The Route
Europe to Asia
The first part of the route I'll be taking will be the classic overland route from Europe to India. Part of this used to be called the Silk Road, which is the old trade route for spices and goods coming from Asia to Europe, and I guess its also called the Hippy Trail, part of the classic route the hippies took in the 60's. I'll travel through Europe to Greece, stopping for a while to give my backside a rest in the Greek islands.
From here I'll take a ferry to Turkey crossing the Bosporus at Istanbul and into Asia Minor where the real trip begins. I'll ride through Iran and on to Pakistan, where I'll take the Karakoram highway up to the Chinese border. Dropping back down the Karakoram I'll ride to India where I plan to take a meditation retreat somewhere quiet in the mountains. From India I'll ride to Nepal and into the Himalayas. I'm also planning to catch up with a soup kitchen project which the Rokpa Trust run in Kathmandu here for a few weeks. From Katmandu I'll travel back through India and along the coast to Bangladesh where I'll catch a boat across the Bay of Bengal. Its not possible to ride through Burma as the country is too unstable just now.
Thailand to Oz
Once I arrive in Thailand I'm planning to stop in the islands to relax for a bit and take stock of where I am and perhaps learn to dive and conquer my fear of sharks. This is about as far as my specific plans have got to, my route will remain the same but what I'll be doing I'm unsure of as I think its best to keep things as flexible and dynamic as possible.
The rest of the Asia route will include riding to Vietnam, Cambodia and through the Indonesian islands to East Timor. I will also be stopping off on route to see the Komodo dragons in Komodo. At east Timor I'm aware that I'll hit the tricky obstacle of getting the bike and myself to Oz without a plane. If anyone reading this site has any advice please email me. From what I've heard it is possible to get a boat from here to Darwin though they are few and far between. We'll have to wait and see.
Once in Oz I'll attempt to not get bitten or stung while trying to find passage to South America. While I'm waiting trying to organize this I reckon this is probably the place to learn to surf and kite surf.
South America
Hopefully once I've got myself and the bike across the sea I'll arrive in Santiago in Chile. Perhaps I'll have learned enough Spanish on the boat to get by once I arrive.
Plans here are rough as it seems a long way away, but, I'm intending to ride up the Pan American Highway to Columbia. I may if it seems right take a boat down the Amazon to Manaus and ride to Columbia via Venezuela. Once again I hit an obstacle at Columbia, The Darien Gap, a large, lawless, impassable swamp that separates South America form Central America. Here's I'll search out a boat to take me to Panama. I've heard there are boats but once again I believe they're infrequent and unreliable.
Central America to Alaska
When I arrive in Panama I'll ride the Pan American highway all the way up the western seaboard of America through the Rockies and Canada to Alaska where I'll pack the bike up and crate it back to the Uk or ride to the east coast of Canada and do the same.
