Not Dead Yet

I stumbled upon something rather terrific the other day. A chance posting on my bike club's general forum by fellow member "RegVarney" (I assume he drives a bus for a living!) opened up a whole weekend's viewing pleasure for your humble scribe. If you've ever watched "Long Way Round" with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, you will love this.

A genial chap from Dublin named Oisin Hughes has put together a video blog telling the story of his retracing of Ewan and Charley's trip round the world - but importantly, this is without the large BMW sponsorship and backup crew that was always available to them to help them get out of any trouble. In turn, Oisin has uploaded all of this onto YouTube. Entitled "Not Dead Yet", there are currently 21 segments available to watch - each of which lasts for about 20 minutes or so. Although his trip took place last year, it seems he's still working and editing it as there's more to come next week with episode 22 due on 2 April. We watched all 21 (so far) last weekend - it was that good.

A very basic resumé would be that he's riding a bike (well, a BMW - but don't hold that against him) from Dublin, right across Europe and Asia to Yakutsk and then Magadan on the far-eastern seaboard of Russia. The reason I include Yakutsk and Magadan specifically is that these remote towns are connected by the now infamous "Road of Bones", which is fast becoming the Holy Grail for overlander bikers. It defeated Ewan and Charley.

Dating from the 1930s, the road was constructed by inmates of the gulag camps. Many of these inmates perished in this cold, desolate place (where the average winter temperature drops to -46°C!) and the road is treated as a memorial, because the bones of the people who died while constructing it were laid beneath or around the road. 

It now lies in a high state of disrepair (all but impassable in places) and remains one of the great challenges for adventure motorcyclists. The Road of Bones is the subject of episode 22, due next week. 

"Not Dead Yet" is a great yarn and very very entertaining. It starts well with our hero missing the boat from Dublin to Holyhead, and you start wondering what he will do when faced with anything more complicated than a passenger ferry! Is he safe to be let out alone we ask?! Well, yes he is and his trip turns into a great story. Personally, I loved his commentary round the Nurburgring: "Get out of the fockin' way ya cont....jaysus!!!!". Wonderful stuff....

Part 1 is HERE:

The rest can be found HERE:

ENJOY!!

Looking forward....

Next week the clocks go forward as we head into Spring - at bloody last! This winter has felt interminably long. But for once we won't dwell on the weather here - this is a time to look forward....to plan the biking year....

The first trip of 2013 comes in just a couple of months time. For this, we (me and biking pal Scouse Steve) will head south - to France and Spain. So I thought I'd use this piece to outline what we plan on getting up to (if nothing else it will make me feel better!).

We are calling the trip "Sea to Sea", because it is just that. From the trip over the Channel to Calais we will head south, down through France to the Mediterranean. Once there, we turn right, head through the Pyrenees, and eventually up to Santander on the Bay of Biscay for the boat home. Actually, that's "Sea to Sea....to Sea"....! Regular readers may remember me waxing lyrical on past trips about French "D" roads, and one in particular - the D940. The D940 is a truly fantastic route and one of my favourite roads ever. And given that it stretches down through France, it is this that we will use as the centrepoint of the French leg. So let's have a look at the trip in a bit more detail....

Day 1: On arrival in Calais, we pick up the D940 and do the first part of it, perhaps down along the coast to Boulogne or Le Touquet. After that, we take a dual carriageway which will drop us down past Rouen. After that we have some free flowing country roads, with the first days' destination being Blois - some 6 ½ hours (280 miles or so) riding time from Calais. With the journey down to Folkestone and then the Tunnel crossing, this will constitute a pretty full first day.  

Day 2: The next morning it will take us a couple of hours to ride to Le Chatre, where we pick up the D940 again. After a quick pit stop, we will then set off for Rodez, which is 177 miles of the glorious D940 due south. A total ride of 7 ½  hours and 307 miles.

Day 3: After leaving Rodez the next morning, we track south west over the mountains towards Millau where we will see or go over the famous viaduct. It looks pretty special....

Millau Viaduct

After Millau we continue south towards the Mediterranean Sea - some 150 miles (3 hours) away - where we will stop for lunch. Mais Oiu!

After lunch we set off to go up and over the first half of the Pyrenees, which will be another 3 hours (120 miles or so) arriving in La Seu D’Urgell - which looks like a rather smashing little mountain town in Northern Spain.

La Seu D’Urgell

Day 4: The next day we track along some fantastic roads to Pamplona, which is 250 miles away - basically following the mountains parallel to the border. The route is showing as 6 hours so plenty of opportunity for pit stops en route. Then overnight in Pamplona.

Day 5: The next morning we have a refreshing 150 mile blat to the boat at Santander, through the wonderful Picos de Europa mountain range.

Picos de Europa

Day 6: Relaxing on the 24-hour crossing back to Portsmouth. I think we'll need it!

This trip is a lot of riding in a short space of time. It's going to be pretty full on - but with limited leave available from our respective workplaces and not wishing to stretch too far the permissions of those left behind at home, we've crammed as much as we can into the time we have available. With a week on a beach in the Canaries before that, suddenly the prospects for 2013 are looking up.

It's going to be a great trip - I'm getting a semi just thinking about It!

Justice for David Bartholomew?

The latest in a long line of apparant miscarriages of justice against bikers is the case of David Bartholomew. You can read various accounts of what happened in the links below:

Bournemouth Echo
Visordown
Daily Mail
Motorcycle News

I'm not going to comment on the specifics of this case, except to say that this does not appear to be some youngster taking liberties on a bike too big for him - this was an experienced, middle-aged motorcyclist, riding within the law on what I would describe as a fairly sensible bike (sorry to any CBF1000 owners!).

What I will say is this: motorcycles are a perfectly legal form of transport but those of us on two wheels are amongst the most vulnerable of road users. That being the case, I do think that there should be some kind of an accepted legal principle demanding higher levels of expectation on those driving 4-wheeled vehicles. We all know that any idiot can drive a car, but when it comes to riding a motorbike, WE have to devote our full attention. It also requires a complete acceptance of responsibility for your own safety (which of course is utterly wrong but it's the way things are).

So has justice been served here? That's for others to decide but a campaign has been started in David's name. The ‘Justice for David Bartholomew’ Facebook page has been created to allow people to voice their opinions on the issue and collect funds for a possible private prosecution. To date more than 4000 people have shown their support.

If you feel strongly about this case, you can add your support here:

Justice for David Bartholomew