We got a little mixed up with Customs, but Thanks to Yuri Melnikov @links-ltd.com all went smoothly to get the bike from the customs house. Fortunately there was no damage after its 43 day shipping journey from Auckland and I was very happy that at last the trip could soon begin.

This is Michael from the 81 Club, These guys were very kind, had a great clubhouse with a gym a kitchen a bar and a stage, They have friends all over the world.

They do weights and keep really fit, Something to do with their sex lives, maybe but it seems to me they have a pretty good time in Vladivostok, and it was nice to see that they are all friends who like bikes and being just a little different from the norm.
I got on well with them and wished I could have had more time with them, but I had to collect my bike from the customs tomorrow and hopefully get on my way

Igor gave me a great time looking around Vladivostok, which I thought was a very vibrant city, Ther ladies wern't bad either. It was a modern place with many new buildings, but miles away from the capital in Moscow ,  (9866 kilometres) anyway. I had better make a start and see what Easter Russia and Siberia have to offer,

So till the next bit,

Paul.

 Hi my friends,

i have to slow down, I did'nt expect to get so far, so fast. So will have 4day's here in Ulan Ude before heading to Mongoila. Bike is going well, but I want to adjust the rear shock to be stiffer, Nice brand new hostel at Rub 600 a night, $20nz, £10uk called the PEAK Hotel as it's on top of a hill from the centre of town, Took some photo's of people getting married at Lenin's statue, very hot here at over 30 Deg C. So hope you get the pic's.

Paul.

Here in Ulan Ude it is plain to see that the Russian people honour their past, and so they should

This is typical of the roads and scenery you get in Siberia, The weather was good but you could not take the road surfaces for granted. Some parts of the road are very good, then you may get 50 or 100 Kilomertres of very rough roads indeed, but mostly I enjoyed them.

I have to admit that Russia was a second choice to the planned trip from Cape town to the UK,

But when hostilities broke out in Egypt, Sudan, libya, and Tunisia, I guess common sense had to prevail. So planing this trip for six monthes and spending a few dollars on visa's became a bit of a waste of money.

Never mind I always wanted to visit Russia at some point inmy life and this was a good oppertunity. So all change and a new set of arrangements were to be made.

I was able to get a letter of invitation from a very helpful lady at OSTWEST . com.

Her name is Natalia Berezina and applied for my business visa. I was happy to say that nice Mr Putin allowed me my visa Russia, to which I am very grateful.

After taking one step at a time I eventually got all my paperwork in place. Then it was time to put my NZ house on the market and ship the trusty BMW to Vladivostok, forty three days before I fly out myself.

With a lot of luck the house sold, just in time, and it was my turn to fly to Vladivostok and hopefully meet my bike there. I arrived at 1.05am and was lucky enough to meet Igor, who had also been in touch with my German friends Helmut and Bettina, who I had met on my UK to NZ trip in Malaysia and who I had travelled with through Indonesia with, a great couple of long distant Bikers who I respect very much,

You can catch their adventures on (timetoride.de) currently in South America.

Igor was a great help with his son Max who could both speak a bit of English. I think I would have been lost without them.

Anyway, after a few days I had recieved my BMW from Customs, thanks to Yuri Melnikov at links-ltd.com. Igor showed me around Vladivostok, and had a meeting with the local 81 club, who were very kind to me offering food and drink and somewhere to stay if I needed it.

Vladivostok was great and Russian women there are very attractive.

So now the trip really starts.

Paul.

Having got through most of Siberia and now just outside Chita, I decided to stay here overnight for a little luxury, even though I did feel very rough. A couple of days previous I had witnessed a terrible accident between a truck and a car. The two sides of the car were touching each other with what looked like two remains of people inside. The Police where there, but it had only just happened. I rode on another couple of kilometres but my mind was not concentrating on the road, and was feeling light headed, I had been camping and staying in some rough old roadhouses, but when I did get to Chita I spoiled myself

This Hotel was just what I wanted at the time so I could clear my head.

Hey guys,

just to say i missed a bit about Mongolia where the radiator blew on the bike, miles from anywhere, with a few pictures of Gengis Kahn at the place he was born, and the capital city of Ulaan Bataar where a military parade was taking place, Anyway if you can fit them in Great but if not no problems. The Gengis Kahn statue was amazing, and I had never seen anything quite like it, as well as the roads, Horrendous, I had never seen anything like it, but still here to tell the tale.

Paul.

 The story continues for me at Igor's home town of Krasnoyarsk. The roads to here have been very bumpy and covered with black wet tar, which was very hard to clean off. The radiator repair seems to be ok and the bike is going well. Beautiful country around lake Baikal with the mountains in the background but some of the roadworks are very bad. Rode for 600 kilometres one day to make up some ground, staying in sort of American type 1950's style roadhouse's. Has all you want, including sauna's which is nice after a long day. Food is a guessing game unless I can see it. Had a few issues with Igor, nice guy, but put me in a very difficult and dangerous situation, very dangerous, which I can only tell you about later. So now I have to part company with Igor and I will be happier I think, so a couple of pictures to keep you up to date.

 Look after yourselves,

Paul.

Hey guys,

just to say that I've enjoyed a bit of Russian Camping. I decided not to go through Yekaterinburg to Perm and Kazan, but to head south for a view of the Ural mountains to Chelyabinsk and cross from there. The road's are not good at all and I have just reached the 10,000 Kilometre distance since the trip began, From the turn off south at Yekaterinburg to the dual carriageway to Chelyabinsk was very bumpy indeed. You had to keep your eyes wide open for pot holes.

Then about two thirds the way to Chelyabinsk I noticed a camping sign, so decided to give it a try. It was by a lake with a few, what some might call cabin's but I would rather use my tent. I was the only person there apart from the caretaker, who laughted when I offered him money, So I guess it's free. A few things to look at on the bike including a clatter when I hit large bumps. The bike was filthy and had to be cleaned first so the lake is handy, also for a bath.

Descovered the clatter was from the bottom of the rear shock, Where it fits to has a needle bearing which had collapsed.

Fortunately, I have a spare arm, (see picture) as this takes all the weight of me and the bike, so I fitted it at the camp site.

Other things about Russia. People are very helpful, Women are stunning, and very friendly, Food always served on a side plate, (Odd) Sceanery more like Europe from Tomsk, and I'm now in Sim the European side of the Urals, The bike is clean again and the clatter is gone, so all is well, By for now, Paul.

Hey guys,

I've slowed down and just outside of Kazan, where I had a good look around. It's a magic place with a lot of history. The Capital of the Tatar area, and the local people call it a republic, a place where east meet's west including religions, there is a Mosque and an orthodox church within it's own Kremlin. The Volga river is huge, but I could'nt stop on the bridge to film it.

I'm staying in a roadhouse for a couple of day's as I'm ahead of myself and plan a few days in Moscow before heading to Latvia, where I will have to get my lap-top to work again, and this time a phone. The road's are bumpy, but they are doing a lot of work to improve them. The weather is very hot, and I have just tightened up a few nut's and bolts to keep the bike together, and me together.

Stay safe,

Paul

There were some wonderful buildings to be found in Russia. This one in Suzdal about a days ride East of Moscow. Suzdal was estblished as a major religious place of learning and a capital when Moscow was just a few cow sheds in a field.

Well finally got to Moscow, and in a rather expensive hotel, (Holiday Inn) a few kilometres from the Kremlin. Think it's worth the extra money than strugle from outside of the city. Got lost on the underground going in and coming back, Could find nothing in English to help so just ask and I was re-directed a few times but found my way back ok. The weather is very hot and everything here is in a holiday mood. I've not seen much about international new's and sometimes I don't want to, but the Air crash was very sad for everyone envolved. I've only got up to date since I came to this hotel.

I want to have more of a look about tomorrow before heading toward's Latvia on Saturday.

I get the impression that Moscow is doing quite well.

A little problem with the trusty Beemer! A radiator sensor is not working and I need it in dence traffic, when everything get's very hot. The fan does work so I hotwired it to a switch on the handlebar's for the time being. When I get out of Moscow I will remove the petrol tank and check a few connections, as it has happened before,

Well that's it from sunny Moscow, so here are a few Pic's of Red Square.

Paul.

Hello guys,

I'm so pleased my Malaysian phone worked with the new sim card for Euroland, but had no Idea that Lithuania, Poland and the Czech republic had there own money, which was a little embarrasing when I fill with petrol for the first time, Still the credit card worked, so I was fine.

Had a great time in Riga, very hot weather 32 deg'sC and riding through Lithuania and now Poland was 35 deg's yesterday, which is a little too hot for me. Beautiful countryside though, but had another problem with burning wires under the seat, So replaced them once again, Also fitted new spark plug's, now the bike is running well again.

So here is some pictures of the Riga camp site and the old city, it was very nice. I also met couple from Germany on a BMW R100/7 I think, with 270,000 kilometre's on the clock. Christian had bought it from new in 1978, Amazing.

Paul.

 Hey my friends,

my ride with friend's, Alan and John was a great way to finish the Europe part of the East / West journey. It was nice to have riding companions to double back to the Czech Republic to watch the Brno Moto GP, we stayed in a small village 15 kilometres south of the race track at Vojkovice, which was very nice. The race day was crazy with 130,000 bike mad fan's jammed into the track, and to see Mark Marquez defeted for the first time this year was very exciting.

Then the ride back to the UK was also very nice once we were back in Austria and Bavaria, The sceanery is stunning with small villages scattered among the beautiful rolling countryside, We had a couple of nights stay in Europe.

The last stop was at the famous Nurbourgring race curcuit. As soon as we arrived we went to the old GP race track and paid 27 Euro's each to ride the track that had seen so much action with the most famous drivers of all time. The curcuit twist's and turns up and down for it's 23 Kilometer distance, and even with my rather older F650 BMW managed to have a spirited ride around,

IT HAD TO BE DONE.

By this time I was feeling very apprehensive about returning to the UK, and it had shown up as being very negative to my friend's, and was told so in no uncertain way, Then I felt that I may have put a damper on their holiday in Europe. I hope that was not the case and appologised, as best I could. so had to keep my feeling's to myself.

From the Nurbourgring we passed through another famous racetrack at the Belgium curcuit at Spa, where we hoped to pick up a programe for the following weekend's F! Grand Prix, but there was no way we could get in, So on to Calais to catch our Chunnel crossing to Folkstone, UK where we had a B&B to stay.

It was there where I had an e-mail from a friend from where I used to work at Bath University, with a chance of a job, So I arranged to see them when I arrived in the area.

The ride from Folkstone to the West country started off fine but as we travelled west it became cold and wet. The poor old bike was reaching speed's of 120 / 140 Kl per hour, and I was just hoping nothing would go wrong.

Once we got to Bristol, We split up and went our own way's. I think we all had a good time despite the doubts I had about the UK. I did visit the University on my way to my brother Mike's house, and who knows, their could be a job going for 12 monthes, which will be a nice way to settle back into UK life.

Nice to get back and see the remainder of the family and stay a couple of days before the final ride to the West at St David's on the South Wales west coast, where I will have reached my final Western point and finish off this amazing ride with a little drink or two.

We are not quite finished yet but.

Special thank's to all the wonderful people who helped make this trip so memorable, Especially Igor, Family and friend's, who showed me thing's I'd never thought I would see or do in Russia.

Sergey Melnikov for custom's clearence, My Biker friend's in Vladivostok for their hospitality,

and to my fellow traveller's from my last trip, who put this whole website together,

Helmut and Bettina (www.timetoride.de), Fantastic people.

Not forgetting my trusty 1999 BMW F650, now with 223,000 Kilometres under it's wheels and 1 1/2 times around the Globe, amazing.

I hope some benefit will be made for my chosen charity MOTORCYCLE OUTREACH Started by a very brave and thoughtful young man Simon Milward.

They do Great work, saving lives for the less fortunate. PLEASE TRY TO HELP

Paul.

Hello Guys,

Nice to hear from you, Just a quick reply, and pictures to follow soon. We got to the UK yesterday and travelled to the west country along the M4 motorway. Nice to be back, I think as it's bloody cold. I will let you know if I stay in 12 months time. I had an e-mail from the Bath University where I used to work, asking me to call in, so I did on the way back to my brothers place where I am now. There was no work a few weeks ago, but something has come up and they want me to apply for this job in the engineering workshop, So I will and see what happens, they know my work as I have done many projects for them before. I won't know until mid September.

Moto GP was great, I really enjoyed it, and can these boy,s eat. They eat more in one day than I do in a week, I think my problem is getting better as I don't need the loo so much, Anyway you don't want to know my hassles.

I have to finish the ride at St David's in South Wales, the furthest West point of the UK, Then find somewhere to live.

Will keep in touch, best Wishes to you all,

Paul.

 Hello guys,

Now I can say that the East to West trip across Russia to West United Kingdom has come to an end at St Davids in South Wales, with four wonderful camping days to finish the journey.

St Davids is the smallest city in the United Kingdom and set in a beautiful area by the coast. First settled in 519AD as a monastery called Tyddewi, meaning St David's after the Archbishop.

Plundered by Vikings in 1087 and so on, with far more to mention than I have room for.

So with an almost empty campsite I walked to the furthest part of my travels to watch the sunset go down into the sea and reflect on the end of a dream that did come true.

The bike has been simply fantastic, and my only advice for looking after vehicles is change the oil regularly.

With this final journey I estimate that the total Kilometres travelled is 18630,

Problems were as listed:

- Split radiator, repaired with Plastic Metal. Still working today.

- Burnt out voltage regulator wires, Two times. Replaced wires

Burnt out " " Connector box Two times, Removed connector box, wired individually and improved cooling with a fitted hose from outside the seat to Voltage Regulator

- Broken pivot rising link bearings at base of the rear shock. Replaced with spare arm.

- Failed Radiator Fan heat sensor, Made up manual ON/OFF switch.

So as far as I can remember that was all the major problems I had, all fixable, thank goodness.

So that's all for now, Have to work for a living again and maybe another trip, WHO KNOWS

Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Paul.