Bugger, guess I hit 'save' instead of 'submit'! Here goes again......

I have been quiet, but not due to lack of activity. I've looked at a load of Nortons, ridden a few and planned my route out. The route planning has taken the most time as there are some really, really, really, good looking roads all over the place. As such my route is now more like 125,000 miles and mostly on gravel and dirt roads. The places that are really calling me are the Bolivian Altiplano, the Gobi , Atacama and Sahara deserts, the Jungles of Cambodia and Papua New Guinea and so on and so forth......

The Norton is a fantastic bike to ride, visceral and fast - it's just what I thought it would be when I used to look up at the poster on my shed wall. It's bloody heavy though and it tracks the bumps in the road. This is brilliant in terms of feel from the wheels and it's a blast on tarmac, but I don't fancy doing thousands of miles of off-road in the arse-end-of the middle of nowhere on one.

So I'm very sorry to announce that I have decided to completely 'wuss-out'! Instead I'm going to build my own 'classic-adventure' bike - a Triumph 650 twin, a Metisse frame and some newer wheels, suspension and cycle parts. I know some people will shudder at the thought of Renthal bars on a Metisse but hey - they don't have to ride it!

It would still be great to meet some of you when I'm on the road - I leave next spring and the route is a rough fugure-of-eight.

First I go south and east through Iran and Pakistan into India and Nepal. Fly from kathmandu to Bangkok (Myanmar [Burma] decided that the title of 'first person to ride across Burma' will not be mine!), then over through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea (the new guinean government have decided that the title 'first to cross the jungles of the second-largest island WILL be mine, cannibals permitting!).
After a blast round Australia and New Zealand it's back up north through Japan into Siberia. Then Mongolia and Central Asia back to Europe. Go home, wash, repair equipment and head off to Africa.
from Cape Town I'll ship to Tierra del Fuego then spend a year exploring latin America. Central America will be followed by a trip through the Southern States to pick up the Trans-America-Trail in Florida (?). Up to Alaska, Across Canada and then home. Did I miss anywhere?