NZ to UK 2004

The America's

The first time I have to trust the machine that I'd hope would get me to the UK,

With 93000 kilometres on the clock already what are the chances?

The beginning of the South America to the UK trip did not start at the best 5 star hotel, However this hostel was full of fellow travellers, and even though cramped it was good fun.

Anyway, it was only for sleeping and much more interesting looking around Santiago City.

This is just outside Santiago city on the Pan Americano highway heading north to Toronto in Canada with 18000 miles to go.

Just love riding in the desert, As the day progreses the colours change during the day as the tempretures became much hotter.

The Atacama national park, where it has not rained to over thirty years, The dryest place on Earth was like riding on the moon, I loved it, and as the day progressed also did the colours change. I was Fascinated with this desert, probably because I've not ridden in one before, just a wonderful experience I'll not forget

Once you are on the Pan Americano Highway, the sights you came across never ceased to amaz me.

Just a few kilometres off the main highway were these amazing sand dunes, but to get the best view you just had to climb up them and take a few pictures. The sun was just starting to go down which helped you to escape from the heat. It was a great day.

Climbing into the Andes was a breath of fresh air, even thogh you had to be careful of the pot holes and the odd family of Lamas that might get in your way. The sights were just what I was hoping for and even though I was a little nervous travelling alone, all the sights I had seen so far had been worth all the planning and paperwork to get here, It was so far so very good, and now I can relax a little, The bike was going OK and I was feeling very happy with myself.

Lake Titicaca was a place that was the calm before the storm on the way from La Paz in Bolivia, to Cuzco in Peru, where I was brought to a temporary halt as well as maybe a hundred tour buses just outside Juliaka due to the local townsfolk fixing a barrier across the only road north in the mountains made from rocks burning tyres and anything else that they could find to stop the traffic. I stopped to speak to a bus driver who said that I might stand a small chance of getting through should I speak to the right person in charge.

I must have ridden almost two kilometers to the head of the queue. and rode up to some of the elders who looked like they were in charge. I thought that if I moved a few rocks and some of the burning tyres that I could just get through, but on the other side of the barricade were a lot of broken bottles and glass all over the road. This must have been going for quite a time, from what I could see.

The old guys could see that I was alone and no thret to anybody, So I just said that I was a simple tourist and pointed to the Barricade and tried to look sorry for myself. I knew that If I cant get through today, it would be a two day return trip to get back to the coastal Pan Americano Highway.

One of the old men just grunted at me, Is that a yes? I wondered.

So bugger it, I had nothing to lose by giving it a try. I rode up to the barrier, kicked some of the tyres out the way taking a quick look at the situation behind me, and it looked as nobody was about to stop me.

I then took my panniers off the bike to lighten it up, started the engine and stood up on the pegs,(Trials like) and picked a way over the barricade, much to the delight of the local kids, They even brought my panniers over the rocks and burning tyres to help me. I put them back on waved to the old men and kids and rode on through the town, trying to miss as much broken gass as possible. Apart from having a few stones thrown at me I got to the other side of the village only to find another Barricade stopping traffic heading south with busses as far as I could see.

Some of the kid's from the frist barricade ran after me and told the elders at this barrier that I could go through, Some of the old guys were very drunk but they invited me to try and get over there barrier if I could, So the same thing happened once again, where my bit of off road riding came in handy, I even got a round of applause when I stumbled over the rocks.

So I put my panniers back on, waved to what was a small crowd and took off toward Cuzco, saving myself a lot of time.

Wish I could have taken a picture of the barricade, but I think I would have been pushing my luck a little in that touchy situation.

Cuzco, a very busy city that is the gateway to the home of the Inca's high in the Andes

Some of the best rides of the trip were in Peru, I loved being up in the Andes. This is the road from the top of the Andes to the coast, with very few cars and traffic to be seen was just great. The only problem was there was also no petrol pumps to be seen either, so once on the way down I managed to coast about 35 kilometres, from almost 5000 metres above sea level and just got to Nazca with vapour in the tank.