Silk Road Departure

In what is becoming a firm favourite in the Top Ten of “Great Starts to an Expedition”, the Ace Café in London once more played host to GlobeBusters riders, this time for the commencement of the 2011 Silk Road and Everest trip. Hungry riders and supporters alike made the most of the Full English breakfasts, for some of us, they are to be the last proper fry ups for several months.

It was good to see previous Silk Roaders Ed and Lorraine, Resh a High Andes rider as well as Roddy from James Cargo amongst the group of well-wishers and curious but impressed passers-by who waved us off outside. We left behind a quiet London, which was a contrast to the previous day when the streets had been packed with spectators from around the world who’d descended on the city for the Royal Wedding.

We had a distinct lack of red, white and blue bunting as our 10 bikes and the van set off in brilliant sunshine. We were overtaken on the M25 by a closely packed and neat formation of police riders – they were eight members of the Special Escort Group demonstrating their immaculate riding skills, more often put to good use as VIP escorts. As one rider put it “They were poetry in motion” and an extremely impressive sight.
We continued onto what was for many their first time using the Channel Tunnel. A novel experience to be riding a bike onto a train and then 40 minutes later out into the French countryside. The first few days of the Silk Road Expedition involves a lot of main road riding to get us to Istanbul and Asia as quickly as possible.

Our first night on the continent in a sleepy Belgian town, another rider met up with us, one who’d travelled up from Switzerland to join our group. We were lucky with the weather for most of the time as we crossed Europe, steadily heading south east and at times crossing three or four countries in one day.

En route we had a new stopping point for Globebusters, the BMW Alpine Hotel at Reutte. Very modern, minimalistic and new, it’s nestled on the edge of the Alps in Austria. The following morning it was quite eerie as we left, passing forests and lakes wreathed in the morning mist. Again we had more motorway sections with some countryside riding including a short but sobering stop in Croatia where we saw war damaged houses from the 1991-1995 conflict. A contrast to the green fields and blossom filled trees around them. Though some of those green fields still have mines hidden in them.

There were some lovely twisting mountain roads throughout the ride across Europe, most of these roads little known to us living in the west of the continent, the hills of Serbia were one such location.
Meanwhile, some found the sights of Sofia in Bulgaria so appealing (that is appealing and not appalling) that they went round the ring road twice, no names, they know who they are. With a brief stay in the Greek town of Serres we woke to torrential rain, pulling on waterproofs before setting off for the last of the European roads and the fabled city of Istanbul. The sun shone as the Mediterranean Sea came into view, and we made the most of it, as we’ll be crossing the planet’s largest land mass and riding almost 12,000 miles until we see the sea again- the Pacific Ocean at the port near Beijing.

As we neared the end of our 360 mile ride for the day, we really felt as if the Silk Road was beginning, with the call of the muzzein echoing from the mosques around us. We had reached Istanbul, the city of minarets, spices and Turkish delight. We met with the final two participants to complete our truly international group of three Americans, two Australians, one Swiss, one Swede, one Jersey-manand four British riders. Introductions were made and stories exchanged whilst feasting on a fantastic Turkish meal which seemed to have a never ending stream of dishes issuing from the kitchen and yes, kebabs did appear at some point in the meal.

A couple of days to enjoy Istanbul and its many charms before departing on Sunday for rural Turkey and ballooning in Cappadochia.