The Route - Saudi
The next part of the fun is to plan the route. The givens are the start, Qatar, and the end, the UK.
We were planning to go through Saudi to Jordan, then on to Syria, Lebanon, Syria and then Turkey, however they seem to be shooting people on a regular basis in Syria, so our plans have changed. The other route out of the Arabian peninsular is by ferry from Sharjah to Bandar Abbas in Iran, then up through Iran and into Turkey, so that is now the plan!
We were planning to go through Saudi to Jordan, then on to Syria, Lebanon, Syria and then Turkey, however they seem to be shooting people on a regular basis in Syria, so our plans have changed. The other route out of the Arabian peninsular is by ferry from Sharjah to Bandar Abbas in Iran, then up through Iran and into Turkey, so that is now the plan!
Saudi - UAE
We did the first part of this run on our shake down tour, so we will retrace our steps to Abu Dhabi, treat ourselves to a night in the Sheraton and then head for Dubai and then Sharjah for the ferry.
Iran
Iran should be fun! I hear a alot of good things about the country and we have made contact with an excellent travel agency who have arranged the visas. From Bandar Abbas we head north to Shiraz, then Esfahan, Qom, Tehran and then cut across to the Turkish border. Iran should be exciting, not that many people visit, and large capacity motorbikes are not allowed for the locals, so there should be a lot of interest, and plenty to see on the way, a 'once in a lifetime experience'
Turkey
Once in Turkey we plan to follow the coast rather than cut across for Istanbul. So it’s Iskenderun, Adana, Mersin, Antalya, Canakkale, about 5 days riding and as many wrecks as we can manage, but definitely the Paris, which I dived about 12 years ago. Once we get to Canakkale we cross the Bosporus on a ferry and land on the Gallipoli peninsular. Rather than stomp about on the land and look at old trenches, we though it might be more fun to see what reminders of the 1916 campaign lie under the water. Unfortunately, the best wrecks seems to be way too deep, so we plan to dive HMS Majestic and maybe some others.
The Balkans
From the Gallipoli peninsula we head for the Balkans, we plan to blat through Bulgaria in one day, we might stop in Sofia for lunch but don’t fancy and overnight stay as there are too many tales of gangs of thieves taking a liking to our precious KTMs, so sorry Bulgaria, but we ain’t stopping! We will take pot luck staying in Nis, then head north to Belgrade, then turn south aiming for Budva on the Adriatic. It’s a slightly wobbly route, but it avoids Kosovo, which is apparently a good idea!
Eastern Europe
Away from the sea, we head through Slovenia to Hungary, across to Budapest, then take in a bit of Slovakia, just to tick it off the list, then via Auschwitz and a bit of Poland, overnight in Wroclaw, then on to the Czech republic and Prague. After Prague it’s a dash through Germany and into Luxembourg and a visit to the battle fields at Bastonge, then the final leg to the UK, a ferry or Tunnel, the dear old M2 and home.
