We should be travelling from Bishkek to Semey both in Kazakhstan but have heard that the road is bad due to construction work, so we find another route north which adds extra kms but is going to be easier going. Our destination is Balkhash, about 400 miles. The road is mainly boring desert stuff but we do encounter herds of cattle, goats, horses and camels, which appear to be wild. On the way out of Almaty, John jumped a red light light and got stopped by the...

We continue today in Kazakhstan travelling from Balkhash to Pavlodar, a massive 500 miles. Breakfast is served at 530am - cold fried eggs and spam - better than nothing I guess! We leave at 6am and by 1000am we have covered over 200 miles. Pretty good desert roads and a bit over the speed limit most of the time. Soup and a cup of tea in a truckers cafe and we continue to make excellent progress until the last 50 miles or so into Pavlodar, where there is road co...

I often have to pinch myself to realise that things I am doing are real. I guess most in the Western world have never been to Kazakhstan. Well for me it is real and I am here at the moment. Not only here but riding a motorbike across one of its deserts. How fortunate is that. Since I started biking 8 years ago, I have seen so much of the world. Our today's journey takes us from Uralsk south to Atyrau through a desert for most of the way. Our speed was very seda...

It should have been a relatively easy 300 mile day but turned out to be longer than expected. We leave Saratov in the sunshine, quite warm already and eventually find our way out of the city. Roads are very good for a start but turn into a bone shaking exercise for most of the 150 miles to the Kazakhstan border crossing. A mixture of badly patched road and potholes certainly keeps us awake. The poor bikes take a real pounding. A delight on the way was to stop at ...