Which Way round - Cyprus

delpel

delpel

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Not wanting to be left out of the fund raising efforts I decided to try and ride as far as possible in 24hours. On an island this small that didn’t seem to be much of a challenge. After much head scratching and pouring over maps it was decided to ride around the coast covering both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides. Prior to the invasion in 1974 this would have been impossible as the roads were very poor with much off consisting of broken up/pot holed single lane tracks.

The route we took is shown on the GPS plot. The coloured line is indicative of speeds travelled :thumb :thumb
 

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Initially there was only ever going to be 2 or 3 of us taking part. However, by the time we left on May 3rd that number had risen to 15 with an assortment of different makes and styles of bikes. One fella was even on his brand Aprillia Milla Factory!!!! Somebody forgot to tell him that some of the roads were still broken up/pot holed single lane tracks :eek:
 

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The trip to the Turkish border crossing was fairly uneventful apart from one chap taking a wrong turning and getting hopelessly lost in the mountains. Thank heavens for mobile phones.

The views in the mountains are fabulous apparently :rolleyes:
 

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A well earned rest was had in Kyrenia. A few Effas beers and a Jashan curry later and you would be surprised how quickly one falls asleep.

The chap in the photo is ‘Bawdy Monk’ who used to post on this site until he sold his 1150 ADV for a K1200RS :ymca :ymca and he snores like a frieght train :spitfire
 

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If we all stand around the ‘Hired’ chopper it may spark into life. I come to the rescue with my ‘CRUZ’ tools; drain the carb bowls and bingo. Yes that’s me with the grey hair looking a bit like Bruce Forsythe
 

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Look mum; I’m stood up and almost off road!!! The clouds presented a welcome rest bite from the searing heat :cool: :cool:
 

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The end of the road or the ‘Pan Handle’ as we brits call it. A guard hut and a never ending stream of curious tourists.
 

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Not forgetting the obligatory national flags
 

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Worth the effort for the dip in the sea before lunch. :beerjug:
 

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The GS performed faultlessly. It was it’s first big test since completing the rebuild.

All in all we hope to have raised about C£350 which equates to about £400 GBP. Not bad for a couple of days off work doing something you enjoy. No where as big or as challenging as some of the adventures others are participating in, just my little contribution

Fanum, me old china as soon as I get all the money together I will bung a cheque in the post.

Now who knows anything about the roads in Southern Greece :bounce1 :bounce1 :bounce1
 
Crongratulations indeed on your fund raising

We did an almost identical trip two weeks ago and have to say you missed one area of delightfully deserted country roads. After crossing the border at Astromeritis head north west toawrds Kormakiti then east along the coast through Liveras to Orga. Next find the narrow but paved road that winds along the very top of the Kyrenia range to St Hilarion - it's mind bending looking down 1400m sheer each side of the road - don't try it east/west however as the seven foot Turkish soldier with his ten foot M16 will politely redirect you whence you came!

Could you tell us more how you got that GPS track onto the map please?
 
Nice one, I was at Akrotiri about 6 years ago best posting I ever had. Rode a CBR400 and DR350 while i was there. Now stuck behind a desk in Birmingham, looking at those pic's just makes me green with envy :D
:beerjug: Tom
 
Kritou said:
Crongratulations indeed on your fund raising

We did an almost identical trip two weeks ago and have to say you missed one area of delightfully deserted country roads. After crossing the border at Astromeritis head north west toawrds Kormakiti then east along the coast through Liveras to Orga. Next find the narrow but paved road that winds along the very top of the Kyrenia range to St Hilarion - it's mind bending looking down 1400m sheer each side of the road - don't try it east/west however as the seven foot Turkish soldier with his ten foot M16 will politely redirect you whence you came!

Could you tell us more how you got that GPS track onto the map please?
Click to expand...

Kritou,

How are you, I didn't realise there were other UKGS'ers here in Cyprus. We should get together some time for a frappe. Are you part of the Nicosia BMW group?

I have ridden the road you mentioned. We came from the Kyrenia way and yes I agree it was very nice and scenic. I could not believe the village of Livera, it was like stepping back in time. The brand new tourist complex with it's electric security gate brought me back down to earth.

Thank you for the tip on how to get to St Hilarian castle. We tried from the main Nicosia/Kyrenia road but as you say, got turned back. Will try again when it cools down a bit.

As for the GPS plot. I have a Magallen walkers GPS and the MAPSend world wide base map. I just let the GPS plot it's course then I download the track onto my laptop and take a screen dump. Finally I paste it into Microsoft Paint program and save it as a .jpg. If you pm me your email I can send you some others I have done from around the island.

Simply, crude but effective.

Regards

Del
 
Del you old silver fox.......

I cant beleive you waited until I left Cyprus before organising the trip!!

I wanted to do a similar trip here around the Falklands, then I woke up and remembered my bike was 8,000 miles away in the UK.

Never mind.

It brought back suck good memories from our trips across to the "dark side".

Are you still up for a good long European trip when you get back?

My kit is already packed, just say the word.

I'll even be a civvie by then, beard, etc!!

Speak to you soon buddy.

Geordie
 
Like Geordie & tommyboy the pics make me sad.... :( I was in Ayios Nikolaos for 2 years and would love to be back there right now......

Macca
 
Hi delpel :)

I am hoping to make the move over to Cyprus with the family in Jan 2007, I would really love to bring my GS over but have heard various different story's about import taxes once the vehicle hits Cypriot soil, Some peeps say that you may face a bill of a couple of grand and others say you pay nothing now, but must not sell or ship the bike out of Cyprus for 10 years :confused:

Do you know which is right ?

Cheers
Neil
 
Neil,

I only know the rules and regs for duty free imports. So I can try and find out what the info is for normal imports. I am here until April 2007 so if you need any help I will do what I can. There are a couple of good websites set up for expats moving to places like cyprus, spain etc. Type in expats, cyprus and I am sure you will find them.

The roads out here are fantastic and there are miles and miles of trails etc which makes for perfect GS country.

Drop me a line if you need any help and I'll check with one of the local car dealers or customs regarding bringing your bike out.
 
Thanks Del,

I'm coming over in 3 weeks for a family holiday / business relocation trip, 1 week protaras and 1 week pafos, so I'll get to see what u mean about the fantastic roads :cool:

I've been on a few of the expat forums but to be honest most of the members are retirement peeps and only see bikes as a loud bloody noise :rob

neily :D
 
Neily,

I have asked around the car dealers and can not get a definetive answer (funny old thing)

However I have been given this url which is customs website, might prove useful:

www.mof.gov.cy/mof/customs/Customs.nsf/Main?OpenFrameSet

Also this website which is a expat info site were I also vist from time to time for good info:


www.cyprus-forum.com

If you need any help at all then just drop me a line.
Don't forget to get in touch when you get here and we can go for a Frappe (cypriot coffee) :thumb

Regards

Del
 
Thanks Del,

Seems as if it could be a lot of hassle and expense which I could really do without :confused:

I'll take you up on the Coffee, my treat :thumb

Regards
Neil
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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