Best road report ever! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.
Gael warning in the Congo
- Thread starter simondippenhall
- Start date
Brilliant report Simon, thanks for taking the time and effort to document it for us!
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Totally EPIC 
and a very useful reference... I have no idea how you managed to wing it through so many 'problem' areas 
....goes to show 
Life for the living
and a very useful reference... I have no idea how you managed to wing it through so many 'problem' areas ....goes to show Life for the living
Totally EPIC
Life for the living
Luck of the Irish and all that?
And I have even had the doubtful honour of an email from the Saudi tourist board asking me for feedback
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Haven't managed to show the route through Saudi/Jordan/Israel/Greece/Bulgaria but here is a rough updated route through Africa for those (like me) who get more out of pictures
(Created using Basecamp on my Tracks4Africa digital maps - which in general were excellent
).
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(Created using Basecamp on my Tracks4Africa digital maps - which in general were excellent
).Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Excellent.
Well done for doing the trip in the first place, a bit outside my comfort zone to do anything similar.
Well done for writing it up and sharing.
Just “well done”
Well done for doing the trip in the first place, a bit outside my comfort zone to do anything similar.
Well done for writing it up and sharing.
Just “well done”
An excellent read, and excellent journey and truly in the best spirit of a wanderer on the earth.
Fantastic Simon.
Fantastic Simon.
Haven't managed to show the route through Saudi/Jordan/Israel/Greece/Bulgaria but here is a rough updated route through Africa for those (like me) who get more out of pictures
(Created using Basecamp on my Tracks4Africa digital maps - which in general were excellent
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Superb..
Thanks Simon....
Thanks Ash. Since then, managed to extend the map a little to show most of the trip(other than the bimble down to Portsmouth to take the ferry to Spain).
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What an incredible journey, fantastic photos Simon
A real pleasure to meet you and Jim at the weekend, now heading over to read Jim's report from the point that you parted ways.
A real pleasure to meet you and Jim at the weekend, now heading over to read Jim's report from the point that you parted ways.
Thanks Chris! Appreciate I am lucky to have memories of this to keep me going since I returned 18 months ago
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All through the past year I wondered when I would be free to continue my travels, aiming for the ‘Stans and Mongolia.
I formulated an aspiration (who makes plans anymore?
) to head out to Bulgaria in April when the snows were past, fettle the bike (possibly with the help of a garage in nearby Bucharest) and ride on…
Then one day, on a late summer bimble in the Hampshire countryside by ‘Wing, I spotted a Bulgarian registration delivery lorry on the road ahead. This was a revelation as I had not been able to find anyone actually doing this due to Covid and Brexit difficulties.
I ride up close and memorised the email address - and emailed them later that week. I received a very quick response with a quote which, while pricey, was bearable (and less than it would have cost me to collect it!).
I had been pretty fixed on returning to the bike in Bulgaria- but Jim asked me ‘wouldn’t it be good to be able to work on it at home, and maybe have Steptoe service it thoroughly, before riding East?’
Whilst I dismissed his suggestion summarily at the time, I got to thinking about it over the coming weeks. Given the uncertainty of my future timing, there was something reassuring about being able to prep the bike at leisure and get the wisdom of Steptoe on what work needed to be done on a bike with 100,000 miles on the clock, many of them quite punishing , to be well prepared for the likes of the Pamir highway…..
So after a little negotiation it was agreed the bike would be picked up from Motocamp and brought to me by Christmas.
Nothing happened and then I got an email early last week saying they would pick it up Wednesday or Thursday and deliver it to my home on Sunday.
Stage 1: from Idilevo to The groupage point
It looked a bit rudimentary for a trip across Europe…
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I formulated an aspiration (who makes plans anymore?
) to head out to Bulgaria in April when the snows were past, fettle the bike (possibly with the help of a garage in nearby Bucharest) and ride on…Then one day, on a late summer bimble in the Hampshire countryside by ‘Wing, I spotted a Bulgarian registration delivery lorry on the road ahead. This was a revelation as I had not been able to find anyone actually doing this due to Covid and Brexit difficulties.
I ride up close and memorised the email address - and emailed them later that week. I received a very quick response with a quote which, while pricey, was bearable (and less than it would have cost me to collect it!).
I had been pretty fixed on returning to the bike in Bulgaria- but Jim asked me ‘wouldn’t it be good to be able to work on it at home, and maybe have Steptoe service it thoroughly, before riding East?’
Whilst I dismissed his suggestion summarily at the time, I got to thinking about it over the coming weeks. Given the uncertainty of my future timing, there was something reassuring about being able to prep the bike at leisure and get the wisdom of Steptoe on what work needed to be done on a bike with 100,000 miles on the clock, many of them quite punishing , to be well prepared for the likes of the Pamir highway…..
So after a little negotiation it was agreed the bike would be picked up from Motocamp and brought to me by Christmas.
Nothing happened and then I got an email early last week saying they would pick it up Wednesday or Thursday and deliver it to my home on Sunday.
Stage 1: from Idilevo to The groupage point
It looked a bit rudimentary for a trip across Europe…
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
However I learned it would be loaded onto a truck to come to me and ‘we have no ramp so please make sure there is one on arrival!’.
That put me off my stride as I well remember the weight of a GS with a full tank of petrol….nearly killed the 6 blokes trying to get it on a pirogue over the Congo river!
Fortunately I managed to source three scaffold planks and a strong helping hand from my neighbour…the van, when it arrived, was 95cms up which is higher than you’d want when unloading a behemoth
.
The bike arrived at 7 pm, on a nice wet and dark winter evening
Excuse the crap photo
.
After a few exciting moments it was wheeled into my garage to join the stable
The keen eyed may have noticed a little problem….more of that later. The Bulgarian driver and his helper collected their payment plus a tenner in Bulgarian Lev (which I had found in my travel collection) in order to toast my health.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
That put me off my stride as I well remember the weight of a GS with a full tank of petrol….nearly killed the 6 blokes trying to get it on a pirogue over the Congo river!
Fortunately I managed to source three scaffold planks and a strong helping hand from my neighbour…the van, when it arrived, was 95cms up which is higher than you’d want when unloading a behemoth
.The bike arrived at 7 pm, on a nice wet and dark winter evening
Excuse the crap photo
.After a few exciting moments it was wheeled into my garage to join the stable
The keen eyed may have noticed a little problem….more of that later. The Bulgarian driver and his helper collected their payment plus a tenner in Bulgarian Lev (which I had found in my travel collection) in order to toast my health.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Welcome home Yellow Peril
All this makes the subs worth every penny 
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Good to see her back!
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