Watching the overlanding exploits of the likes of Ewan McGregor and his trusty sidekick Charlie Boorman does tend to give one itchy feet and a taste for adventure. The idea of you and a couple of mates on bikes, the open road, journeying to and through faraway lands, seeing the sights, meeting different people and encountering different challenges along the way. It's an enticing thought….
Sadly, for most, due to jobs, families, finance etc, it’s not that realistic. Not many can just take off for weeks or months on end, spending thousands of pounds in the process of fulfilling a dream. Plus, you’d need to be pretty handy with the spanners to deal with the inevitable breakdowns and wear and tear that comes with overlanding.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have biking goals, does it? The things you’d like to do and experience before shuffling off this mortal coil - a sort of biking Bucket List if you like. Having thought about this for literally minutes, there are a number of interesting, motivating and appealing trips and experiences to consider and tick off – but above all, they need to be achievable. Having already ticked off one that would definitely have appeared on the list (“Nordschliefe” - the Nurburgring northloop), I think my top five would now look something like this:
1. East to West Coast America – The classic trip and the classic way to do this is of course by Harley (once I’d had my jabs). You’d need the available readies to hire a decent bike and get it across the USofA. Unlikely to be particularly cheap, but not hideously expensive either I’d imagine. Whether I’d get the necessary pass from the wife is another matter, of course…
2. Pacific Coast Highway – I love America, and California especially. So riding the length of the PCH (top to bottom, natch) has to be up there in my main biking ambitions. Nice weather, beaches, good roads to cruise on – what’s not to like? Achievable too as I have mates on the West Coast…hmmm…
3. Morocco – A bit closer to home and another classic trip for a lot of bikers. Good weather, good roads, a different continent and culture and all just a short hop from Spain (itself decent biking territory), so eminently do-able.
4. Scandinavia and into Europe - A trip I’d love to do is over to Norway, up the side and around into Sweden, back down to Malmo, across the Öresund bridge to Copenhagen and then home via Germany, Holland etc. Would probably take a week / week and a half or so at a relatively relaxed pace.
5. Around Ireland – Not the greatest of roads in all honesty but the scenery and the craic would more than make up for that. And it’s a nice ride through Snowdonia to get to the Holyhead ferry too…
So there you have it – some nice trips. And I’d like to think that numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 above are all within reach given the right planning and collection of brownie points. [What was that dear…?]
Better get the brownie points stashed with the wife now. They will take more saving than the readies to do any of the trips
ReplyDelete