Milward's Millennium Motorcycle Ride

Since leaving Istanbul and my last report I have come via Syria and Jordan to Egypt and here I am in a certain type of paradise called Dahab. It is a diving and budget travellers' hangout on the South Sinai coast.

I decided in favour of a whirlwind Egypt tour even though I must be in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by 19 Feb very latest when the visa runs out. So I'm going crazy in getting what I can out of Egypt including Mount Sinai, Cairo's Museum and Piramids, the Nile valley to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, provided the police say the road is safe from bandits (otherwise it will be an extra 500km desert ride round the oasises), but first I have two more days of my diver course here in Dahab (well I'm not going to pass up this opportunity which is great value at $170 perhaps the cheapest in the world) - plus the world best coral reefs to see but of course not touch. A youth hostel type place is a dollar and a half per night and a decent meal is about the same price.

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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Father of Turkey
Coming down through Turkey there were so many things to see. But I came across some tourist literature reading like a propaganda leaflet which made me think of Turkey's record on human rights particularly with respect to the Kurds, and whether I should spend my money here at all. Nevertheless Epheseus in the West was a real treasure, the ancient trading city and capitol of empires, where the 2000 year old carving in the pavement of a woman's left foot and heart shape signal the brothel, where St Paul famously preached and where Mary (mother of Jesus) spent the last 7 years of her life. I managed to break my camera here just before the first shot, I think because I was asking why Turkey should have so many wonders. The roads were impassable to the centre for a bike so I could not take in many of the other sites anyway.

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St. Pauls church, Damascus, where he was lowered out of city in basket
The scenery along the Turkish south coast on the two day ride was absolutely stunning, hundreds of km of mountain switchback. Such a shame it was raining hard for most of this time - the spark plug cut out at one point (I dried the crap cap out in a carpenter's workshop - what a great smell!) and later in a coffee shop there were several people drying out their coats - I was down to my tea shirt. It was cold and wet so when it stopped raining I simply rode on to dry out and ended up crossing to Syria from Antakya. The officials here very kindly understood why my passport was now a mushy mess - though how far this paper-clipped together document will get me is unclear!
I even found water in one pannier yesterday when I had to unpack everything for the kind Egyptian customs official - who showed alot of interest in the tracker system, and still didn't understand before he thankfully lost interest in it. (The Tesch pannier leaked because we had modified it to take the tracker wires, the other side is fine, don't panic Bernd.)

I was soundly impressed with the Syrian genuineness from the minute I arrived in the country. Within 30 minutes of clearing customs I was being bought a special sweet pastry by a helpful trucker from Aleppo and later that night I slept on bed in the front of a 4 seater restaurant beside the highway at 2am. The buses and trucks were psychadelicly decorated and emblazoned with peace slogans - all genuine stuff they are not hippies.

I was hoping to catch the Iranian Embassy open the next day in Damascus as that is one troublesome visa still to get. That would have taken 10 days so I settled for the Jordan one and hit the road again. It was not until leaving Damascus that the magic of the place got to me - they say it can have a special effect on on you because it is the world's oldest continuously habited city. I visited the old city, several sites of St Paul who started preaching, and of course was invited for tea by a group of locals and one Iraqi. The latter, speaking excellent English, said I would be most welcome and safe in his country and he would show me Bagdad if I called him. The prospect of me getting turned away at the Saudi border for any number of reasons would necessitate this course (as my Jordanian visa is a double-entry one, and Jordan borders Iraq from where I could get to Iran). This would be highly interesting to say the least - quite an adventure even.

I came to the mountainous capitol city of Jordan, Amman, where I didn't hang around as I'd had enough of cities for the time being. I just stopped at an internet cafe in the centre to see if the tracker was working - the latest reading was a good 3 days and 700km old (Turkey) but at least it was working. The tracker's historical route map for the last 10 days does not seem to be working right though does it? I'm not sure what the average time interval between 'sightings' of my bike by the satellite are though. Sorry if you have wasted some time on this, I neded to check it again though.

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Taking bread + tomatoes with bedouins Simon [30kB 600x407] [372kB 1772x1202]
Simon [43kB 604x400] [460kB 1772x1173]
Side of baptism of jesus [231kB 1772x1164]
Side of baptism of jesus
It was a short but lovely ride down the mountain to the Dead Sea, warming nicely as I went down, as at 400m below Sea Level it is the lowest point on earth. I spent a short while a guest of a nomadic Bedouin family, visited the site of Jesus' baptism (an archeaological site of 100AD), and submerged myself in the therapeutic mud and waters for a few days. I camped on the beach, which itself was made of sundried mud. There had been snow here only a week before hand!

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Route to Mount Nebo, with dead sea mud + water strapped to right panniex box Simon and Jordan-friend [57kB 618x400] [447kB 1826x1181]
Simon Milward and Jordan-friend.
Invited for tea and shisha on mountainside of Nebo.
"We discussed peace in the middle east" Petra [42kB 610x400] [353kB 1800x1181]
Petra, ancient city hidden in the mountains. Petra cont. houses, chapels, tomes, theatre carved into rock. Preroman city of the nebataens, 3rd century. Petra [47kB 614x400] [346kB 1812x1181]
Petra
From the Dead Sea, loaded with about 10kg of mud take away, I went up the Nebo Mountain to where Moses looked out over the promised land and promptly died. It is a holy place for Islam, Christianity and the Jewish faith Judaism. On leaving I was invited by an Arab military man sitting on the mountainside to join him for a sheesha pipe and tea. Among the topics we discussed was the Middle East Peace process (he was hopeful of a lasting solution within the next few years) and he offered his help to Medecins Sans Frontieres if needed in Jordan which I shall pass on.

Heading south down the King's Highway over the mountains, and then a stretch on the Desert Highway (windly place or what) found me severely needing to warm up so I pulled in at the last store in a two store town. I was only 15km from Petra but accepted the offer to stay with the owner Rahib. In the morning the wind was such I could hardly ride at all, and would not have been able to if it weren't for my bike's super-low centre of gravity - for some of the 15km I was down to 5km/h. However I did get a little concerned that the screen would rip off and disppear in one second flat! Anyway the 15km took 1/2 hour, and I was welcome in Petra by a shopowner flagging me down for more tea.

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Petra - the red rose of the desert
Petra, the Red Rose of the Desert, is considered the best thing to see in the Middle East. It is the 300BC city of the Nabataean people who controlled the transjordan area including the trade route between Damascus and Arabia. They carved houses, tombs, temples, stables right into the mostly red but multi-coloured rock and was rediscovered by the outide world in 1812. I must admit to hopping on a donkey for the trek up to the Monastery - boy those things can really move up steep mountain rock steps!

Later I rode over yet more wildly windly mountains, only this time there were also snow drifts still lapping over nearly the whole road, and then mild sandstorms as the cross wind blew drifts of sand across the road. This was when the Davida Aviator gogles, with precription lenses, proved their worth - then it was only the bike being sandblasted and not my face too plus there was no fear of my spectacles being blown off! I spent the evening getting used to a more touristy type of town, Aqaba on the Red Sea, Jordan's only port. I managed to pick up some enamel paint for the evolving map of the world on my right pannier too.

Then 3 days ago I took the 3 hour boat to the South Sinai where I am now, on time donated by the Millennium Mania Internet Cafe at Shark Bay. The desert mountain scenery is really inspiring.

On the equipment side, I still haven't managed to use the stove, as real fires are for more interesting. Strangely it is one of the few main E/US$140 items that I could not get an outright sponsor for so had to buy (though at half price). The Katadyn water filters is really great, even if it is just a dollar and a half for bottled, I'll be drinking a few thousand litres I expect on my journey so the money saving is terrific. I can even filter muddy puddles of rainwater if I wanted, but people do tend to look at you strangely when you use it although I haven't got to the puddle stage yet.

The Tympro earplugs are also brilliant. These little babies are injection-moulded for your own ear, have an adjustable hole to let in low pitch noise only (ie talking) but not high pitch like wind noise. The added bonuses of using them with your bike is that it sound becomes deeper and more rumbly (I hope it's not mechanical...ha ha) and they tend to work as automatic de-waxers (you get a neat little cleaning wire with them). They come on a small rubber lead which you clip to your clothing so you don't lose them - this system works because I still have both my pairs - I wish I could say the same for my thermal gloves which I had lost in Turkey.

The Hein Gericke Master II jacket and pants are excellent. I have never been cold in the gear, not to the bone as you do sometimes get, as there are removal liners and neck warmer. In fact it's a real traveller's jacket with ample inside pocket space. I thought it was waterproof but I did get wet to the skin coming through Turkey, though I think most of this must have come through the helmet and down my neck. The rain really weas exceptional anyway. The lid is a Lazer (great Belgian company which also made a cash donation t to humanitarian aid) Motocross item. I purposefully chose this one as I thought I simply would not bother riding in rain, just wait it out - what a silly thing to think on a round the world ride! Anyway the helmet is great.

I'll be telling you about some of the other sponsored products as we go along.

A few people here have sponsored the Millennium Ride. Being largely English-speaking, tomorrow I might make a nuisance of myself in the centre of town and do some hussling of my own! Unfortunately it has been rather difficult to find the time to do the fundraising bit on the route - which was not in fact foreseen everywhere anyway, but you know what it's like having worked for a bikers' right organisation, it is difficult to resist if you can smell a donation around! There is one old BSA rumbling around here, but I've not managed to glimpse it yet.

I'm off to grab some grub and get on with the third chapter of the diving handbook. Class starts at 8am in the morning and we might just get into the open water tomorrow!

Five and half weeks already seems like five and a half months - that must be a good sign. And the Arabs are really great people I get one extremely well with them. This is really the life!

Enjoy yours' (as a Turkish cafe owner and self-appointed local spiritual teacher in Istanbul was want to challenge passers-by with)

Simon

If you are reading this but have not yet supported the associated humanitarian aid appeal (Médecins Sans Frontières and/or Riders for Health Gambia appeal) and got your badge, please do so now via www.millennium-ride.com

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