My request to assist me with advice about what I should do next, drew a few interesting responses on the site, as well as a flurry of emails from my mates from around the world… Thanks for the words of encouragement and the various ideas you put forward… Much appreciated…!
Beach scene in Alexandria... Not a bikini in sight! I am told that the more "private beaches" are where the Egyptians let their hair down...
You have got to be kidding...!! Was this the best place they could find...?
Most of you suggested I get my butt into the saddle and get back on the road as soon as possible… I would dearly love to do this, but after spending a few hours checking distances and routes, I realised that I would not make it up to the same latitude that Venice was on in the same time that it would take to get there by ferry!! I also planned to “winter” in Turkey over December and January, to wait for the snow to melt which will allow me to cross the mountains into Iran early next year. Turkey is a great place to ride in and I had planned to hole up there and do a few “short rides” down to Jordan and Syria from there, as well as try and get out to the parts of central Russia that were not hip deep in snow…!! Riding through there now would mean a MAJOR change in my plans…
Africa seems huge in relation to Europe, and you can travel great distances on the Dark Continent in a single day. While Europe seems a lot smaller, there are far more roads to ride on, and far more towns and cities to ride through, which cuts down the distances you are able to achieve in a day. In Eastern Europe, there are not as many arterial highways as you would expect, and many border crossings thrown in to make things even more tedious…
Khalid and Sami get set to try the prickly pears sold on thr streets of Alexandria...
Taking the route around the Eastern Mediterranean would also mean “rushing it”, and this was one of the things I have tried to avoid on this trip… The only thing that I really need to take into consideration, are the various “weather windows” that might either delay my journey or cause me to change my planned route entirely… Other than that, I have the time to “take it easy”…
A comment from Michel Jongens in Holland, who has ridden his 1200 GS from his home country to Katmandu in Nepal, reminded me that Western Europe can be covered in just a few days, if you hammer along on the main highways that connect Spain to Scandinavia… If push comes to shove, I would do this, but until then, I will keep a very keen eye on weather developments up north…
I would dearly like to ride through the Atlas Mountains in Algeria and Morocco, but have recently discovered that the border between these two countries is still closed, and I would have to take a ferry to Spain from Oran in Western Algeria, and then another back to Morocco to ride there…!! All this would kill off any chance of getting to Norway before the end of August I think…
My best bet is to get to Venice and ride down to join my original route in Spain, and then work my up through Europe, tearing along highways when I need to, but enjoying the countryside when I can…
I received a call a short while ago from a representative of a shipping company here in Alexandria who confirmed that there IS a ferry to Venice tomorrow…! This is the best news I have had in a long time…!! I could be in Venice on the 1st of July!!This takes all the guesswork out of my future plans!
My luck could be changing, and the Egyptians might just be seeing the back of me within the next 24 hours…!!
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