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  Bournemouth - Torrevieja 2009

  Gary 20:44 on September 15, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), BT2009 (24), Motorcycling (12), Preparation (23), Travel

  Ok, Ian and Claire are now married and on their honeymoon (congratulations guys) and with best man duties aside this means one thing; we have three weeks until we leave Bournemouth and set off for Torrevieja!

  The plan is to leave our home town of Bournemouth on Friday the 2nd October 2009 at around 14:00 (if I can somehow convince Kev to let me leave work early) travelling to our only pre-booked accommodation of the trip; a B&B in Dover. After spending the night in Dover we’ll be up early to catch our ferry at 07:45 that will take us from Dover to Boulogne, France. We’ll arrive in Boulogne around 09:45 local time (BST+1) where we plan on riding along the northern coastline to Le Havre and from this point onwards we have no idea where we’ll be heading each day or where we’ll be spending each night. All we know is that we want to travel down the west coast of France so that we can cross the Pyrenees from west to east visiting Andorra on the way and then head down the east coast of Spain towards our destination villa in Torrevieja, apart from that we have no planned route. With all of that in mind I’ve done my best to do a rough outline of the way we’ll be travelling so you can at least try and get an idea of our trip in your head.

  

  It’s approximately 1,600 miles from Bournemouth to Torrevieja using this rough route so at ~250 miles a day we should be there in about a week (unless I decide to keep riding the Pyrenees the entire trip)! We’ll be tweeting and posting short blog posts as we go to keep you all up-to-date with where we are and what we’re doing (depending on Wi-Fi coverage) and we’ll also be keeping daily budget and mileage logs to write up when we get back. If you’d like to talk to us while we’re away the best way to do contact us is by tweeting @sgtbeardy or @gendouglas or simply replying to our posts on here; we’d love to hear from you when we’re on the road!

  Expect a few updates over the coming weeks as we get all of our equipment and our bikes ready for our first big adventure! Three weeks and counting…

   

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  Climbing the Pike - Day 2

  Gary 07:47 on June 12, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Bikes (13), Motorcycling (12), Scafell Pike (6), Three Peaks (4), Travel, Trip Report (8), Walking (4)

  Sunday was the day of our climb up Scafell Pike, the second mountain of our three peak (in 24 months) challenge. Kev started his morning at 05:30 and with the lack of a 20p decided to start this morning with a rather cold shower, whilst I on the other hand, was fast asleep until Kev woke me at 07:00, I do love my ability to sleep in pretty much any condition sometimes.

  The shop on the campsite opened at 08:00 but of course, as always, I was impatient and didn’t want to wait 15 minutes so we set off at 07:45 with nothing more than a few litres of water, four Tracker bars and a Kendal mint cake to keep us going; the diet of champions. The walk started off pretty much at sea level (I think it was around 35m) with a water crossing via some stepping stones. After the first water crossing the rest of the ascent was pretty much a non-stop uphill climb, not too steep, but it was definitely steep enough for my liking. The path up is rather uneven, lots of rocks sticking up at awkward angles just waiting for you to make a wrong move, the higher you get the rockier and more uneven the path becomes.

  

  Once we got higher up the mountain (~800m+) the cloud started moving in around us and we began to feel a few drops of rain, it was nothing major though and we carried on without any problems. Once you get to the top of the last scramble there is a large cairn marking the way forwards, it was noticeably cold and windy at this point and there was even patches of snow lying around, incredible! We followed the now unrecognisable path up to the summit, we had made it to the top and how lucky we were to have made it up there during a gap in the traffic; at that moment in time we were the sole victors of the mountain, we alone had conquered her and for a few minutes we alone could now sit back and enjoy the views as a reward for our efforts thus far.

  

  The original intention was to climb the pike, and then walk back to the pub in a circular walk via “the corridor” route on the way back, this sounded great but unfortunately a few wrong turns and a very bad decision later, our plan of a gentle descent turned into a potentially dangerous and painful experience for us both…

  

  As the track log from my GPS shows, after we came back from the summit to the crossroads, we climbed the hill to the north, however, at this point we should’ve been going downhill in a more north-easterly direction heading for the gap or “corridor” (who’d have thought the name of the route would resemble the route itself) between the two hills/mountains there. Instead of sitting down and taking a good look at the OS map we decided to trust my GPS and started walking back towards the campsite but after failing to find the path we started going towards the edge of what I can only describe as a rather steep hill. In our wisdom and after my famous words “how bad can it be?” we started climbing down the side of this hill. We only realised how wrong we had been when it was too late; a climb back up now would probably be just as bad as continuing on down so we made a decision and had to stick to it and boy did we make the wrong one.

  

  Kev’s knees were knackered and my feet had taken a beating but after many stops and a slow climb down we eventually made it to the bottom. After a well deserved rest we joined up with the path we should’ve been on the whole time and finally came to the pub, we sat down to enjoy one of the best drinks I’ve ever had and our first proper meal since the quality steak in a can from the night before.

  

  So, would I do it all again if I could? Hell yes; the sense of achievement, the stunning views and the surreal lighting up on that mountain were more than enough to make up for our silly mistakes on the way down, the next time I climb Scafell Pike though, I might give the cliff route a miss.

   
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  Climbing the Pike - Day 1

  Gary 22:14 on June 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Bikes (13), Motorcycling (12), Scafell Pike (6), Travel, Trip Report (8)

  I left my house at 08:00 on Saturday morning and arrived at our meeting point at around 08:20 where Kev was waiting with some bad news; “I don’t think I can go Gaz”.

  

  Kev pointed to his shaft drive, and yes, the black stuff leaking out the bottom of it was oil. Fantastic, zero miles on the clock and we’ve already hit a problem! Neither of us wanting to cancel the trip we decided to ride to the BMW dealer and hope they would be able to fix the bike quick enough for us to get back on the road. We rode to Dorchester and luckily there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with the bike, in fact the BMW guy referred to it as “the seal that always breaks” I believe, quality! The seal was replaced within an hour and finally 2.5 hours behind schedule we were able to get on the road and start our journey to the Lake District.

  The first 140 miles were pretty easy going, I was fresh and enthusiastic to get going, the Strom was coping well and keeping me comfortable, the weather was holding dry. We stopped for a bite to eat and to fill up the bikes and made our way back out to the motorway.

  The next 130 miles were probably the most miserable of the whole trip for me, the rain started, the comfort level started to drop and eventually my gear let me down yet again and the rain started to get in through my boots. We stopped again after this section for a drink and I was very thankful when we got back out there that the rain had come to and end and the roads even seemed to be drying up, unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about my boots.

  80 miles later and we were pretty much in the Lake District, off the mind numbing motorway and onto the beginning of a fantastic ride into the heart of our destination. As we were making our way into the centre of the national park, the roads were getting better as we went, even the sun decided to join us for the last 50 miles or so and in doing so made this ride very enjoyable for me despite the comfort issues I was now experiencing. The road running next to Wast Water is fantastic and led us into Wasdale Head, unfortunately making us miss the campsite in the process but it was easily found on the way back up the road.

  

  We pitched the tents, I made us some food and despite the quality (the steak in a can possibly let me down) I was thoroughly enjoying myself, there’s something really special for me about being out in the wild (ok, I know a national trust campsite is not exactly out in the wild) and cooking yourself a meal using the most basic of tools and ingredients. I think camping gives me a sense of freedom and independence I don’t normally experience and absolutely love it!

  

   
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  Inspired by Jupiter

  Gary 23:55 on June 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Events, Motorcycling (12), Ted Simon, Travel

  In 1973 Ted Simon left his life behind when he decided to drop everything and ride a motorcycle around the world. He travelled 78,000 miles through 45 countries, this fantastic adventure taking him four years to complete. This man now has a legendary status in the adventure motorcycling world and we were lucky enough to meet him tonight; he was talking about his adventures at Sideways Motorcycles in Dorchester. I’ve never read Ted’s story before but after listening to the first part of it from him today I’ve now purchased the book and am eager to start reading.

  

  I charged my camera battery last night ready for the trip to Scafell this weekend and decided to take the camera to the event tonight. We were about to meet Ted to get the book signed when Kev couldn’t get the camera to work, I have to admit cameras do tend to work better when the batteries aren’t still at home in the charger… Anyway, you’ll have to excuse the picture quality, the light was low in the room and the iPhone camera is, as always, a bit lacking.

  I’ve heard a few people talk about their adventures now; Charley Boorman, Walter Colebatch, Austin Vince and now Ted Simon of course and every time I listen to these people speak it just makes me want to hop and the bike and go. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why I want to go, I don’t know if listening to these people talking about their trips are making it sound like the cool thing to do or wether they’re just giving me a gentle nudge in the direction I was headed anyway. Either way, I can’t really think of anything I want to do more right now than travel; I want to see the things these guys have seen, I want the experiences and the stories they have. I can’t wait to get out there now and I can’t help but feeling that Bournemouth – Torrevieja 2009 is just paving the way for the many adventures that lie ahead.

   
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  First things first!

  Gen 20:59 on April 16, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Introduction (3), Motorcycling (12), Preparation (23), Travel

  On 9th April 2009 I passed my full motorbike test, with the final goal being to eventually ride around the world with Gary. It took me two attempts, one injured leg and a few scratches on the poor motorbike, but I did it, and boy did it feel good!

  I used to ride a moped a few years back but gave up two wheels after passing my driving test and basking in the warmth that four wheels brings. It wasn’t until about a year ago when Gary got his Monster and wanted me to go on the back that my helmet even saw the light of day again, but I enjoyed it after a few rides (Gary soon learnt he wasn’t allowed to accelerate) and felt like I wanted more. I had always said I would get a big bike after the 50cc but much like everything else, life just got in the way.

  So now I have passed, woohoo… now what? Well, the plan is to go bike shopping on Saturday – wish me luck, I hope I find something so this journey can continue!

   
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  My Story

  Gary 00:14 on April 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Introduction (3), Motorcycling (12), Travel

  I can’t remember how long I’ve wanted to ride a motorcycle. I definitely can’t remember how long I’ve wanted to travel. I’ve spent 9,035 of my 9,058 days on British soil, I’ve been to many places, seen many things and met many people, but I want more. I want to see what food people eat in Italy, I want to see what people do day-to-day in Kazakhstan, I want to try communicating with people in spite of an obvious language barrier… I want to see how other people experience life.

  I went straight from School to College to University; three months later I was in my first full-time job. There was no gap year for me; I didn’t spend six months in Thailand or a year travelling around Europe. Do I ever wish I had? Not really, I’m actually fairly happy with the way things have turned out, I’m 24 years old, I have a degree and 4 years commercial experience as a web developer, things could be worse. Despite the fact I think I’ve done things right, it hasn’t quenched my thirst for adventure, it doesn’t stop me wanting to see and do all the things I’ve always wanted to do.

  In July 2007 I decided it was time to fulfil the first part of the dream and learn to ride a motorcycle, I passed my CBT and bought my first bike a Suzuki GZ125 Marauder. 8 months later in March 2008 I took my full bike test and passed, finally the time had come to get my first “big” bike; a Ducati Monster 695, the bike I’m still riding today.

  A lot of people that go on “adventure” trips amuse me, there always seems to be pressure, be it having to stick to a route or having to get to a final destination, it almost becomes a race to get to the next checkpoint, to get to that all important finish line. I don’t want to race to a finish line, I don’t want to be restricted by a route, I want to be free. For me, it’s not about the destination, it’s not even about completing the trip, it’s about the things we do, the people we meet and the places we get to see along the way.

   
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  Welcome to 99 Adventures

  Gary 19:44 on April 4, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Communication (3), Explore (4), Introduction (3), Motorcycling (12), Travel

  

  My name is Gary, I’m 24 years old and I want to see the world. I work full-time as a Web Developer and in my spare time I play beardy games, hike and ride my motorbike.

  

  This is Gen, she’s 22 years old and despite her being a little crazy, I love her to bits! Gen wants to see the world too or is at least doing a stand-up job of humouring me, either way she’ll be my co-adventurer and best friend on these trips.

  On Saturday 3rd October 2009, Gen and I are planning on riding motorcycles to Torrevieja, Spain which is about 35 miles south of the City of Alicante and about 1,200 miles away from Bournemouth, UK our hometown.

  Lots of people have done trips like this, lots of people have done trips much bigger than this, why do we need a website to talk about ours? The simple answer is that we don’t, but we sat down and talked about it and we both felt it was a good idea for a number of reasons:

  1. It’s an easy way for us to keep a diary of the things we’ve done and if possible help others who want to do them too.
  2. It’s a great way for us to keep in contact with our friends and families; we’re planning on updating whilst on the road so everybody will be able to see what we’re doing and make sure we’re ok.
  3. I make a living as a Web Developer and I wanted to explore design too, this project already had a theme and a design brief for me to work from.

  Bournemouth – Torrevieja is hopefully the first of many adventures to come and if all goes to plan, there will be many more to follow, stick around!