scotlandnepal.blogspot.com
Motorbiking to Nepal: February 2006
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Friday, February 24, 2006. Beware, small yappy dogs. Spain was as ruggedly beautiful as I remembered. Arid mountains seem to rise up, seemingly at random, amongst the plains of vine and fruit tree plantations. The remains of moorish forts scatter the landscape like broken teeth on mountainous gums. The dust makes my throat hoarse and chaps my lips. Soon I’m riding through a landscape I’d associate with a Canadian winter, not the south of Spain! The surrounding mountains are wild and unspoilt and for the ...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: The Apennines
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Monday, April 10, 2006. Unfortunately I’ve met no English speakers in Pescasseroli. Because I want someone to ask me what I’m doing there. So I can say: "I’m taking a few days out from my multi-continental motorcycle trip to climb some mountains and go snowboarding." Not so much to impress anyone, just to have the opportunity to say it out loud. The opportunity comes along all too rarely. On Saturday the local ski resort opens and I’m snowboarding again. It has been four or five years, I forget...I think...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: March 2006
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006. The top of the pass afforded fantastic views across to the Atlas and I rattled down the long descent well pleased with the days efforts. Hitting the tarmac again I roared on, jubilant, to Todra Gorge to spend a couple of days relaxing in it’s cool and pleasant depths. From the pass the views were sublime, from 2200m I looked down on the desert and, like with all great vistas, felt purely insignificant. 8217; Then I hit them, and they weren’t too bad. Later in the day I head bac...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: January 2006
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Friday, January 06, 2006. Was it the grizzled German I met in Udaipur in 1992, newly arrived on his dust caked Honda from Iran and Pakistan that inspired this trip? Or finding by chance Chris Scotts' "Desert Biking" tucked in between Lonely Planets in a book shop in Edinburgh? Or numerous Christmas days watching Steve McQueen making a dash for the Swiss border while Gordon Jackson and Dicky Attenborough got pinched on the bus? Number two was a trans-european dash to Slovenia in the same AX with my mate N...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: The End Of The Road
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Thursday, May 25, 2006. The End Of The Road. The roads are good in Iran. And it’s a good thing too, I have just ten days to make it through this country, which means I’ll have to do all of my sightseeing from the saddle of my bike. Escotte-land.” they say and nod. It appears we are famous for two things: whisky and Celtic Football Club. In Mirjaveh I get lost. I know just one thing about Mirjaveh: it has only one hotel. For about half an hour I ride around, realising I am never going to find it b...8220;...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: Turkey 2
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Friday, May 12, 2006. 8217; I mumble happily, ‘Yer actual. 8217; It’s the first time it’s seen such David Beckham style pampering since I left the UK. I turn on the shower to see if it runs asses milk, but no, it’s just steaming, hot water. And, to my surprise, they give me a ten day transit visa, a grin and an ‘Enjoy your trip! I’d been preparing myself to be rejected following the current contretemps over Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, but it would seem not to have been an issue. I couldn't even ...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: Hungary
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Monday, April 17, 2006. Me, trying to liven up the Hungarian landscape with an impression of Al Jolson. 8220;Sorry mate, don’t speak the lingo.”. He pauses and raises an eyebrow. His question is obviously “Where are you from? 8220;British.”. 8220;Ah, one cup of tea please! I laugh. “Yeah that’s right! It seems to be the limit of his English. Still, five more words than I know in Hungarian. He rummages in one of his bags and produces some loose slices of bread, thrusting them at me. The gypsies are soon m...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: From Turkey into Iran
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Thursday, May 25, 2006. From Turkey into Iran. Little can have changed for these people for countless generations. A rest day gives me the opportunity to visit Ishak Pasa Palace, an ancient mosque/fortress/palace/cafeteria complex perched high above the plain in a classic defensive position. It is stunning, both the building and the location, and I rattle off dozens of shots hoping to get a picture that does it justice. That evening I relax in my hotel and prepare for Iran. I have my last beer until ...
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Motorbiking to Nepal: April 2006
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Sunday, April 30, 2006. Your knee and mobıle phone are both fıne, Mr Cartney. The TV doesn’t make me feel much better however, CNN tells me that not only are there riots in Kathmandu and escalating tensions between the UK and Iran, but massive floods are devastating huge tracts of the country south of where I am. Between downpours I go to the Tourist Information office where an excitable wee man tells me that I cannot go to Bulgaria for 30 days and the only way in is through Greece. Coming into Ploiesti ...
