Robbo1961
Registered user
Oh bollox just spotted this thread sorry to hear that dude there's always next year tho mate!!
Inagh County Clare Ireland to China, and Back!!!!!
- Thread starter de crowe
- Start date
Mrs Roynie,
i thought to myself "ooh, this looks good - i'll wait til there's a few posts up and when i have time i'll give it the attention it deserves and have a good long read...."
I really feel for you.
So much work goes into the planning and prep.
My sympathies to you.
i thought to myself "ooh, this looks good - i'll wait til there's a few posts up and when i have time i'll give it the attention it deserves and have a good long read...."
I really feel for you.
So much work goes into the planning and prep.
My sympathies to you.
Dean
Registered user
Mrs Roynie,
i thought to myself "ooh, this looks good - i'll wait til there's a few posts up and when i have time i'll give it the attention it deserves and have a good long read...."
I really feel for you.
So much work goes into the planning and prep.
My sympathies to you.
and I think you post for many who think the same.maybe a later date possibly where there's a will theres a way and all that
Well, I'm back in the UK safe and sound (ok, not so 'sound' 
) and staying with my elderly mum until my leg heals. Though I haven't really commented here, the big issue over the last few days was how to get my 1150 home. First we were told I had to exit Russia with it, then we were told that it could be declared as 'Unaccompanied Baggage' and either shipped (expensive) or ridden back into the EU by a Russian friend of a friend ... Then, of course, the political situation came into play and it seems that all Russian motorcyclists are getting turned back at the border - the Polish border, at least, but it does seem that some Russians are now having difficulty getting visas to travel the the EU/UK. Thanks, Putin (or should that be "putain!" ). Anyway, despite Overlanders.ie offering their scheduled service to ship the bike from Mellingen, in Southern Germany, we were none too certain how we were going to get it there.
However - and apologies for TLDR, but I'm posting just in case anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation - we (and everyone else who joined in the FB discussion) had made a fundamental mistake in assuming that the bike had to exit the country with me, by the date given on our Entry form. It might very well be the case, if you have a short-term single entry visa, but not necessarily ... Basically, when you enter Russia at the border, the first booth you visit is Passport Control, where you fill out a little form with your place of entry, your destination and date of exit. Once they've checked and validated your visa, the next place you go is the Customs booth, where you fill out two copies of another form, and they check the details of your bike against your log book, etc. There is a lot of detail about your luggage and your bike on the front of the form but, for most of us, the back is left mainly blank except for a date and signature. Once everything is in order, the Customs Officer writes a note on the bottom of the form and validates it with an official stamp. We can't read Russian handwriting, so we never paid any attention to what was written there. The Customs Officer was not concerned about the Entry form or the details of our itinerary. Our visas are 6-month multiple entry Business visas, so she had actually written that our bikes needed to leave the country by 4th August (not 20th May, which was when we were due to exit to Kazakhstan).
Hence, I am now planning my next adventure - to go back and collect the bike myself as soon as I am out of plaster!
) and staying with my elderly mum until my leg heals. Though I haven't really commented here, the big issue over the last few days was how to get my 1150 home. First we were told I had to exit Russia with it, then we were told that it could be declared as 'Unaccompanied Baggage' and either shipped (expensive) or ridden back into the EU by a Russian friend of a friend ... Then, of course, the political situation came into play and it seems that all Russian motorcyclists are getting turned back at the border - the Polish border, at least, but it does seem that some Russians are now having difficulty getting visas to travel the the EU/UK. Thanks, Putin (or should that be "putain!" ). Anyway, despite Overlanders.ie offering their scheduled service to ship the bike from Mellingen, in Southern Germany, we were none too certain how we were going to get it there.However - and apologies for TLDR, but I'm posting just in case anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation - we (and everyone else who joined in the FB discussion
) had made a fundamental mistake in assuming that the bike had to exit the country with me, by the date given on our Entry form. It might very well be the case, if you have a short-term single entry visa, but not necessarily ... Basically, when you enter Russia at the border, the first booth you visit is Passport Control, where you fill out a little form with your place of entry, your destination and date of exit. Once they've checked and validated your visa, the next place you go is the Customs booth, where you fill out two copies of another form, and they check the details of your bike against your log book, etc. There is a lot of detail about your luggage and your bike on the front of the form but, for most of us, the back is left mainly blank except for a date and signature. Once everything is in order, the Customs Officer writes a note on the bottom of the form and validates it with an official stamp. We can't read Russian handwriting, so we never paid any attention to what was written there. The Customs Officer was not concerned about the Entry form or the details of our itinerary. Our visas are 6-month multiple entry Business visas, so she had actually written that our bikes needed to leave the country by 4th August (not 20th May, which was when we were due to exit to Kazakhstan).Hence, I am now planning my next adventure - to go back and collect the bike myself as soon as I am out of plaster!
The problem at the Polish border for Russian riders was probably due to keeping the Night Wolves at bay. They were trying to to retrace the route of the Red Army in WW2 as far as Berlin.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32470726
Once all the VE celebrations have passed maybe those restrictions will be removed.
Meanwhile ... If you need a dependable rider to liberate the bike, anytime during June, I'm available to ride it back. Delivered to your door. It wouldn't be the first time I've completed such a mission - though not in Russia I hasten to add.
Get well soonest. Sorry to read you had to to abandon the adventure.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32470726
Once all the VE celebrations have passed maybe those restrictions will be removed.
Meanwhile ... If you need a dependable rider to liberate the bike, anytime during June, I'm available to ride it back. Delivered to your door. It wouldn't be the first time I've completed such a mission - though not in Russia I hasten to add.
Get well soonest. Sorry to read you had to to abandon the adventure.
Many thanks for the offer but, having had my temporary plaster replaced this morning with an orthopaedic boot, I'm rather looking forward to going back for the bike myself. It's stored safely, so there's no rush.
In fact, things have taken another turn this morning. I received an email from Julia at GlobeBusters warning me that that they had not received any confirmation from the Chinese authorities that Roynie (or, more specifically, his bike) will be able to exit China from Beijing with the rest of the group, as our permits had us exiting via Mongolia. It will probably all be fine in the end but, strictly speaking, any changes to self-drive itineraries, require about three months' notice. If the permit cannot be changed, Roynie will have to stick with our original plan and take his bike out into Mongolia. From Ulanbaatar, Julia said it would be perfectly possible to fly home and ship the bike. Then she threw out a random idea ... If my leg is healed, why not ride out and meet him in Ulanbaatar and ride back together?
For the moment, we've left everything to fate (or the Chinese authorities) but, if John does have to ride back through Mongolia ... why not, indeed?!
That's the spirit. Speedy recovery and back in the saddle. Will you have a 'bike available for trial run before you head east again? I have a trusty DR350 just down the road from you if you need it.
Well, chaps, I'm back in Moscow and the plan is to pick up the bike tomorrow and head ... East!
As things turned out, two weeks after arriving home (in the UK), GlobeBusters' Chinese agents had still received no word on the change of Roynie's exit permit, which would have allowed him to ship his bike back with the rest of the group from Tianjin and fly home. The problem was that, as luck would have it, the first major earthquake struck Nepal the day before we left Ireland, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded and needing to obtain emergency travel documents through the same channels that would have been processing ours ...
Meanwhile, I had been extremely lucky in that the Fracture Clinic agreed that because my fracture appeared to have stabilised, and anyway the fibula is not a weight-bearing bone, I could try using a 'boot'. Because I wasn't completely immobilised, it has meant that my leg is not only healed but is a lot stronger than it would have been if I had been laid-up in plaster.
The up-shoot was that we told GlobeBusters to cancel our request. Roynie will have his bike taken by truck from Beijing to the Mongolian border at Erenhot (cheaper than paying a guide to accompany him for the 400-odd mile journey) and will ride to Ulaanbaatar ... where I will join him for the long ride home.
I must be nuts!
As things turned out, two weeks after arriving home (in the UK), GlobeBusters' Chinese agents had still received no word on the change of Roynie's exit permit, which would have allowed him to ship his bike back with the rest of the group from Tianjin and fly home. The problem was that, as luck would have it, the first major earthquake struck Nepal the day before we left Ireland, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded and needing to obtain emergency travel documents through the same channels that would have been processing ours ...
Meanwhile, I had been extremely lucky in that the Fracture Clinic agreed that because my fracture appeared to have stabilised, and anyway the fibula is not a weight-bearing bone, I could try using a 'boot'. Because I wasn't completely immobilised, it has meant that my leg is not only healed but is a lot stronger than it would have been if I had been laid-up in plaster.
The up-shoot was that we told GlobeBusters to cancel our request. Roynie will have his bike taken by truck from Beijing to the Mongolian border at Erenhot (cheaper than paying a guide to accompany him for the 400-odd mile journey) and will ride to Ulaanbaatar ... where I will join him for the long ride home.
I must be nuts!
Well, chaps, I'm back in Moscow and the plan is to pick up the bike tomorrow and head ... East!
As things turned out, two weeks after arriving home (in the UK), GlobeBusters' Chinese agents had still received no word on the change of Roynie's exit permit, which would have allowed him to ship his bike back with the rest of the group from Tianjin and fly home. The problem was that, as luck would have it, the first major earthquake struck Nepal the day before we left Ireland, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded and needing to obtain emergency travel documents through the same channels that would have been processing ours ...
Meanwhile, I had been extremely lucky in that the Fracture Clinic agreed that because my fracture appeared to have stabilised, and anyway the fibula is not a weight-bearing bone, I could try using a 'boot'. Because I wasn't completely immobilised, it has meant that my leg is not only healed but is a lot stronger than it would have been if I had been laid-up in plaster.
The up-shoot was that we told GlobeBusters to cancel our request. Roynie will have his bike taken by truck from Beijing to the Mongolian border at Erenhot (cheaper than paying a guide to accompany him for the 400-odd mile journey) and will ride to Ulaanbaatar ... where I will join him for the long ride home.
I must be nuts!
Nuts is good.......
(RIP) Bin Ridin
Registered user
Fair play to ya! "another thread in life's rich tapestry.."........
Sorry to read about the accident ... bloody hell!
Happened to us on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan, heading overland to India. A car swerved and hit Sue (Gracie on here) and she suffered a nasty compound fracture of the arm
She had to be flown home, our second trip of a lifetime was finished .... so we know just how you feel. Terrible!!
Happened to us on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan, heading overland to India. A car swerved and hit Sue (Gracie on here) and she suffered a nasty compound fracture of the arm
She had to be flown home, our second trip of a lifetime was finished .... so we know just how you feel. Terrible!!
Ouch! Sounds like I got off lightly in comparison.Sorry to read about the accident ... bloody hell!
Happened to us on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan, heading overland to India. A car swerved and hit Sue (Gracie on here) and she suffered a nasty compound fracture of the arm
She had to be flown home, our second trip of a lifetime was finished .... so we know just how you feel. Terrible!!
Well, I've bailed again. My Russian friends eventually persuaded me that riding across Siberia on my own, with a gammy leg and no Russian language, wasn't the best idea. So they organised to have my bike crated and sent by train to Irkutsk, with me following on at a more leisurely pace. I left Moscow on Tuesday afternoon and am spending a couple of days in Omsk. (Not most people's first choice of stopover, but it's a nice enough hotel and I don't think I could have faced four days straight in a 4-person sleeper compartment.)
The process of putting the bike on the train was ridiculously simple, though it does help to have friends in the right places. The crate cost me 2000 roubles (less than £25) and was accomplished within an hour and a half of me arriving at the warehouse. The first part involved securing the bike to the base pallets, after which we loaded on the panniers and tent bag and then the whole thing was cocooned in an enormous quantity of cling-film - they like their cling-film, do the Russians! Then came the rest of the crate, swiftly constructed with lengths of rough timber and a couple more pallets, finished off with another wrap of cling-film. You may think it all looks a bit rough and ready, but it proved strong enough to withstand being lifted on and off the truck and then jumped on and rocked by various railway workers, checking for any tell-tale sounds of fuel swishing about in the tank. You may laugh about the cling-film, but they knew their stuff, those warehouse guys. Bikes have to be shipped completely empty of fuel, but the shape of the 1150's tank (feel free to correct me here) didn't lend itself to being syphoned dry. The railway workers tore open the outer layer and tapped on the fuel tank, but the cling-film effectively insulated all sound. Eventually, they gave up and signed the bike off. It should have left Moscow yesterday (9th).
It isn't cheap, shipping a bike from Moscow to Irkutsk. I paid a discounted price of 22,300 roubles (a little over £250) ... and they don't take credit cards. In fact, I've now lost count of the amount of trips I've had to take to the cash machine because small businesses either don't accept cards or have broken card readers. Incredibly, the railway station in Omsk (where I bought my onward ticket yesterday) doesn't take credit cards either! The explanation? "This is Omsk."
Anyway, I leave tomorrow evening and should be in Irkutsk in time to collect my bike when it arrives on Monday. I've allowed for a couple of nights there, before I move on to Ulan Ude.
The process of putting the bike on the train was ridiculously simple, though it does help to have friends in the right places. The crate cost me 2000 roubles (less than £25) and was accomplished within an hour and a half of me arriving at the warehouse. The first part involved securing the bike to the base pallets, after which we loaded on the panniers and tent bag and then the whole thing was cocooned in an enormous quantity of cling-film - they like their cling-film, do the Russians! Then came the rest of the crate, swiftly constructed with lengths of rough timber and a couple more pallets, finished off with another wrap of cling-film. You may think it all looks a bit rough and ready, but it proved strong enough to withstand being lifted on and off the truck and then jumped on and rocked by various railway workers, checking for any tell-tale sounds of fuel swishing about in the tank. You may laugh about the cling-film, but they knew their stuff, those warehouse guys. Bikes have to be shipped completely empty of fuel, but the shape of the 1150's tank (feel free to correct me here) didn't lend itself to being syphoned dry. The railway workers tore open the outer layer and tapped on the fuel tank, but the cling-film effectively insulated all sound. Eventually, they gave up and signed the bike off. It should have left Moscow yesterday (9th).
It isn't cheap, shipping a bike from Moscow to Irkutsk. I paid a discounted price of 22,300 roubles (a little over £250) ... and they don't take credit cards. In fact, I've now lost count of the amount of trips I've had to take to the cash machine because small businesses either don't accept cards or have broken card readers. Incredibly, the railway station in Omsk (where I bought my onward ticket yesterday) doesn't take credit cards either! The explanation? "This is Omsk."
Anyway, I leave tomorrow evening and should be in Irkutsk in time to collect my bike when it arrives on Monday. I've allowed for a couple of nights there, before I move on to Ulan Ude.
Attachments
mongolia
good luck Brigid, better luck this time, really enjoyed john's posts so hope you both keep scribbling
good luck Brigid, better luck this time, really enjoyed john's posts so hope you both keep scribbling
We called in at Dulaanhaan where they still hand make the traditional Mongolian bows and arrows.
Wouldn't let us take photographs, but showed us how they're made ... fascinating!
Enjoy your trip
Wouldn't let us take photographs, but showed us how they're made ... fascinating!
Enjoy your trip
We both made it to Ulaanbataar yesterday and are now taking a bit of a break at the Oasis before venturing out to do a bit of sight-seeing. I can't (daren't) try any serious off-road, but we can reach the Genghis Khan memorial and Kharkhorin on tarmac, before returning to Russia later this week.
Needless to say, as I had barely ridden the bike in Moscow since the new battery was installed, it had run flat again by the time I picked the bike up in Irkutsk. The railway depot staff could not have been more helpful: firstly, dismantling the crate for me, and then driving a car onto the railway platform to jump start the bike. It was pure comedy, with me communicating using dumb-cranbo hand signals and odd words of Russian, and the guys alternating between wanting to get the bike going and wanting to buy it!
Apart from one particularly long stretch of construction, the road to Ulan Ude was in pretty good nick and must rate as one of the easiest and most scenic rides anywhere. I met up with a bunch of folk from the HUBB in Ulan Ude, which gave me a bit of company for the ride to Ulaanbataar - another beautiful ride. The northern part of Mongolia totally lived up to the picture postcard image, complete with yurts, herdsmen, and herds of goats, cows and horses grazing the open range.
I'm so glad to have been able to do this.
Needless to say, as I had barely ridden the bike in Moscow since the new battery was installed, it had run flat again by the time I picked the bike up in Irkutsk. The railway depot staff could not have been more helpful: firstly, dismantling the crate for me, and then driving a car onto the railway platform to jump start the bike. It was pure comedy, with me communicating using dumb-cranbo hand signals and odd words of Russian, and the guys alternating between wanting to get the bike going and wanting to buy it!
Apart from one particularly long stretch of construction, the road to Ulan Ude was in pretty good nick and must rate as one of the easiest and most scenic rides anywhere. I met up with a bunch of folk from the HUBB in Ulan Ude, which gave me a bit of company for the ride to Ulaanbataar - another beautiful ride. The northern part of Mongolia totally lived up to the picture postcard image, complete with yurts, herdsmen, and herds of goats, cows and horses grazing the open range.
I'm so glad to have been able to do this.
Attachments
(RIP) Bin Ridin
Registered user
More power to ye!!
Well, that was short-lived! I've been meaning to post this for days, but held off until I had made the necessary arrangements for onward transport for ourselves and the bikes ...
Quick catch-up. Roynie's Triumph Tiger 1050 nearly fell apart completely on the way to the Russian/Mongolian border! He misjudged a particularly big pothole and heard an ominous clunk and was fairly sure that he had done something to the frame. We had no real option but to nurse the bike into Russia and hope that it would hold together long enough to get to Ulan Ude. There was a noticeable gap developing between the seat and the tank, and the handlebars were getting further away! The bike was becoming unrideable, but standing on the pegs seemed to spread the weight just well enough to keep going. We stopped for fuel at Gusinoozyorsk and inspected the damage. By now, the front of the sub-frame had sheered on both sides! There was no way that we were going to reach UU, let alone finish the ride.
But, as luck would have it, we happened to have stopped next door to one of the best equipped auto workshops I've seen anywhere. We gestured to the manager that we had a problem and, seemingly within minutes, a very competent motorcycle mechanic had appeared from nowhere and was busy stripping the bike down ready for welding. The manager called his English-speaking daughter, found us a hotel, and told us to come back in the morning ... By which time, the bike was being put back together. A couple of hours and 28000 roubles (about £280 at today's exchange rate) later, we were back on the road!
We started our homeward leg from Ulan Ude on Wednesday 29th, stopping for a couple of nights in lovely Irkutsk before heading out into Siberia proper. I was in charge of the itinerary and had tried to pick some interesting/attractive cities for regular two-night stops to break the monotony of the Trans-Siberian Highway. The first of those attractive cities was to be Tomsk, last Monday ... Unfortunately, there are two main roads into Tomsk - a direct route totalling about 400km, and the one that the GPS recommends that goes through Novosibirsk, adding a further 200km. Guess which one we chose.
We turned off the main Trans-Siberian Highway at Mariinsk. For the first 30km or so, the road was tarmac. Old tarmac, but tarmac all the same. Then the tarmac ran out and we were left with a mix of hard-packed dirt and broken pavement for the next 30km or so ... until the kindly road maintenance people had tried to improve things by spreading a thick layer of loose gravel over the road. Both bikes went down within 100m of each other. I was lucky and unharmed, but R broke his left fibula (same injury as mine, only the bone was displaced). We managed to pick the bikes up and ride back to Mariinsk, and I took R back to the cafe where we had had lunch and asked for help. Right now we're enjoying the hospitality of the Mariinsk Municiple Hospital!
The Russians have been amazing. Considering we don't speak more than a couple of words of the language, they took R straight into hospital, put a plate in his leg and have allowed me to stay in his hospital room. We've been interviewed on local TV and generally treated like minor celebrities.
I've held off posting too much anywhere about this latest little drama, as our Russian friend is on holiday with his family and I didn't want it coming up on his FB newsfeed until we were sorted. The last thing he needs is us helpless bloody Brits wailing at him to get us out of another fix! So I've basically had to manage this mess on my own - albeit with a lot of help from the hospital staff and a lovely English-speaking lady called Anna, whose policeman husband is in the room next door with a back injury.
Roynie's surgeon (who I'm fairly sure is a biker himself) put me in touch with a local shipping firm who will crate and send both of our bikes to Moscow (nearly 4,000km away) for the princely sum of £220. But getting the bikes out of Russia was going to be tricky and expensive. James Cargo wanted £3,000 per bike for airfreight from Moscow - frankly, more than my bike is worth!
However, the good news was that, because R's leg has a plate in it, his recovery time will be a lot quicker than mine was, and the doctors reckon he should be able to ride by the end of the month. So, we will follow our bikes to Moscow by train as soon as R gets out of hospital next week and we'll hang out there until R can ride.
If anyone is in Moscow during the latter part of August, you'll find us at the Night Train Motel!
Quick catch-up. Roynie's Triumph Tiger 1050 nearly fell apart completely on the way to the Russian/Mongolian border! He misjudged a particularly big pothole and heard an ominous clunk and was fairly sure that he had done something to the frame. We had no real option but to nurse the bike into Russia and hope that it would hold together long enough to get to Ulan Ude. There was a noticeable gap developing between the seat and the tank, and the handlebars were getting further away! The bike was becoming unrideable, but standing on the pegs seemed to spread the weight just well enough to keep going. We stopped for fuel at Gusinoozyorsk and inspected the damage. By now, the front of the sub-frame had sheered on both sides! There was no way that we were going to reach UU, let alone finish the ride.
But, as luck would have it, we happened to have stopped next door to one of the best equipped auto workshops I've seen anywhere. We gestured to the manager that we had a problem and, seemingly within minutes, a very competent motorcycle mechanic had appeared from nowhere and was busy stripping the bike down ready for welding. The manager called his English-speaking daughter, found us a hotel, and told us to come back in the morning ... By which time, the bike was being put back together. A couple of hours and 28000 roubles (about £280 at today's exchange rate) later, we were back on the road!
We started our homeward leg from Ulan Ude on Wednesday 29th, stopping for a couple of nights in lovely Irkutsk before heading out into Siberia proper. I was in charge of the itinerary and had tried to pick some interesting/attractive cities for regular two-night stops to break the monotony of the Trans-Siberian Highway. The first of those attractive cities was to be Tomsk, last Monday ... Unfortunately, there are two main roads into Tomsk - a direct route totalling about 400km, and the one that the GPS recommends that goes through Novosibirsk, adding a further 200km. Guess which one we chose.
We turned off the main Trans-Siberian Highway at Mariinsk. For the first 30km or so, the road was tarmac. Old tarmac, but tarmac all the same. Then the tarmac ran out and we were left with a mix of hard-packed dirt and broken pavement for the next 30km or so ... until the kindly road maintenance people had tried to improve things by spreading a thick layer of loose gravel over the road. Both bikes went down within 100m of each other. I was lucky and unharmed, but R broke his left fibula (same injury as mine, only the bone was displaced). We managed to pick the bikes up and ride back to Mariinsk, and I took R back to the cafe where we had had lunch and asked for help. Right now we're enjoying the hospitality of the Mariinsk Municiple Hospital!
The Russians have been amazing. Considering we don't speak more than a couple of words of the language, they took R straight into hospital, put a plate in his leg and have allowed me to stay in his hospital room. We've been interviewed on local TV and generally treated like minor celebrities.
I've held off posting too much anywhere about this latest little drama, as our Russian friend is on holiday with his family and I didn't want it coming up on his FB newsfeed until we were sorted. The last thing he needs is us helpless bloody Brits wailing at him to get us out of another fix! So I've basically had to manage this mess on my own - albeit with a lot of help from the hospital staff and a lovely English-speaking lady called Anna, whose policeman husband is in the room next door with a back injury.
Roynie's surgeon (who I'm fairly sure is a biker himself) put me in touch with a local shipping firm who will crate and send both of our bikes to Moscow (nearly 4,000km away) for the princely sum of £220. But getting the bikes out of Russia was going to be tricky and expensive. James Cargo wanted £3,000 per bike for airfreight from Moscow - frankly, more than my bike is worth!
However, the good news was that, because R's leg has a plate in it, his recovery time will be a lot quicker than mine was, and the doctors reckon he should be able to ride by the end of the month. So, we will follow our bikes to Moscow by train as soon as R gets out of hospital next week and we'll hang out there until R can ride.
If anyone is in Moscow during the latter part of August, you'll find us at the Night Train Motel!
Attachments
