LONG WAY HOME - The Route The route there is about 6,000 miles, and the way we return is probably nearer 12,000! So it will be a long way home! March 24th, 2005. We will set off to ride through Belgium,Germany into Poland, exploring the North Eastern area, which contains some of the most spectacularly unspoilt scenery Poland has to offer. The Masurian Lakes, Bialystok National Park where the bison and wolves roam free. Turning south to the Border town of Brest in Belarus, and the magnificent fortress and WWII monument. Crossing Belarus into Russia and heading due east, a fleeting visit to Kazakhstan before it's back into Russia, turning south at Novosibirsk and into Mongolia at Tsagaannuur. Heading south and then east, exploring this land of no fences and no roads for the next month, we hope to spend time with families in the Ger camps, exploring the Gobi Desert, fossilised dinosaur remains and beautiful scenery are foremost on the agenda. Following in the footsteps of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, we will not be as hurried; our itinerary will give us time to linger, (i.e. pull bikes out of sand) to explore, (thank heavens for GPS) and to service the bikes! Contact with Mongolian friends in Ulaan Baator assures us of camel and horse expeditions should we so desire, and as many boiled testicles as we can eat! China. Relatively unexplored by motorcyclists because of severe border crossing difficulties, tight regulations regarding taking your own vehicles into the country, confirmed reports do however, indicate that there are ways to overcome these! Hopefully we will head west, following the route of the old Silk Road, riding parallel with part of the Great Wall to Dunhuang and the Mogao caves. Dunhuang is on the edge of the desert and is one of the last outposts of old Chinese Turkestan. The Mogao caves are famous for their ancient paintings of Buddhist art. Jiayuguan is the last fortress before the vast swathe of wilderness, which starts as the Gobi Desert and turns into the Taklimakan (Tajik for 'go in and you won't come out'). We would like to take the northern route around the Taklimakan Desert, Turpan, Korla and to Kashi (Kashgar). Initially we had hoped then to ride via the Karakoram Highway into Pakistan, through Iran and on to Turkey, but the cost of Carnets for the motorcycles for Pakistan and Iran was prohibitive, so now we ride from Kashgar over the Torugart Pass into Kyrgyzstan. Continuing through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to Turkmenbashi on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Here we shall have to 'beg a lift', on the oil ships for no ferries operate, across the Caspian Sea to Baku in Azerbaijan. Then on to Georgia, where newfound friends in the form of Camelot Motorcycle Club are waiting to greet us! From Georgia we ride via the mountains into Turkey where OMM ('One More Mile', a group of Turkish motorcyclists) are already planning a warm welcome at the border, and an escort to Istanbul! Mick has visited Turkey many times to train motorcyclists there, and much the same as other people who have been training or touring with him, they have become firm friends. To travel through Turkey with the Turks is surely an experience! Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia where police colleagues of Mick's' are waiting once again to meet with us, then it will be a casual ride over the Alps, Austria and the last couple of days at the fantastic biker hotel, Hotel Forsthaus, in the beautiful Eifel mountains. Nothing to it eh? My son Ian, gets married to Ann in September so we must be back for this.... we have been warned!