20th August – 2nd September 2016 Hell’s Canyon provides everything you’d expect from its name. The air is hot and dry with the sun beating off the sides of the red rock walls on either side of the road. We disturb some vultures who have been feeding off an unfortunate raccoon in the road. They then …
It’s tempting to look back on our journey with a filtered view, imagining that it was non stop smiles and enjoyment. Flicking through the diary pages for this next section helps me remember that amongst the great times there were some low times too as the strains of over two years on the road were …
I always used to find it amusing that American films had to put Paris, France or London, England when captioning a location. To us it seems obvious where these places are but of course in the USA London could be any one of 5 different places in any one of 5 different states before even considering the …
19th July – 3rd August 2016 So we’ve crossed a few borders over the last 2 years and almost without exception they’ve all gone smoothly. Getting into Azerbaijan took a while but they gave us tea and Snickers while we waited. Getting out of Uzbekistan was delayed when they asked for registration slips from hotels for …
23rd June to 19th July 2016 Japan is quite rightly proud of its unique culture and traditions. As an island country it’s managed to preserve its identity (helped by being cutoff from the rest of the world for two hundred years) while the rest of Asia gradually grows together. It’s a fitting place for us …
Just before we left Bristol, Freecycle brought cycle touring guru Tom Allen to our door. He needed a phone and we had a phone we didn’t need. Once we’d explained why we were having a clear out he offered the sage advice that the best way to plan our trip was to not make too many plans. Anyone who’s seen …
“Irasshaimase! Irasshaimase! Irasshaimase!”. Every member of staff gives a cheery welcome as soon as we walk in the door of the shop. A small robot then tries to sell us a mobile phone. As we start to fill up a basket with tasty sushi and ultra rare porridge oats, a man walks round with a …
It’s often hard to put into words exactly what we’re feeling, seeing, experiencing as we roll along each day which is why we like to take plenty of photos. As the saying goes a picture paints a thousand words. My cousin Margaret once asked me if our trip inspired us to be poetic which is an …
28th April – 15th May 2016 After a short spin from his flat Elbert delivers us to the blue line that would lead our way out of Seoul and all the way down to Busan. The next two or three weeks ought to be easy with the route largely dictated for us by the network …
Looking back it seems silly that we had any form of trepidation before crossing into China. It’s been a country that, more than any other so far, has exceeded expectations. We’ve found unbelievable generosity that goes beyond even the high benchmark set in the Muslim countries. Areas of the landscape have been unlike anything else …