Spent today out in the dunes at Sealine watching the Sealine Cross Desert Rally.  Got up at 5:30 to drive the 50km out of Doha with Kate and Kris in  Kate's Land Rover.  The dunes come right down to the Gulf and are extremely steep. This is an international event with vehicles from Qatar, Europe and the Americas.

Mahmoud was a Qatari who helped us get into the finish area which gave us fantastic view of the finishing stage.  Very friendly guy.

We arrived back in Doha, a very progressive and modern city. Kate and Kris' apartment in on the 21st floor over looking the water.  It has been a good visit, but tomorow we head off to Athens to try and find our bikes.

My Bike

I bought my bike, a 1983 XT600 Tenere about 2 years ago and decided to build it for the trip.   It was a total disaster when I got it and I've slightly modified it specifically for this ride,  Changed the engine to a later model with electric and kick start.   Everything that could have been replaced has, the rest has been refurbished.

All pics can be "clicked on" to enlarge.

Dave and Peter are on new, or fairly new Suzuki DR650s and Ben on a 2006 BMW x-challange 600 so I have had to ensure I'm not the one holding up the team.

The bikes left for Athens mid March, shipped by Bikes Abroad, a Melbourne based shipping company.
Tomorrow, the 24th April, Dave and I fly out to battle our bikes off the Greek docks.  Peter and Ben have been gone for almost 2 weeks and presently in northern Italy.  We all hope to meet up in Istanbul on May 2, where we will obtain our Russian visas and those for all the 'stans....... hopefully!

When we head off from Athens on about the 30th April, we will have our 'spotwalla' tracking turned on and can be followed by going to this website:    https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=61a75141613c9000c

The Start

The Plan:

The plan was hatched over a Lemming's Lunch.  Ride from somewhere in Europe to Vladivostok or the other way.    Europe to Vlad won out for a range of reasons.  Firstly the bikes could show up any faults before we hit the really hard stuff, plus we could develop a bit of road fitness.   The original crew was to be Dave, Grant and myself.    After a few false starts, Athens was decided on.

The bikes:

Grant had an old XT600 Yamaha, I had a 1983 XT600 Tenere and Dave said he'd buy a new Suzuki DR650.  Grant said that all his bike needed was an oil change and a tune. We doubted that he was serious about the trip. My bike needed and received a total rebuild.   Grant did drop out and Peter and Ben joined the team. Peter on an almost new DR650 and Ben on a 2006 BMW x-challenge.  All bikes have been purpose prepared with upgraded suspension, large fuel tanks, panniers, GPSs, bash plates etc.