Well yer tiz, Old man goes East. You might want to watch in instalments as it's 20 minuets long, you'll notice there are n't many people in it, and not a lot said about Kazakhstan and Russia, that's because they were awful, the effort it took to get a Russian visa and through the boarders was just not worth it. I now know I am a mountain's man, flat straight roads with pot holes big enough to hide a car are not fun. The Caucasus and Taurus mountains were stunning and I miss them. If you thinking of such a trip don't delay because the concrete and tarmac are creeping ever faster into these beautiful places.
Old Man goes East.
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captinktm
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Re: Old Man goes East.
No No, you must go, I am as I said a mountains man , I was on a tight budget and thought my money could be better spent on mountain tracks, which it was. The roads were worse than tracks and it was impossible to make good time. I did fancy 12 days of this kind of riding. I did one stretch which was over 100km in lorry tracks with wind blown sand covering them and it was challenging. The shear flatness of the place is staggering. To be honest I never intended using the roads but I could n;t find fuel off road so I turned round and headed for the mountains again. Russia was even worse, with bent cops and armed road blocks every 100 km. I was glad to get back to Georgia which I should add was the original plan. So you should go and see for your self. But in my humble opinion crossing Bulgaria then Turkey and Georgia to get to Russia and Kazakhstan is mad, there are far better adventures to had in those countries without, paying an arm and leg for a Russian visa. The only way I will ever go to Kazakhstan is by shipping my bike to Almaty, then you are right in the interesting bit.
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captinktm
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Re: Old Man goes East.
Well I rode as much off road through Turkey as I did on. But if you are sticking to the Black Sea coast you can cross Turkey in 2 days, Georgia can be done in a day, well the the Russian boarder at least, how quickly you get through there is a matter of chance. Then I headed east again and rode up through Chechnya then Dagistan, and the roads got progressively worse, from the Russky boarder it took me .........um 3 days. But if you head north west and stay on the main drags then 2 days will do it. It depends where you want to get to in Kazakhstan but if I had to do it again, I would ride north in Russia and then cross into Kazakhstan at the top.
So from Sofia to the Kazak boarder riding continuously I would say 6/7 days. That is staying on major routes, I did n't, even in Russia I rode cross country.
Have you been to Turkey?
Re: Old Man goes East.
Cheers Captin, some good info there. Nope, Ive never been to Turkey.
I despise tarmac, so the idea of sticking to it just to get towards Georgia doesn't appeal. So its would be off the beaten track for me and mayby just take my time. Or I see theres a ferry crossing the black sea that takes a couple of days. That could be an option. We will see.
Ace vid. And learned something new. didn't realise the highest mountain in Europe was Elberus. Do now though! Always thought it was something else.
I despise tarmac, so the idea of sticking to it just to get towards Georgia doesn't appeal. So its would be off the beaten track for me and mayby just take my time. Or I see theres a ferry crossing the black sea that takes a couple of days. That could be an option. We will see.
Ace vid. And learned something new. didn't realise the highest mountain in Europe was Elberus. Do now though! Always thought it was something else.
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captinktm
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Re: Old Man goes East.
I looked into the Black Sea ferry thing, but could never get any joy on the web sites. I beleive if you can get one it's more like 3 days. Well if you want to use my gaf as a stop over or do some trails here in Bulgaria just shout.beddowsm wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:47 am Cheers Captin, some good info there. Nope, Ive never been to Turkey.
I despise tarmac, so the idea of sticking to it just to get towards Georgia doesn't appeal. So its would be off the beaten track for me and mayby just take my time. Or I see theres a ferry crossing the black sea that takes a couple of days. That could be an option. We will see.
Ace vid. And learned something new. didn't realise the highest mountain in Europe was Elberus. Do now though! Always thought it was something else.
