Thassos Island, Greece

Well, what a wonderful little piece of paradise Thassos is! We arrived here by ferry from the Greek mainland two days ago and have been camping  by the seaside at "Golden Beach" - pretty basic facilities but what a location! Huge mountains just rise out of the sea and form a backdrop to the azure blue Agean.

Waiting for the ferry

On the (quite luxurious) ferry to Thassos

(Marcel, ?, Warwick, Jim)

On top of the mountain, Thassos

Southern-most tip of Thassos, looking West

Southern -most tip of Thassos - Archangel Monastery perched on a cliff

Regrettably two of our group have decided to pull out and we are now down to 17 riders plus support car. It happened on the run from Gallipoli to Alexandropolous in Greece when a series of mishaps with a couple of bikes was the straw that broke the camel's back.



One of the bikes has been cannabilised for parts and the other has been bequeathed to another rider who will store it here at a mechanic's workshop in Thassos and return for it sometime in the future.

Today we head off for Thessalonika on the mainland via the Kavala ferry.

Weather has been perfect (fortunately) - even went for a swim yesterday.

Bike is going OK except for the weeping oil from the RH tappet cover. Periodically I transfer some spilled oil to my left boot to match up the shine.

At Gallipoli

Two days ago we took the ferry from Istanbul to Mudyana then rode 300 km east to Cannakale on the Dardanelles Strait. Major problems with my bike - both carburettors not delivering enough fuel, fuel cock starving the carburettors and oil leaking from the right hand tappet cover all over my boot (not a great problem, they looked very shiny at the end of the trip) and the brake pedal (major problem - it became very slippery). But I wasn't Robinson Crusoe! We've probably been lulled into a false sense of security over the last few days - thinking that we're on top of the problems with the bikes - but everyone was snapped back into reality by a series of major setbacks. That included the Leader's bike breaking down and being towed for the last 600 km!!

Waiting to board the ferry at Istanbul. They loaded us last!

But most of the bike problems have been fixed and everyone has made it to Kum on the Gallipoli Peninsula. We're camped on the beach just south of ANZAC Cove and today I rode around Lone Pine, ANZAC Cove and Helles Point in perfect weather, This is only the second time I've erected the tent so it's good to get some use out of it,

Camping at Kum

A common scene - fixing bikes

Off to Greece tomorrow - and our final border crossing, back into the European Union. We should make Alexandropoulis which will mean mixing it with city traffic. Istanbul wasn't the nightmare everyone was expecting. Or maybe we're just getting used to muscling our way through.....

Istanbul

Enjoyed a day in Istanbul and took in the Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia, Topkapi and the Grand Bazaar where I found a bolt to secure the left fork on the motorbike (not a very romantic purchase when you consider the fabulous range of carpets, artefacts and jewellery on sale in this fabulous city but a very necessary one).

Graham Nugent and his motorbike - on the way to Istanbul

The Blue Mosque - fabulous piece of architecture

Interior of the Blue Mosque

Entrance to Topkapi Palace Museum

Fitted the new bolt and jump-started the motorbike only to discover that it's running on one cylinder only. Our resident mechanic says he'll have a look at it on the ferry ride to Mudyana tomorrow morning. I hope I make it to the ferry terminal (fortunately, it's a down hill run!).

After Mudyana it's a 200 km run to Cannakale where we'll spend the night before heading off to Gallipoli. Two nights are planned there before we head for Alexandropoulis in Greece.

The adventure continues.

Made it to Istanbul

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 The Romanian Orthodox church at Falticeni

Just arrived at Nesebar, Bulgaria

There have been some problems with "Blogger" and this blog hasn't been available for a few days. Hopefully the system has been restored.

The group arrived in Istanbul today (15 May) after riding through Romania and Bulgaria over the last week or so. Thirty-five hours were spent at the Ukraine/Romania border crossing as a result of Ukrainian obfuscation. I got through to the Romanian side of the border at 2.30 am and rode through the dark and the rain to a small hotel where I couldn't wake the owner so camped on the front step until a few more bikes arrived an hour and a half later which aroused the owner. He was such a charming gentleman - didnt mind getting woken up in the early hours of the morning and in fact opened the bar at 4.00 am!

Romania was just wonderful! Beautiful countryside, friendly, helpful people, good food and cheap prices. The Romanians are the stand-out people so far on this trip - courteous, welcoming and go out of their way to help you. Bulgaria was also interesting and the historic town of Nesebar was well worth visiting. We stayed in a luxury hotel right on the beach and were permitted the luxury of two nights there.

The bike on the ferry across the Danube in Romania

John and Jim on arrival Nesebar, Bulgaria

Byzantine church at Nesebar

Nesebar street/quay scene

Problems with the bikes persist. Lang Kidby's (the leader's) bike has been towed by his wife in the little 1200cc support van for the last two days. Yesterday Bev, (Lang's wife), towed two bikes behind the van for most of the day - a highly stressful experience for tower and towee(s). My bike generally runs well but yesterday coming over the mountains in Bulgaria to the Turkish border the road was so rough that the left-hand fork bolt lost its nut and I managed to strip the thread on the tappet cover holding stud. Both problems were fixed using wire found on the side of the road. Other riders weren't so lucky and repairs were necessary before half the crew could proceed today.

We stayed at Kirklareni in Turkey last night after a long wait at the Turkish border (three hours) but not as long as the Ukrainian border (35 hours).  The run into Istanbul today was routine as Turkish roads are the best we have experienced so far. Traffic in Istanbul was hectic of course (7 million people live here) and out hotel took some finding! Negotiating narrow streets and steep hills in the area around the hotel was difficult with the added risk of burning out a clutch should you have to stop on a steep slope.

However the Blue Mosque is just around the corner and the area of our hotel is well served by restaurants and bars. Just what we need after a long day's ride.

On the road

Ready to roll!

Roadside repairs (a familiar sight)

Negotiating oil supplies with the locals

Ukraine monastery near Levitch

Have been on the road for three days and it's been an experience! Numerous breakdowns along the way have tested the mechanical skills of riders and the resources of the backup crew. Driving a fully laden Dnpr motorbike and left-mounted sidecar hasn't been as difficult as I imagined - except for downhill turns to the right where the machine would prefer to go straight. We're at Kamjanets Podilsky in Southern Ukraine and will move on to Chernivtsi this afternoon. 

Change of Route!

Because of the increasing unrest in Syria, we have had to abandon the route through Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. We'll still go to Turkey but after Istanbul will head west back through Greece to the Balkans - Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Italy and ship the bikes out of Genoa. Now we're in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, where the bikes are still being prepared and it may yet be a few days before all are ready. But the weather is fine, the hotels are good and cheap, the food is delicious and the Georgian red wine is superb! Having been to the Middle East before (albeit thirty-one years ago) I'm not all that disappointed with the change of route. I've never been along the Dalmatian Coast and eveyone I've spoken to has praised it.

The Reconnaissance Run 2010

 John Salter

 Lang Kidby

Sasha and Nadia

In June 2010, Lang Kidby, the organiser of the the Great Sidecar Adventure, and John Salter (both of whom I went to high school with 50 years ago!) set off on a trial run of restored Dnpr MB650 motorbikes and sidecars together with Sasha, the mechanic, and his wife, Nadia. Travelling through the Ukraine for a week, they covered 1500 km on the machines and enjoyed themselves doing it.  At the end of the trial, Lang gave the green light to Sasha to acquire another 17 machines for the rest of us.

Bikes before restoration

The machines have been acquired from various sources including the military and have been progressively stripped down, reconditioned, modified and repainted to the colour of our choice.