Well, it had to happen didn’t it?  The two geriatrics are at it again. Four and a half years older, considerably greyer and certainly none the wiser.

August 1 2009 we should be on the ferry, Hull to Zebrugge, this time the ultimate destination hopefully, will be Bhutan.

The Long Way Home trip we had done in 2005 to Mongolia and back was meant to be the ‘trip of a lifetime’, but all it did was start an itch that neither of us could scratch – wanderlust. We could quite happily have carried on travelling were it not for family commitments and a shortage of the stuff that makes the world go round – Money!

So here we are, another bite of the cherry, a chance to leave the comfort zone behind and prove to ourselves that being 60 is no detriment to adventure.

The Proposed Route.

After a photo session at Wunderlich headquarters in Germany we shall head south through Italy to Greece and Turkey. Crossing Iran and Pakistan we enter India 30km east of Lahore and head straight to Nepal. Ideally we will be able to reach the Himalayas by the end of September and spend some time in both Nepal and Bhutan before heading south into India again before the snow chases us out of the mountains.

The return route is open to speculation.

If the political situation is stable Mick would love to explore Afghanistan and spend more time in Pakistan and Iran.
There could be the option to catch a boat from Mumbai to Oman and return through the Arab states or perhaps into Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt

If the previous trip is anything to go by, no doubt the way home will be twice the length of the outward journey!

Sue

What can I say? Thanks Sue ... I couldn’t have said it any better.

For the second trip of a lifetime we are on different machines.  Sue’s old F650GS was later to be written off in a head on collision in Belgium, Sue being lucky to suffer only a broken wrist.  When I returned to the scene I thought she had been killed.  My ‘old’ F650GS Dakar was later sold to make room for a new ‘bike.

For this trip Sue will be on a 2006 registered 250cc single cylinder Yamaha TTR250R

I will be riding the BMW F800GS. The German company Wunderlich, who specialize in after market parts for BMW’s, are again helping us for our ‘Long Way Home II’.  Several of our photographs of the last trip appear in their latest catalogue.

There are no time constraints for this trip and as Sue says, the return journey will probably be much longer than the outward.  We intend to take our time and savour the experience.  It was the people we met along the way that made the last trip an absolute delight and we hope this trip will be no different.

While we share responsibility for the organization and planning, Sue is mostly busy doing the homework re visa’s, carnets and border crossings, while I’m skinning my knuckles getting the bike’s prepared.  I know my place ;-))

Bike and document preparation updates to follow...

As per the last trip my brother Dave up on Fairisle will be updating the site so, please keep looking in on us from time to time for up to date information on where we are and how we’re doing.  It would be good to hear from you.

Mick