Three years on....and we're off again (almost...)

In 2014 we planned to ride round the world, but health got in the way right at the start line. 
Three years on and we are setting off to try and finish what we started. In between we have ridden from London to Istanbul to reduce the gap and also to St. Petersburg to see a ballet. So we are all a bit older with a few more aches and pains and in the case of the Harley there have been quite a number of replacement parts....but the two of us are still in original, albeit used, condition.

Last week we met up at the Ace with the group we will be meeting up with in Istanbul and riding through to Turkmenistan with. They left last week and are riding to Istanbul from London. We are on our way to Sofia.

So Sofia to Almaty is the plan - via Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The route just about drew itself as we need the tarmac - even though the tarmac is bound to have the odd bump and pot-hole. Maybe even more than the odd one or two bumps and pot-holes.

We had planned to ride through Iran but Mr Trump laid the seeds for that falling apart at the end of 2016 with his presidential plans. President Trump then put the nails in that particular coffin with his 'seven predominantly Muslim states' travel ban. Whether linked or not, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was none too keen on us having visas. So that will have to be for another trip now.

The Harley should be in Sofia now - it left just before Easter in the back of an ubiquitous white van. We are at Heathrow with all our kit ready to rendez-vous at the Harley dealer in Sofia.