the finest beer in the world brewed by the local Trappist Monks); the scenic roads through the Rhine Valley; and the lively city of Prague. Other entertaining moments have been a few low speed bike drops while maneuvering around boggy campsites, one incident involving a truck and Tyson's pannier where the truck came off worse, and speed tests on the German Autobahns. Ted's current fireblade record is just over 160mph, I'm at a paltry 140.

Last night was the first time since leaving that we've paid for our accommodation. Every other night we've pitched our tents in opportune places, ranging from the St. Sixtus Abbey car park to a hilltop overlooking the Rhine. Camping has been great fun, if a little damp, but last night's luxury appartment was in a league of its own. Clearly we're still well inside the comfort zone. But with road signs becoming increasingly unrecognisable and local currency beginning to baffle, it wont be long before we're outside of it.

More adventures to come.