Singapore to Ireland
From Asia to Europe by Motorcycle
The Project
I am riding a motorcycle from Singapore to Ireland in support of the Lotus Children’s Centre in Mongolia.
Read more about the work of Lotus and my route on the About & Donate pages.
You can support the children of Lotus and my ride across Asia and Europe, by making a donation to Lotus Children’s Centre through Virgin Money giving.
Thank you for your support.
17th July 2014 21-29’C 306km Usharal – Taldykorgan The ride today took me through more desert, although the views were magnificent to the East, where the huge snow covered mountain range, stretched along the Kazakhstan/Chinese border. I rode into Taldykorgan just on lunchtime. The first three hotels I tried were nice, but way beyond the budget. I spotted what looked like a family hotel, and was greeted warmly with “assalamu aleykum” as I rode into the driveway. The hotel…
16th July 2014 12-29’C 540km Oskemen – Ayagoz – Usharal It was raining and cool as I left Oskemen in the morning, stopping briefly to see the mosque and fill up with fuel. The target destination for the day was Ayagoz, about 300km south. The road was atrocious, the tar surface giving the appearance it was suitable for fast speeds, but random potholes, some huge and very deep would appear frequently. Worse still were the strange upside down speedhumps that had formed in the road, every few…
15the July 2014 19-30’C 282km Rubtsovsk – Oskemen (Kazakhstan) I’d left the window to the hotel room open last night, to afford some cool, fresh air. The street behind the hotel was a dead end, so the was little chance of being disturbed by traffic. What I had not counted on, was a huge blowfly, flying into my ear at 5am and awaking me with what felt like a hammer drill on stone cold tiles. There was little point trying to…
14th July 2014 19’C 320km Barnaul – Pospelikha – Rubtsovsk I left Barnaul at 930am, stopping briefly for fuel before continuing down the Russian A349 towards Rubtsovsk. The road was smooth, flat and generally pretty boring, although the fields of sunflowers were very nice to ride by. After a cheap but disappointing lunch in Pospelikha, I rode the last 100km into Rubtsovsk. I did three circuits around the hotel before I was able to find the entrance, and even then, still had to…
13th July 2014 31’C 0km by bike Barnaul Today I had assigned myself a rest day, although only a rest from riding, as there was much administration to do. I started the day with a bit of work on the bike. Now that it was semi-clean, I could look it over for problems and make sure I hadn’t lost or damaged anything in the 3500km offroad in Mongolia. First priority was to fix the fan, which had jammed. A known problem…
12th July 2014 31-41’C 182km Biysk – Barnaul The road from Biysk to Barnaul was like a freeway for most of the ride. Boring. It was hot, flat and there was fairly heavy traffic, although most of it going the opposite direction to me, thankfully. That said, the overtaking was a little bit frightening, as there are a mixture of left-hand & right-hand drive cars in Russia. So when a right-hand drive car wants to overtake, he needs to pull…
11th July 2014 22-34’C 248km Artibach – Biysk Heading out from Artibach, I made a last minute decision to take a back road, over the mountains to Biysk. The ride was great for the first hour, weaving along next to the river, before it degenerated into a road made from river stones. The road was wide, but deep, round, river pebbles had been laid down as the surface, and it was hard work for 110km before a normal country road reappeared,…
9th July 2014 28-30’C 123km Ust-Sema – Катунь (Katun) I woke up at 11:30am, sporting a vicious hangover from the festivities of the night before and the overflowing Russian vodka. Although the very kind owner of the property had foreseen that I would feel like this, and immediately put a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of me, indicating that chicken soup is THE remedy for Russian vodka induced hangovers. It certainly helped, and the kind hospitality is really amazing. By the time I’d…
10th July 2014 30’C 206km Катунь (Katun) – Lake Teletskoe After a good night’s sleep, I woke to the sound of the river cascading past the rocks. A quick Russian breakfast of sausages, eggs & potatoes, with tea and bilini, and I was back on the road. Riding to Lake Teletskoe was a joy, a fast, winding country road. I have not had a road like this since southern China, Yunnan, and I had to refresh my cornering skills after so…
8th July 2014 11-25’C 422km Kosh-Agach – Ust Sema Riding out of Kosh-Agach, I was soon in the magnificent countryside. It snowed on the peaks last night, which further enhanced the beauty of the mountains. The roads now in Russia are fantastic, smooth tarmac, a complete change from the last 3000km in Mongolia. It is fascinating that the border between Mongolia and Russia also marks a significant change in the landscape. Down this side of the mountain pass, the scenery is classically Russian. …
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