World Record Rides
Travelogue
18 - Spain and France22/06/2002  We cross into France at about 1.30am. We rest for 1/2 hour en route to Tolouse on a park bench. We arrive back in Calais at 4.00pm on Saturday 22 June 2002. A final mammoth 1,764 miles in 30 hours.  13 - Alaska10/06/2002  Scented pine forests, deep river valleys, glacial lakes, jagged snow capped peaks. If only we could stop and enjoy it!  14 - Canada10/06/2002  We have to follow Pilot Cars and slither around on deep gravel. The scenery remains perfect.  15 - United States of America10/06/2002  We do divert to take in Monument Valley, the Navajo Indian Reservation and a little of Route 66. Then we head south to El Paso.  16 - Mexico10/06/2002  Due to a huge storm, we are forced to wait at the border town overnight. We complete the Mexico riding (913 miles) in the next day, via Torreon, Monterrey and Saltillo.  17 - Southern States, USA10/06/2002  We arrive at Ibercondor, our air freighter, without a hitch. It is 6pm. We are knackered, filthy, heads buzzing with lack of sleep. Our American leg has taken just over 7 days and 6,777 miles.  8 - United Arab Emirates15/05/2002  It was only a 30 mile ride to the Dubai Cargo Village and Cathay Pacific. Cathay were all prepared for the bike and had set everything up for us to air freight it to Oz.  9 - Western Australia15/05/2002  Getting our first taste of road trains - 53.5 metres of heavy truck, pulling about 4 separate trailers of stuff - camels, cattle, fuel, you name it.  10 - Northern Territories, Australia15/05/2002  But oh no! Some joker decides to stick thousands of kangaroos, emus, eagles and cattle out there whose main meeting point is the road. You pick your speed very carefully!  11 - Australia15/05/2002  Our longest riding day was 22 hours. We left Glendambo at 4.00am in the middle of a "prohibited area" in the Outback and rode 1,230 miles to Sydney, arriving at 2.00am.  12 - New Zealand15/05/2002  The best bit has to be the volcanic scenery on the Desert Road between Waiouru and Turangi.  7 - Bandar E Abbas15/05/2002  Our Greece to UAE leg was 3,487 miles in 4 days and 10 hours.  1 - France and Italy11/05/2002  Other than a half an hour kip at a petrol station on a bench, we rode 1,671 miles without sleeping. Fighting to keep going during the early hours was a real will of mind over matter. The first leg took 27.5 hours.  3 - Turkey11/05/2002  Crossing the Bosphorus was a huge psychological boost – onto the Asian continent and already over 4 days quicker than the previous record.  4 - Eastern Turkey11/05/2002  Beyond Ankara, Turkey becomes a hard country to cross. The country is more remote, large cities are few and in between there are only small villages of mud houses and grass roofs or industrial areas, where the towns look bleak. The road twists across huge mountain ranges, laced with snow and ice and covered in fog – treacherous riding conditions.  5 - Northern Iran11/05/2002  We always drew a crowd – our BMW was not a regular sight in Iran. Apparently, they banned bikes over 250cc some years ago.  6 - Southern Iran11/05/2002  Temperatures soared to 45 degrees. There was no shade. We were being baked alive. Interesting road hazards though!  2 - Greece11/05/2002  Our final push to the border was 313 miles and over 5 hours in the seat.  |
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