October 1st
I relaxed to day, checked the bike over, the resident artist took over and started to logo the bike, with decals representing my trip. See the pictures. I took a walk about the city and then the artist, Patricia, the children, went to the feasible at San Antonio monastery. A few more beers, dinner and my portrait sketched.
October 2nd
Up and off to Pasto, It was raining heavy so I set off full kitted out in rain gear, the women look even better in the rain its warm and wet and most just dress in a tee shirt or blouse and skirt I will leave the rest to your imagination. It’s a long run, 6 hours though only 260km but all tight mountain roads. A lot more military about to day but no stops just a few waves and smiles. I arrived in Pasto at 15:00 and trying to find a hotel with parking. I had passed severely really nice looking ones placed some miles out of time but had no Colombian money left as the petrol stations through the mountains only took cash and there were no cash points in any of the towns through the mountains. Again I got a police man on a motorcycle who was great he said follow me we headed off through the city its was great having a police escort even better when he realised he had gone too far down a one way street and just turned around and went back up the wrong way in heavy traffic I just followed. The Hotel Rios was excellent private parking modern and right in the centre of the city for £20 a night but no internet. The police man waited for me to change then ran me across the city on his bike to the bank. A really nice guy hopefully he will turn up at the bar tonight for a beer.
October 3rd
Today I head for the boarder with Ecuador and the city of Quito. Entering Ecuador was simple. Very professional customs and police on both the Colombian and Ecuadorian side, the whole process took less than an hour and cost 50cents for photocopies.
Quito is at 2800m altitude so today I was climbing. I was going from hot dry valley bottoms to cool high land pastures the change in the people is startling. The women in Colombia are as tall as the men if not more so and very shapely. In the Ecuadorian highlands they are very short and wear a form of national dress long skirt, fluffy blouse with a big woollen throw wrapped around their shoulders and a bowler hat. The wind also blows very strong and it can be very cold, so the throw is often wrapped over their heads and worn as a cape. They are also very pale. In the valleys the climate is tropical, sugar can, bananas etc all grow, and they are taller, very dark colouring and dress in normal modern styles.
The mountains and valleys are getting dryer and I passed through a sand storm going over a range 30km out of Quito there were very high winds and the fine Silica sand that makes up the hills and mountains just cuts through everything. As I entered Quito the rain start to pour down and it was very cold just like a winters day in England I was glad I had my thermal lining fitted to the motorcycle jacket and electric hand grip heaters. I pulled into a petrol station to get out of the rain for a few minutes and re-entered the road on the side slip and luck should have it right beside me was the BMW motorcycle dealer ship. If it had not rained I would have ridden right passed on the main road without seeing it. I pulled in to get new oil and air filters and they had an excellent English speaking motorcycle mad rep who sorted out the parts, offered free use of there workshop facilities, parts here are expensive $96 for air and oil filters , spark plugs. He recommended a motorcycle secure hotel for me to use. The Hotel Café Culture is right in the middle of the traveller / tourist / student area and is $70 a night with free internet access and parking. It is at the high end of my budget but there are a lot of Australians and English here studying or on extended working holidays. So I am going to look into spending some time learning Spanish as one to one lessons are $6 an hour. If so I will have to find some cheaper accommodation
I stripped the bike of all its luggage, and headed to the Reina Victoria English pub to see what it was like. An Australian barman and Manchurian lass running the bar, nice local beers good food and a lot of ex-pats. Two Lads from London stopped bye they had come to Ecuador on holiday as they figured it was the most out of the way place possible (There Words) and found more English than in Edmonton were they lived. And a way of life just like Europe, they seemed to still in shock as they though they were heading for a backward tropical country and did not expect a modern European style one, with weather more on pare with England than the Caribbean. They were heading back to the UK the next day. I think we convinced them to go to Colombia next if only because the girls are so good looking.
October 4-7
I have signed up for Spanish classes and found a nice Hostel The Harley in Calle Coradero for $10 a nigh with secure parking and its actually better than the hotel that was $70.
October 7th
This was not a nice day. I had been in Spanish class till 13:00 and had ridden their on the bike. Saturdays in Quito are very quite so it’s nice to ride around. I was on my way back to the hotel when a traffic policeman pulled up along side at the lights, we exchanged pleasantry’s he asked the size of my bike as they all do. I asked him why no helmet he said traffic police not need in broken English. The lights changed and cars honked us as we chatted, we accelerated off and approaching the next junction 50m further on, he touched his front brake as a plastic bag blew under his front wheel he lost the bike and went high side over the bike as it went down, he was doing no more than 30mph, but head first over the bike and no helmet was not a nice sight. He was still alive as the ambulance took him away, but his colleges and the first response people were not happy, the accident had happened right in front of his police station with his mates outside and me just meters behind him. It was a total freak event, if he had a helmet on he would properly have gotten away with wounded pride I just pray that he lives and recovers ok as he seemed a really nice guy. My hostel was 50m further down the road, I just put the bike away after making sure the police had my see on the incident and went for a walk, it difficult to know what else to do in such situations.
October 8-9th
It is a bank holiday weekend here, so more sight seeing and home work. I have learned more about the English language here trying to learn Spanish, than I ever learned back home. The number of English and Australian here is stunning, they all seem to be here to volunteer for something; no wonder there’s a shortage of work for the locals the Europeans and Australians are doing it all for free, or paying to do it. My wife was watching a program in the UK about destruction of the environment in the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, well if the tourists / backpackers from Europe did not flock there, there would be no problem. It’s the build up for tourists that has brought an influx of Ecuadorians to the Islands to service them.
October 10-11
Finished Spanish classes for the time been, my head feels like it’s about to explode, it will take weeks for the information to make sense. I tried another English pub here in Quito it was expensive, English prices in a city were you can get a good 3 course meal for £1.20, and get a pint for 70p. On the way home last nigh I asked at the Police station about the rider who had crashed on Saturday, good news he is recovering no brain damage apparently, but it will be awhile before he is up and about. Coincidently I have only seen one Police motorcyclist since Saturday without full armour and a helmet.
October 12th
Packing up, cleaning clothes and saying good bye to a lot of people in Quito today, I had hoped to ride to the Volcano to day but it rained, Pablo, Alex and Marco from the Quito Halcones Moto club came over for lunch and decided to joint me on the way out tomorrow to the Centre on the earth monument so hopefully it will be dry. It was the off to the Reina Victoria Pub to see Tim and Becky as I had strict instructions that they wanted pictures. The Reina Victoria is an English pub the normal traveller can afford to drink at. It has an excellent social scene good food and the all staff speak English, even if Tim is an Auzzie and Becky is from Manchester. The other staff are Germany and I think Swiss, so if you find trying Espanola just to much sometimes it’s the best choice. Address: Reina Victoria 530 and Roca, Quito, Ecuador. It’s right in the middle of GringoLand. The Hostel I have used for the passed week is the Harley Hostel on Cordero 1964 y Ave, 10m de Augusto, Quito again on the edge of GringoLand. Tel: 2224 003. Email:
It’s currently $10 a night for a large room with on-suite shower and has very secure bike parking. Pablo from the bike club owns it and speaks perfect English. He Rides a Harley, and as no problem with people servicing there own bikes on the premises and they know all the places to get parts. Good tyres are difficult to get in South America, so if you want Metzlers or some thing similar I would recommend ordering ahead, BMW has a Dealer in the city but it’s not cheap. The Hotel is currently sorting out wireless internet the router was delivered today so it should be operational shortly. There are internet cafes with 50m of the hostel and laundry facilities costing $2 for a big load washed dried and folded. Food is incredibly cheap and very good. The Harley has a lunch café a 3 course meal $2 and just up the road the cafes do breakfast and lunch from $1.25 that includes Café con Letche, Fruit juice, Bread and cheese, Fried Eggs.
October 13th
The lads from the bike club insisted I visited the Centre of the Earth monument before setting of and presented me with a club tee shirt and key fob, real nice of them, and Carla, Wendy and Leader gave me an Ecuadorian Flag. A nice send off from some very decent people. I hopefully will meet them again someday. I headed off at 12:00 towards Cuenca and it’s a great run if only it had not been as cloudy or rained as much. The road passed 3600m altitude the highest I had ridden so far and the views when not obscured by cloud were superb. The few glimpses I got of CXXXXXX showed its snow covered cone. as usually at the highest and most cloud obscured s of the road reverted to gravel and piles of rocks from landslides, it made for some really interesting riding especially when it started getting dark, with 1000’ drops and no barriers . I decided it was time to look for some where to stay and finally stopped at a road side restaurant who told me there was a hostel a short distance up the road in Canar. It’s a good clean place with secure parking a very nice lady in national dress that runs the place $6 a night. The local diner was not so good, a coke, chicken, chips a bit of salad, coffee and in Cake $7.
October 14th
The real negative for the Hostel was the road noise it was very ad I got next to no sleep. As soon as it was light I hit the road, The run to the boarder was fantastic I when over the Ecuadorian alps as some describe them averaging 3200m altitude with valleys as low as 1800m before descending to 350m for the customs with Peru, I was running with half a tank full of gas when arriving at the customs at Macara. In Ecuador there had been petrol stations at regular intervals and all very European like There were also plenty of banks and cash machines. So I decided rather than waste time as borders can take hours, to go straight through and fill up etc on the Peruvian side. I Pulled up at Ecuadorian customs and immigration sort the exit in 5 minutes at no cost, drove over the bridge to Peru and 30 minutes had sorted all the paper work at no cost, great I though go round the corner and fill up then head for Piruer approx a 100 miles away and find a hostel or hotel. I pull off when round the corner nothing but donkeys and goats. There was no town at all on the Peruvian side, they had moved the boarder Post apparently, the town used to be in the middle now it’s completely on the Ecuadorian side. The donkeys were been used to smuggle petrol from Ecuador to Peru the boarder is the river and a small hill separates the customs posts from sight of a river wading point so apparently with full corporation of local police, customs etc, 100, of donkeys carry 2x25 gallon drums of petrol from Eudora to Peru they go round the hill out os sight of the boarder post and transfer the drums to waiting vans. I rode on, I was getting worried about 70km further on as there were no gas stations other than closed wrecked ones, at one of these were there was a make shift shop. A police car was watching the traffic so I stopped and asked the were could I get gasoline. The copper shouted out Petro gasoline needed and I was waved over to the make shift shop were a dishevelled group of children were playing a a few men sitting around drinking beer. the shop was in the ruins of the old petrol station and it comprised of 2 rooms with 2 double beds in each, one room was also the shop/ bar front the other was stacked on one side with 25 gallon drums of petrol. They filled the bike 4 gallon from a 1 gallon pourer and accepted US dollars it worked out at $10 so not bad and the insistence I say for a drink, they were offering bread and beer but I said water only as I would fall of the moto if I had beer. It was interesting but I really wanted to relax and get a good nights sleep and had decided to treat myself to a good hotel if possible . I headed of towards Pirur and found a big town but only the Royal hotel seemed to be the only one with secures parking, I had found a couple of excellent hotels with parking on the road as was the hostel but that not really a viable option so it was the royal expensive at $75 including breakfast and internet in the room and it was only one night. It was a nice lively town with a lot of activity I splashed out a few dollars for steak and chips with a couple of pints so not bad for the food.
October 15th
I headed in the morning down the pan America for Lima it’s a 1000km run and I had originally intended to do it in one day, but I got off to a late start as I had been very tired. The road to Lima is hard riding its mostly desert and the cross winds are high I often riding at a 30 degree angle doing 80mph forward with sand been blow in drifts across the road. It was a relief to get to a town or village as they screened the wind. Unfortunately they also slowed me down considerable as they all have sleeping policemen across the road. On one of them I lost one of my rear indicator lens so I will have to pick up a pair at the next bike sop I see. At approx 520km I met my first British motorcycle travellers south of the USA, pulling out of a closed petrol station were Simon and Lisa Thomas who have been on the road for approx 3 years travelling the world on a pair of BMW GS’s We stopped for a chat, they were going north, having shipped there bikes from Africa to south America, their web site is www.2ridetheworld.com. The odd thing was they had been having trouble with the police all day since having left Lima that morning at 7am. I had had nothing but waves and smiles from the police all day. I will be interesting to see what they are like as I approach Lima as I had heard similar tales from other riders and also on the web there are many such reports. I will make my opining public when I have met with the police down that way.
I stopped at Peruvian hostel on the pan America for 20sols about $6 it is a very nice modern place with secure bike parking and plenty of local restaurants. Chicken, chips, salad, a bottle of Pepsi followed by 2 Pint’s of Polar, a mild Guinness, came to 12sol $3.20 .
October 16th
I was up and on the road at 7am, Not as much open desert as I ride the 400km to Lima, the road stays closer to the sea, so I pulled a couple of km off the Pan America into a small fishing port for breakfast, it was very relaxing having my coffee and fried eggs on bread, watching the boats on the sea. I was making very good time and would easily be in Lima by 12.00.
Approx 100km out of Lima I came across my first Inca ruins a temple build of brick I took a photo, had a walk round and carried on south.
There were a lot of police on the road and no problems just smiles and waves so in the end I stopped a couple of them for a chat, they were excellent. I took a few pictures of us on the bikes, a brochure for me welcoming me to Peru from them.
My conclusion on the motorcyclists getting stopped for no apparent reason is that they literally ask for it, if you drive down the Motorway in a Ferrari doing a 100mph you will be stopped, do it in a Ford they wont see you. All of the reports I have heard and read are from sponsored or well off riders with shinny bikes that look expensive. In the case of Simon and Lisa a dodgy copper would smell the money before he saw them, not that they have any, it’s just they and their machines look expensive. They and the bikes have sponsorship logos all over them. They were an impressive sight for all the wrong reasons when in a Latin America country or a European city for that matter.
In this part of the world it pays to blend in, have a good bike but keep it plain I throw a tarpaulin over my box’s and tie it down, it keeps my kit dryer and I look more like a courier rider and attract less attention. Also the hole in my screen has been a big plus it’s the first question any one asks “where did you get that”. And as a bonus if I had money I would have replaced it. So there fore I must not have much money, my riding kit is very good, but plain black with no logos I have been saluted on more than one occasion so there must be military or police who wear something similar. Other than that, get them before they get you. The police and military are better than a GPS for locating gasoline, hostels etc and enjoy been asked and I have never been asked or had it been suggested that I pay for any thing.
Lima is a very dirty city, stuck on the coast in a desert the dust and rubbish is every where, I found a bank got some cash and headed south. I also picked up Pair of Harley style indicators for £6 new, to replace the broken one on the back of my machine.
I stopped at a small sea side resort 100km south of Lima and booked into the La Espanol hotel another expensive night £16 for a family room and they have a restaurant and bar. The most important thing was no road noise and, secure parking. I checked the bike over and the owner’s young son washed the bike for a dollar.
Total Mileage today: 426 Total Mileage to date: 21,500
October 17th
Total mileage today: Total mileage to date:
October 18th
Today I get to Cusco, I set off at 6:30 and by 9:30 I only had 245km to go an easy run through breathtaking countryside. Much of the ride was at over 4000m and in one stretch at 4600m there were lakes with pink flamingos’ it was freezing the edge of the lake was frozen and there were all these birds perfectly happy wading around. After 80km the road started winding down into a large valley and started to follow a river running east as they all seem to here I was at 3000m and started meeting landslides some big other just the odd rock were there were no hills, a bit odd I though until I turned a corner into XXXXX a queue of traffic and burning up ahead. My first reaction was an accident but as I filtered through the traffic it became obvious this was a protest, tyres were scattered across the road and on fire, broken glass and rocks were also scattered everywhere around. I noticed that the incident seemed to be limited to a small group of people and the rest students so I just rode forward navigated the glass and burning tyres said holla smiled and cruised through one of the women threw a glass bottle in front of the bike but I just twisted round it and shouted not gringo, Irish, “a lad had shouted out he’s a gringo”. After that it was all hola and beunias dias, no problem I just pulled over had breakfast and tried to find out what the protest was about. I seemed it was high school teachers complaining over pay. I then headed down he road knowing that another blockage was somewhere ahead as there was no oncoming traffic and sure enough 20km later and many landslides and obviously there it was, only this time the barrier was right across the road were there were concrete drainage ditches so no going around. I pulled up to the front parked the bike and joined them had a good chat and a drink an hour and a half later I was allowed through along with a local bus with a heavily pregnant lady, the rest were held for another 3 hours. Communicating and been good with people always works unless your married to them. I arrived in Cusco at 17:00 and found the hostel Felix parked up the bike and had a walk around town. It’s a nice enough tourist town built in the Spanish style on top of the Inca foundations. The Hostel is right on the main Plaza so lots of bars and shops.
Total mileage today:280 Total mileage to date:22300
October 19th
I had a walk round Cusco today, it’s a nice enough town if your in to Spanish colonial architecture and churches you would properly find lots to do. I just wandered about, sorted out my kit and waited to go to Matchu Pitchu. I was picked up at 17:00 and on my way to Ollantay Tambo to catch the train up. We arrived in the Village at 21:30 a very nice trip with a Peruvian, Danish guy and an English lad who had just completed a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Our Danish friend had a bottle of very good Vodka which we all enjoyed. The guys had met the day before coincidently on a bus that was stuck for 11 hours in the protest I was let through.
The hostel rep was waiting at the station for 4 of us our names on a board which made for a very relaxed introduction. The hostel was only 5 minutes walk and excellent, clean with very good hot showers and really nice firm beds. As I was going to be up at 5:00 in the morning to head up the mountain I needed a good nights sleep.
October 20th
It was 4:30 after a good sleep, but it was raining, typical it rains on all the volcanoes’ and now it rains in Machu Pichu. I headed for the town square to catch an early bus. The first is at 5:30. Had a cup of coffee and bough 2 rolls from a lady vendor for 3 sols and waited, Tim an English lad I met on the train was up getting his ticket to the site its 118 sol so about $40 and 2 girls Sieana and Jessica from Canada who were hoping to get up top to see the sunrise. With rain falling there was no hope of that so we decided to walk. Its 3500’ vertical to the Sun Temple. And our guide was meeting us at 6:30 so that allowed 1hour 30minutes to reach the café at the top. Steve set a gruelling pace and by the half way mark there was no way I could keep up so I just hung back and cruised up it took me 2 hours and I was comfortable Though at times I wandered why the hell I did not take the bus. The bird and plant life through the forest / jungle is superb thought the clouds made taking pictures difficult. As I got to the Lodge were the buses stop it was heavy cloud and light rain, visibility was maybe 30m. A guide was waiting there for me my name on a card but I said no problem I am just going to walk I entered the site and met Hanan from New Jersey who was resting having just walked up as well. So we joined forces and followed the signs for the long trail, this eventually led us to the Sun Temple were we rested with a group of US OAP who had came up by bus. Their guide was very proud as all of them had made it to the temple. We Still did not know were we were in relation to the city as everything was covered in cloud, then at 9:30 it lifted and we were about 1000’ above the city the views were fantastic. Hanna is a proper volunteer she sorted it her self no agency or make believe VOS setup, and lives in a children home, basically acting as a surrogate mother, she is a recently qualified Language teacher and has been in Peru for 6 week so far. In the picture of the 3 girls she is the one sitting on the ledge above Sieara and Jessica. We headed back down hill and into the City were we met Sieara and Jessica who with Tim had got to the top on time met the guide did the tour of the city. Tim was climbing to the top of the Temple of the Moon. I decide I was going to head down as it was 12:00 and 7 hours was enough for me. I had originally intended to walk but as I descended the temperature increased dramatically so I took the easy way and got the bus back to the village. This is definitely a trip worth a holiday in its own right Bill and Jan back in Milton Keynes would be in their element as they are into hiking and the Hiking here is second to none. Later in the evening I met up with Tim he had made it to the top of the Temple of the moon and was well happy. I had an early nights sleep as it was 5:00 up and on the train back in the morning.
October 21
I am back in Cusco and preparing to head to the Gorge of the Condors. I will leave early tomorrow morning as it’s a 660km run with 150km of dirt road.
October 22
I left Cusco at 5:30 after a bad nights sleep. The bug bites on my left arm from Machu Pichu itched all night. I cleared the city in no time and was heading south west on route 2 to Pura. After a while hunger set in and it was time for breakfast I pulled over in a small town in which a market was setting up, breakfast was chicken and vegetable soup and honey tea, it was just right on a cold morning. I toped up the bikes fuel and at Sicuani seeing a sign for Aeroquip the town I was eventually hoping to get to, I decided to follow it. The first 5km was on perfect paved road then it was dirt straight through the Andes at 4800m, 250km of great dirt and gravel road. A lot of construction of water relief’s, drainage and the widening of the dirt track was been under taken so I assume that in a year or so most of this route will be paved or very good dirt. It seems the road department is quicker at putting up signs that building the road. The one problem with construction here is that they rip the road up and leave it so the mud is incredible at time in the mountains, luckily I kept the bike upright but it and me were in a real state as I often had to paddle the bike while using 4th gear and clutch very carefully to get out of deep patches.
The road is every thing I like about motorcycling it’s adventuress, any body can ride round the world on tarmac and if you plan your route its easy to go from Alaska to Argentina without ever leaving paved roads, so finding a stretch of dirt that was going my way was excellent. In 6 hours of riding I went from 3000m to 4800m from freezing fog and snow to a sunny afternoon. I only dropped the bike once while at 4800m in snow I was on a downhill slope into a hairpin when I ploughed into a bank of gravel the steering would not respond as the gravel was loose so I just laid it over, cut the engine, picked it up no damage to me or the bike. When you are at 4800m and have not seen another vehicle for hours you do not take risks and if I had tried to power through the gravel with a Clift only 2 meters away that would have been an unnecessary risk laying it over at slow speed is much easier and safer. I finally arrived at Cruz De Condor valley and started to look for a hotel when luck should have that pulled over in front of the casa xxxxxx I though it was a tourist information centre I booked in $35 for the night and very nice it is. I spend the evening in the company of a group of Dutch tourists doing Peru we visited the local hot springs which are very relaxing then headed back to the hotel for an early night. The condor viewing point is approx 1 hour away. I left the bikes luggage at the hotel as it lightens the bike and the road is apparently even worst than the normal dirt roads and planed to head to the Cruz de Condor at 5:50 I should be back at the hotel by 10 packing up and on my way Areaquip.
Well the best lay plans mean nothing, no condors showed up I got a few seconds of video of 2 Eagles in flight. There where a lot of upset tourist on there 2 week Peruvian vacation. The Condors may not have showed up but the road was bad very bad and that made up for it, the hotel had said a bike could take the direct route over the old bridge. Well I headed of at 5:30 and the first problem was water lots of it running across the road I negotiated all the streams and washed out areas, difficult when you are on a track 8 foot wide with a 500 foot drop, and then I saw the bridge it was about 400 foot below me and the road seemed to vanish around a corner and not reappear. I decide to play it safe and walk down and check sure enough the road went around the corner but was there it snaked down the cliff a few areas were damaged but I could see to within 50m of the bridge and it was manageable so I walked back up very hard work in motorcycle armour at 4000m and rode down around the last corner the road disappeared it had been washed away 150 foot below me was the bridge but no way of getting to it. I could not turn the bike around as the track was now only 6 foot wide and a 20 degree slope so I laid it over, striped off as it was exhausting work and man handled it around using the engine bars as a pivot point when it was pointing up hill I stood it up kitted up and rode it back uphill very glad that I had left the boxes behind as the extra weight on the back would have been impossible and I would have had to carry them up individually. It was another 5 miles on the upper track until I reached an intact road to the bridge. The first 2 concrete platforms of the bridge had also been washed away and replaced with an assortment of planks, railway track and tree trunks so it was go for it and no looking back.
I still reached the Cruz of the condors with plenty of time as they are expected to use the thermal currents of the valley that’s 2 miles deep to gain altitude between 7:00 and 9:30 as it was none did on this occasion. I waited around till 10:30 and then headed back to the hotel to pack up and head for Areoquip. I had negotiated all the hazards no problem and was only .5km form the hotel when going through a very large puddle I hit a rock, it was under the water and mud, it tipped me off the bike but no problem waters a soft landing. The bike was on its side half under water and I was soaked and oddly laughing. A man working in the fields came over and helped me right the bike and pull it to dry land and then heaved the boulder I had hit, out throwing it to the side. I thanked him, hit the starter and bike started first time, BMW’s are superb this machine seems bullet proof. The local indicated that the pervious night’s rain had washed a lot of rubble of the mountains, and the water washed away a chunk of the road leaving the boulders under the red muddy water. Out of hundreds of streams and rivers I had forded this was the first one that had throw me and probably the least harmful looking one as it seemed no more that a puddle.
My detour from Machu Pichu to see the Cruz de Condor has been eventfully to say the least, Political road blocks, Mud you could loose a person in, Clift’s, often over a 1000’ drop, snow, water, ice, sleet and high temperatures all in 2 days but best of all great people, good food and 560m of dirt and gravel at over 4000m altitude very rewarding motorcycling. And the only occasion I have been thrown from the bike in 23,000 miles.
October 23
I stayed the night in Arequipa it’s a lovely city and then crossed the boarder into Chilli. Chilli is desert I eventually stopped in a small mining town.
October 24
In Chilli still riding through desert lots of desert got a picture of the bike by the hand rising out of the sand sculpture though.
October 25
More Desert
October 26
More desert but I start to see green bits the end is near, I arrived in Santiago it was raining and cold. I found a hotel with safe parking and crashed out I had just ridden 1000km in very cold wet weather.
October 27
I had enough of Chilli it is cold wet and expensive so I decide to head for Argentina. While crossing the Andes on Routa 60 I met Walton and Florencia on a Honda Valdero they were touring Argentina and Chilli, Walton is a Life Guard in Buenos Aires and Florenica a Gym teacher. We stopped and had the best Beef possible washed down with local red wine, after the food in Chilli it was stunning. We rode to a local village with a hot spring intending to camp however the camp site was not opening for another month so it was a Cabinan but at $10 a nigh for a 2 bedroom unit it was no problem and a lockup garage for the bikes.
October 28
I awoke and the 3 of us wandered into the hot spring it was gorgeous a blue sky warm and hot a hot thermal spring. If only every day started as this life would be wonderful. At 12:00 it was of the Mendoza. I booked into the Alamo Hostel at $8 us a nigh including breakfast and set about repairing the bike. Walton and Florence headed off to Buenos Aries and I promised to call when coming up from Ushuaia.
Oct 29
Wander about Mendoza bored
oct 30
I visited BMW Mendoza big “ooh”, week to get parts from Buneus Aires once we have stripped engine. “No I want friction plate I fit parts myself”, “no take week to get parts.” Screw them, BMW dealers the world over are alike useless at there job and useless at service, for a company that’s supposed to builds the worlds best bikes you would think they would have the worlds best support. It’s lucky there bikes are well built because if you had to rely on there support you would never leave home. I headed of down routa 40 from Mendoza and managed 670km which was not bad as I did not leave till 10:30 the first 500km were dirt and gravel and by luck I saw Condors, I wa riding along a stretch of gravel around a Volcano with a lake and small Dam for hydro electric and all of a sudden a group of very large bids lifted of startled by my engine noice right across the front of the bike they were massive 5 off them Condors that seemed to be flying in slow motion trying to get airborne and 2 Eagle type birds with red heads with 1.4m wing span the Condors were over 3m wingspan and had the white collars. I stopped and tried taking pictures but by the time I had stopped on loose gravel and got the camera out they were specs in the sky. After that it was another 100km of gravel to beautiful new black top. I stopped at a nice little village it cost 8$ us for a n on-suite room and 6$ for a big feed with beer and wine.
Oct 31
More miles to crunch today, it getting colder again and the wind across route 40 is immense I am doing 60-70mph forward at a 30 degree angle from a side wind of about that you could not stand up in the clutch is holding up so far. The scenery is stunning and the road good, then my handling went, I checked the tyres they seemed ok but it not last, I had a slow puncture and in the cold I could not find the hole, I did not want to use slime as it messes up the rim. So I gently headed for Bariloche it took 3 hours when there to find the bike puncture repair man, even Pirelli who have to use his services only reluctantly gave me directions to him when they could not source new tyres at all. He replaced my faulty Meltzer with a part worn Dunlop for $40. I headed out of town to find a bed for the nigh as the hotels in Bariloche expensive, I eventually stayed in a Cabanna in Diaz for $12 and it was nice to be warm.
Nov 1
Another bad day, all started well I headed out of Diaz stopping at Esquel for coffee it was nice riding through Alpine like country side and the bike was going well. I was heading for Comodoro Rivadavia as the road in that direction was black top and I did not want to push the clutch. Well things did not work out 100km later the road is in a very bad state full of pot holes, followed by 20km of bad gravel the rear type started going flat again I pulled into a village and put air in the tyre it seemed to hold so I continued 20km further it was going down again so this time I used the latex slime and I was off again this time I got 50km still 210km from my destination. I was in the middle of nowhere when a petrol tanker driver stopped to help he had compressed air and the tyre inflated again and held all this was in the middle of the worst wind possible you could not stand straight in it and there was no shelter. Routa 40 for you. He was a real decent guy. I continued on it was 55km to the next village I got 15 when the tyre blew out completely ripping a hole in the side wall. I limped the bike to a wrecked building by the road side, an old boy was leaning against the wall I parked the bike out of the wind. The old boy it turned out lived in the remains of an old motel long ago closed and was happy for me to put my bags out of sight and strip the bike I removed the rear wheel the tyre was beyond repair and placed it by the road side and waited the second vehicle to pass after an hour gave me a lift to the village of Sarmiento. There was no Motorcycle facilities there at , I had to go to Comodoro Rivadavia luckily a local taxi driver stopped by the repair shop with a load of faulty wheels and offered his services 7 hours later with the bike I was in a hostel in Comodoro Rivadavia 400pesoes lighter {$130}. The taxi driver had borrowed his sister’s car as she had a tow bar, and a trailer. We drove 45km back to collect the bike and then 200km into Comodoro Rivadavia with it, he was happy so was I. In the morning I will try and get it repaired. A very eventful day, but the wind was incredible I have never experienced anything remotely like it. Routa 40 is renown for its cross winds and its reputation is well deserved.
Nov 2
.Well up, breakfast, to the tyre shop a new Metzler fitted in an hour for 990peso about $300 high but at least I was mobile again I noticed the the swinging arm on the Beemer was loose the so set about adjusting them and found some really helpful biker down here Lonbris RA Motos Mendosa 67. Cel 156 250400. They are a Moto Cross repair shop but were happy to help out on the beemer and even purchased a new tool fitting to complete the job only charging 50 pesos £10 for 2 hours use of there work shop and assistance of one of there staff and the tool. I am staying here again tonight and heading south in the morning.
Nov 3rd
:Up early and its off south it about 900 miles to Ushuaia, so it will properly be two days riding especially as the wind is very strong. The journey started well enough, just another desert with scrub bushes. I was making good time when I hit some road works and had to detour through a short stretch of gravel, well the enviable happened and the bike sank in 2 foot of gravel. The grader had managed to fill a ditch in with loose stone. As the bike jerked to a standstill and sank I rolled of the side and wandered what had hit me. The machine was fine standing upright but half buried and impossible for me to pull out. Lucky for a me a lorry driver saw what happened and stopped and the two of us released the bike it seems a few lorries had there wheels stuck to the axels their as well and had to be towed out.
I carried on towards Ushuaia and crossed the Straight of Magellan on the ferry. Crossing back into Chilli, I had to book into a hotel then as the petrol station closes at 8pm and I was nearly out of fuel.
Nov 4th
Tierra Del Fuego is a dull landscape and still very windy. I headed down routa 3 and crossed back into the Argentine part of the Island as the road is better.
13:00 Nov 4th 2006 I arrived in Ushuaia I had completed the north to South. I found a nice hostel and settled in for a few beers.
Nov 5-7th
Ushuaia, visited the National Park, and took a boat out to Penguin Island. It is snowing a lot and theirs not much in the line of motorcycle shops so a bike service is not on. I looked into shipping the bike straight back to the UK or USA from here as I was still concerned about the clutch and pivot bearing and now the rear shock was leaking as well. However no freight to Europe seemed to go from Ushuaia so its ride back up to Buenos Aires and repair or ship from there.
Nov 8th
Packed up and headed north, an excellent first day riding 580 miles no problems. I set camp just off route 3 under the brightest sky imaginable, the stars were incredible and moon was so large and bright you could make our loads of detail.
Nov9th
500km to Comodoro Riverdavis every thing was going well when the clutch just blew. I was on a long slow incline it started to slip then was gone in seconds I pulled over to the road side 350km from know were.
Luckily a couple of builders were not far behind me when I hid the hazard warning lights, The lads were great and as there was no way of lifting the GS into there small truck they gave me a tow a 100km to a petrol station. It has got to be the scariest thing I have ever done and there was no way I could have done the 250km left to Comodoro so I thanked them waited at the gas station. Sure enough 4 large Lorries pulled in shortly and in broken Spanish and with the help a Dutch couple who spoke some Spanish I was able to get a lift to just out side Comodoro. The Lorry drivers were fantastic lifting the bike unto the lorry with the crane and then insisting on sorting me a hotel and dinner a great bunch of guys. I tried to get a clutch and bearings send down from BMW but every thing seem to be a week to 10 days allowing for 2-3 days work that would mean 2 weeks before the bike was back on the road. There was no way I could get to Venezuela and then to Florida to meet the wife or Christmas, so I decide to ship the bike straight home from BA.
Nov 10-11th
I was still 1800km from BA airport and we could find no trucks going in that direction so we arranged a one way hire form Hertz at Comodoro Airport to BA airport. I got a pickup truck at $200US a day and we lifted the bike straight of the Lorry unto the pickup. And I started driving at 15:30, I drove through the nigh and was in BA at 10:00am the following day.
I went straight to Air Cargo and Lufthansa, booked to bike in completed all the paper work and customs and had returned to hire car to hertz in 4 hours. I took a taxi to BA as I had a couple of days before my homeward flight . The Bike shipping cost $1270US to Heathrow and my flight to Heathrow via Milian was £370 so not to bad.
Nov 12-30th
The Bike is back home in Milton Keynes and dismantled. I have fitted a new clutch and Pivot Bearings. A replacement rear shock is ordered and a big clean is on-going. Hopefully by December she will be fully operational again and ready for the next instalment, which is now in planning.
I will be making some changes to the web site to allow for the trips I have already made and the trips to come to be added. So any suggestions as to style or content happily received.