Despite all six of us being in the same room and noise in the corridor all night, we all got a surprisingly good sleep in the truckers cafe and hotel at the Kazakhstan Uzbekistan border. In the morning there were still several pretty girls hanging about trying to give us the eye. No doubt this is a place where some truckers get more than their breakfast when they stop here. The petrol for our bikes finally arrives in the morning and we get our six bikes topped u...

The plan was to do a transit day today of 688 miles and a border crossing. Crazy! So we set off at 550 with no breakfast and make good time. Heading east into the sun but there were some lovely clouds in the way which made the going easier. We had travelled about 250 miles on good roads, avoiding any stops by the police, when we hit the last 50 miles to the Uzbekistan border. My goodness what a bad road. Full of lorries, dust, potholes and occasionally sand. It ...

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 ...

My god we have the best breakfast ever. Everything from Bucks Fizz to hot chicken. Nick and Garry miss breakfast however as they over sleep. We have a scheduled start to leave the hotel should have been 8am but turned out to be nearer to 845 due to Nick oversleeping! Our 350 miles today was mostly on back roads through rural Russia. Lot of farming in giant fields growing everything from cereals to potatoes. Lots of big machinery to do this but we occasionally ca...