Well an early start this morning as we have a taxi booked for 7am, breakfast doesn’t start til 7 so we may have to forgo that but we just take a look at 6.50 and we can get fed.
Downstairs for 7.05 and still no sign of our taxi, we wait until 7.15 and then get another and head off for the shippers to finalise booking the bikes in. We arrive at 7.50 and expect to go to the airport straight away but end up sitting in the office for another 2 ½ hours whilst the rest of the paperwork is finalised. Motorcycles are classified as dangerous goods because of the oil fuel etc so it is a more involved process than a box of tissues.
Finally we follow Andrea in a taxi to the cargo area and then more waiting whilst they are booked in and then a further wait whilst 2 trucks unload to allow us to get to the loading bay. The bay is lorry load height so a ramp is produced and we are told to get a good run to get up there, I go first and on reaching the top the bike keeps going up in the air and I wheely into the warehouse, it’s probably worse for Martin having seen my efforts.
Onto the scales and we can finally park the bikes in the warehouse, they will be put on a pallet but not boxed up this time.
Now off to the police with more paperwork and then to DIAN, equivalent to our customs and excise, sadly these 2 offices are at opposite ends of the cargo area so plenty of walking toting our personal luggage. All paperwork complete we are now told the police want to inspect the bikes but go to lunch between 12 and 2 so we need to go and get some lunch and come back later, we have to check in for our flight at 3 so this could be tight.
Off we go to the passenger terminal and have a bite to eat and then decide to dump our bags in left luggage before returning to the warehouse. Once there we wait for the police to arrive as well as a security lady from the airline and on arrival Andrea explains to them that we have a plane to catch so can this be expedited quickly?
We open all the panniers etc and he randomly checks bits of them choosing to check different bits on my bike to Martins and the security lady is tapping all the tubes checking they are hollow and she also wants us to let some ar out of the tyres, we thought as a precaution due to pressure, no she wants to smell the air. I guess they are keen to curb any potential drug smuggling and the smugglers are more inventive than we give them credit for. Lastly start the bikes up so that they can see them running and then they are wrapped in pallet wrap, like a giant roll of cling film, whilst the police observe and then we are done.
Goodbye and thanks to Andrea for all her help and then back to the passenger terminal retrieve our luggage and check in, wow that was close.
Once on the plane it gets quite hectic quite quickly with food and drink being served, bear in mind this is a 12 hour flight but we get everything all at once, they obviously have a routine to follow. Then a film followed by an attempt at sleep, legroom isn’t too bad as planes go but when you are as tall as Martin and I, comfortable it was not, still we got some rest even if I thought I had broken my hip when I woke up.
We land at Madrid and now have about 3 hours to kill so that should go quite quickly. We have to change terminals and then go back through the security process, well talk about thorough, everything out of all your pockets, belt, shoes, computer and a comprehensive frisk completes the operation.
We have now been delayed half an hour, Martin thinks they were changing a wheel on the aircraft, but I don’t know.
Well that’s it, it’s all over, and we are being met at Heathrow for a long awaited reunion with our families and then what. More photos soon and........
Well if you are interested do come back here because we are going to do an equipment review, some of which will wait until the warranty claims have been sorted but I will keep you informed as to what is going on with a little narrative posted quite frequently.
We would both like to say a huge thank you for your interest and support both before and during our epic trip and I think we will do a post trip gathering to tell and show, nothing arranged yet but you will be informed.
To all our fellow travellers who we met on the way and have also chosen to follow our progress, good luck with you travels and stay safe.
Saturday 19 March 2011
Tuesday 15 March 2011
15th March Bogota 15 miles
Well the day didn’t start well when the shippers asked for copies of our documents as they need to do a days work on those before we meet them. We get these sent off and sort the bikes ready for shipping and then off for a 2pm meeting at the shippers.
It is about 7 miles and should take about 10 or so minutes, we allowed and hour and arrived 4 minutes early having travelled 15 miles. On arrival we are told that we won’t be able to do a lot today as they are still processing our documents so leave a cell phone number and go to the airport tomorrow. Having told them that we are flying tomorrow suddenly things start to happen, they can work it out and we need to take the bikes to Aduana (customs) and then go to the airport in the morning to sign some forms and we will be clear to make our flight in the afternoon.
Well we sit in the office for 2 ½ hours and then get down to the nitty gritty, time to pay. When the bill comes it is $1800 more than the quote so long discussions ensue as to why, including involving the sales manager and eventually an alternative quote with a different airline comes close to our quoted figure. During the discussions another bombshell is dropped where we need to have our panniers and top box completely empty, wow that is a bombshell as they are crammed full. It is suggested that we take them as baggage and pay the excess fee, hmm, that is certainly an option, can you imagine taking 2 panniers, a top box, a tank bag and a large grip type bag, perhaps not. This issue is soon put to bed having established that the panniers can be locked, amazing the difference, coming out we had to leave them unlocked and leaving Colombia they must be locked. Having paid we are now to go to Aduana, it is now 6pm. Having dressed and readied ourselves there is yet another change of plan. We cannot do Aduana this evening so we need to be back at 8 am and do it in the morning, the process should be completed in about 3 hours.
We leave our bikes there and get a taxi to the hotel, it takes 40 minutes and he goes a completely different way to us, we book him to take us back in the morning at 7am, so no breakfast for us.
Wish us luck tomorrow.
It is about 7 miles and should take about 10 or so minutes, we allowed and hour and arrived 4 minutes early having travelled 15 miles. On arrival we are told that we won’t be able to do a lot today as they are still processing our documents so leave a cell phone number and go to the airport tomorrow. Having told them that we are flying tomorrow suddenly things start to happen, they can work it out and we need to take the bikes to Aduana (customs) and then go to the airport in the morning to sign some forms and we will be clear to make our flight in the afternoon.
Well we sit in the office for 2 ½ hours and then get down to the nitty gritty, time to pay. When the bill comes it is $1800 more than the quote so long discussions ensue as to why, including involving the sales manager and eventually an alternative quote with a different airline comes close to our quoted figure. During the discussions another bombshell is dropped where we need to have our panniers and top box completely empty, wow that is a bombshell as they are crammed full. It is suggested that we take them as baggage and pay the excess fee, hmm, that is certainly an option, can you imagine taking 2 panniers, a top box, a tank bag and a large grip type bag, perhaps not. This issue is soon put to bed having established that the panniers can be locked, amazing the difference, coming out we had to leave them unlocked and leaving Colombia they must be locked. Having paid we are now to go to Aduana, it is now 6pm. Having dressed and readied ourselves there is yet another change of plan. We cannot do Aduana this evening so we need to be back at 8 am and do it in the morning, the process should be completed in about 3 hours.
We leave our bikes there and get a taxi to the hotel, it takes 40 minutes and he goes a completely different way to us, we book him to take us back in the morning at 7am, so no breakfast for us.
Wish us luck tomorrow.
14th March Valle de Lieva – Bogota 157 miles
Not far to Bogota now so we have our usual late start and our usual trouble finding a way out of the town. The problem this time was the road ran out after about 5 miles and we were off road, we carried on for s little while and decided that we didn’t want to do 30 or more miles off road so we turned around and went back to the town. We have 2 choices leaving here as we can go West, our first option, or we can go East and pick up another road heading South to Bogota. So we leave in the opposite direction, the road is fine and we then come to a main road with a peage and away we go, this road is not on either sat nav.
We need to get to Bogota with only a small amount of fuel so we need to do ‘a splash and dash’ and buy a gallon each.
On the way we want to stop at a salt cathedral we have been told about, it is fantastic. It is essentially a salt mine and the miners have build a cathedral inside so that they can pray to God to keep them safe. Well they have made 14 stations to mark the several stages of Jesus at the end of his life. Then there is a chapel and a massive cathedral and all the kneelers, crosses, figures and alters are carved in the rack salt. It is just incredible and we travel down to a depth 33 metres below where we entered and we have gone 1 kilometre in.
We are now going to have to move as we need to get to Bogota before dark. Well that was the plan but we soon run into traffic and it is a nightmare, also navigating through the city as logic doesn’t seem to work. We eventually get to the airport and find cargo and then get a moto taxi to guide us to Schenker, the carrier we are shipping the bikes with. Well that should save a bit of time tomorrow but now we need a hotel. Off we go towards town and hit a massive traffic jam caused by an accident and after sitting stationary for some time we decide to cross a central reservation and go to another carriageway. This is not as simple as it sounds as the reservation is about 6 feet wide and 3 feet high so a bit of a run and a lot of gas and we are away again.
We find a hotel that is a business class hotel next to the Marriot and Sheriton, but we thought we would find out how much, well after entering every guest is in a suit and there we are looking like the hairy bikers, having asked how much for a room our chap disappears only to return and tell us they had no rooms, yeh right. Outside we meet a chap who says ‘you’re a long way from home’, it’s a guy called Nigel from Liverpool, now working in Bogota. After a short chat he offers his apartment to crash in but we would need to be out at 7 as he has to go to work and he tells us this hotel is about $250 a night and the Marriot about $400. Well 7 is a little early as we have a lot to sort out tomorrow checking the bikes in.
Long story short, we hopelessly lost and eventually tried a hotel we were just passing and got booked in at about 10.30, a bit late to be trucking around Bogota but ended well. Dinner was a delivered burger in our room, eaten at about midnight yummy, not!
We need to get to Bogota with only a small amount of fuel so we need to do ‘a splash and dash’ and buy a gallon each.
On the way we want to stop at a salt cathedral we have been told about, it is fantastic. It is essentially a salt mine and the miners have build a cathedral inside so that they can pray to God to keep them safe. Well they have made 14 stations to mark the several stages of Jesus at the end of his life. Then there is a chapel and a massive cathedral and all the kneelers, crosses, figures and alters are carved in the rack salt. It is just incredible and we travel down to a depth 33 metres below where we entered and we have gone 1 kilometre in.
We are now going to have to move as we need to get to Bogota before dark. Well that was the plan but we soon run into traffic and it is a nightmare, also navigating through the city as logic doesn’t seem to work. We eventually get to the airport and find cargo and then get a moto taxi to guide us to Schenker, the carrier we are shipping the bikes with. Well that should save a bit of time tomorrow but now we need a hotel. Off we go towards town and hit a massive traffic jam caused by an accident and after sitting stationary for some time we decide to cross a central reservation and go to another carriageway. This is not as simple as it sounds as the reservation is about 6 feet wide and 3 feet high so a bit of a run and a lot of gas and we are away again.
We find a hotel that is a business class hotel next to the Marriot and Sheriton, but we thought we would find out how much, well after entering every guest is in a suit and there we are looking like the hairy bikers, having asked how much for a room our chap disappears only to return and tell us they had no rooms, yeh right. Outside we meet a chap who says ‘you’re a long way from home’, it’s a guy called Nigel from Liverpool, now working in Bogota. After a short chat he offers his apartment to crash in but we would need to be out at 7 as he has to go to work and he tells us this hotel is about $250 a night and the Marriot about $400. Well 7 is a little early as we have a lot to sort out tomorrow checking the bikes in.
Long story short, we hopelessly lost and eventually tried a hotel we were just passing and got booked in at about 10.30, a bit late to be trucking around Bogota but ended well. Dinner was a delivered burger in our room, eaten at about midnight yummy, not!
13th March San Gil – Valle de Lieva 114 miles
Late start today as we are waiting for laundry having run out of clothes again.
Straight onto the right road out of San Gil as it is quite a small town and far less confusing.
The road was quite good to start, with again lots of lorries to overtake and the odd set of road works. We then realise that we have missed a turning and this is about 15-20 miles back but having learnt from our previous experiences we turn back and attempt to establish where we went wrong.
Our error came in the previous town and it is understandable why we missed it as there are lots of street traders half way across the road. Now we think we are on the right road we stop for a drink and a little old lady prepares a fresh orange juice for us using about 20 not very nice looking oranges. Instead of cutting them in half and squeezing them she mearly cuts the top of and juices it in one go. Well the resulting drink was fantastic, really sweet and refreshing.
The road has now become very twisty once again and we are climbing and decending quite a bit. To our right is a mountain and we were on a road on the other side of that before, just as well we turned around.
We are stopped by some army guys who are collecting for their injures colleagues and they want us to but some raffle tickets where we may win a quad bike and other super prizes which will be of no use to us once we return as we would not be able to claim them. We pointed to our British Legion poppys on the front of our bikes and tried to explain what the organization is, I think they understood some of it. We ended up giving them a donation rather than buy any tickets, which is a better option for both of us.
Our destination is just a few miles away and the army guys help us with directions, well the road winds and twists everywhere and the few miles ends up being close to 25 in the end.
Now picture this, we are in a small town in the middle of nowhere and we are stopped by the police and asked for our documents, I get mine out first and show him the registration document for my bike, he quizzically looks at it and goes off to show a colleague rushes back to me and says OK. He checks nothing else and Martin is left standing with his docs in his hand and no one interested in looking at them. Don’t know what that was about or what it achieved but there we are.
We are now in a town which is a National monument and the roads are like cobbles but made with massive stones, it is murder to drive over. Another first, normally you can stop just about anywhere at anytime, buses pick up immediately after traffic lights so that they obstruct the junction, her we stop outside a hotel in the square and a young policeman came and informed us we were not allowed to park there, wow.
We book in and go and park the bikes and then off to see the sunset and have our ritualistic beer. Whilst looking at the sunset Kevin, the Canadian guy we met in Medellin, walks by, we go and have a beer with him and his girlfriend who has now joined him and catch up on the last couple of weeks.
Straight onto the right road out of San Gil as it is quite a small town and far less confusing.
The road was quite good to start, with again lots of lorries to overtake and the odd set of road works. We then realise that we have missed a turning and this is about 15-20 miles back but having learnt from our previous experiences we turn back and attempt to establish where we went wrong.
Our error came in the previous town and it is understandable why we missed it as there are lots of street traders half way across the road. Now we think we are on the right road we stop for a drink and a little old lady prepares a fresh orange juice for us using about 20 not very nice looking oranges. Instead of cutting them in half and squeezing them she mearly cuts the top of and juices it in one go. Well the resulting drink was fantastic, really sweet and refreshing.
The road has now become very twisty once again and we are climbing and decending quite a bit. To our right is a mountain and we were on a road on the other side of that before, just as well we turned around.
We are stopped by some army guys who are collecting for their injures colleagues and they want us to but some raffle tickets where we may win a quad bike and other super prizes which will be of no use to us once we return as we would not be able to claim them. We pointed to our British Legion poppys on the front of our bikes and tried to explain what the organization is, I think they understood some of it. We ended up giving them a donation rather than buy any tickets, which is a better option for both of us.
Our destination is just a few miles away and the army guys help us with directions, well the road winds and twists everywhere and the few miles ends up being close to 25 in the end.
Now picture this, we are in a small town in the middle of nowhere and we are stopped by the police and asked for our documents, I get mine out first and show him the registration document for my bike, he quizzically looks at it and goes off to show a colleague rushes back to me and says OK. He checks nothing else and Martin is left standing with his docs in his hand and no one interested in looking at them. Don’t know what that was about or what it achieved but there we are.
We are now in a town which is a National monument and the roads are like cobbles but made with massive stones, it is murder to drive over. Another first, normally you can stop just about anywhere at anytime, buses pick up immediately after traffic lights so that they obstruct the junction, her we stop outside a hotel in the square and a young policeman came and informed us we were not allowed to park there, wow.
We book in and go and park the bikes and then off to see the sunset and have our ritualistic beer. Whilst looking at the sunset Kevin, the Canadian guy we met in Medellin, walks by, we go and have a beer with him and his girlfriend who has now joined him and catch up on the last couple of weeks.
Sunday 13 March 2011
12th March Bucaramanga – San Gil 65 miles
We are heading for Villa deLeiva but going via San Gill as it is a good town for adventure activities and we may try to do some white water rafting.
The road is fantastic winding us up and down, we go from 1000 masl to 600, then back up 1800 and down again. We start running along a ledge in a valley with massive mountains towering over us, the landscape is just stunning.
After a while the road surface disappears and we get held up for ages which could be another landslide but it turns out to be due to resurfacing work being carried out, this may well be due to the heavy rains they had last November when roads were washed away. We have seen a lot of evidence of this and it must be a mammoth task to rebuild and keep the major routes open at the same time.
When we arrive in San Gil amazingly we find the adventure center quite quickly, this is helped by good road names and signage for a change.
Well its seems we are staying here for the night as we have been able to book onto a white water rafting session this afternoon, so we go off to find a hotel.
Agiain reasonably straightforward once I had sorted my calle from my carrera’s. Secure parking here is once again drive in through the front door and leave it in the foyer.
Once back at the adventure centre we meet our partners for the day, 5 young guys, 3 from Columbia and 2 from Panama, they all speak good English, so another result. Off we go in the minibus and we pick up the boat and our captain and then go quite a way upstream, we unload the boat from its trailer and done our lifejackets and helmets and then carry the boat down to the river. A comprehensive briefing then takes place in Spanish and Martin and I thought that it would be repeated in English but sadly our capitain doesn’t do English. One of our fellow travellers then gives us the bones of what was said and we get afloat and start gently drifting downstream. As soon as we leave our captain uses his paddle to splash most of us, so we are not concerned about getting wet now. We soon hit a fast moving stretch and take quite a bit of water on board but there are holes in the bottom so it drains down very quickly.
At the next lull, at least I thought it was a lull, we are told to jump out of the boat I guess so that we can practice retrieving someone into the boat. Well it seems to be quiet and slow moving but once in the water you see just how quickly the water is moving and how powerful the current is. Everyone recovered we continue down over some more rapids and then the next test is a balnce test, we stow our paddles and all stand on the outer tubes of the boat holding each other and it all seems quite stable and then suddenly 4 of us are in the river again, I am sure we were pushed. It is quite lumpy here so it takes a while to get us all back in the boat but all back safely in we progress.
Having moved on quite a bit we are moving quite quickly and suddenly the boat lurches violently and we lose another 4 overboard, we ask how the lurch occurred and our capitain had put a karabiner on the side of the boat and pulled up which tipped the boat on its side, great fun.
Another boat has now overtaken us with all our faffing so we give chase and soak them as we pass and manage to lose a couple more of our crewmates overboard in the process. A bit further on we thought our capitain had flipped the boat again but apparently we had hit a rock and the boat stopped and tipped forward before slipping sideways back into the flow of the river.
Back to the shop and we take a look at the photos, what great fun and what a great crew we had with us.
The road is fantastic winding us up and down, we go from 1000 masl to 600, then back up 1800 and down again. We start running along a ledge in a valley with massive mountains towering over us, the landscape is just stunning.
After a while the road surface disappears and we get held up for ages which could be another landslide but it turns out to be due to resurfacing work being carried out, this may well be due to the heavy rains they had last November when roads were washed away. We have seen a lot of evidence of this and it must be a mammoth task to rebuild and keep the major routes open at the same time.
When we arrive in San Gil amazingly we find the adventure center quite quickly, this is helped by good road names and signage for a change.
Well its seems we are staying here for the night as we have been able to book onto a white water rafting session this afternoon, so we go off to find a hotel.
Agiain reasonably straightforward once I had sorted my calle from my carrera’s. Secure parking here is once again drive in through the front door and leave it in the foyer.
Once back at the adventure centre we meet our partners for the day, 5 young guys, 3 from Columbia and 2 from Panama, they all speak good English, so another result. Off we go in the minibus and we pick up the boat and our captain and then go quite a way upstream, we unload the boat from its trailer and done our lifejackets and helmets and then carry the boat down to the river. A comprehensive briefing then takes place in Spanish and Martin and I thought that it would be repeated in English but sadly our capitain doesn’t do English. One of our fellow travellers then gives us the bones of what was said and we get afloat and start gently drifting downstream. As soon as we leave our captain uses his paddle to splash most of us, so we are not concerned about getting wet now. We soon hit a fast moving stretch and take quite a bit of water on board but there are holes in the bottom so it drains down very quickly.
At the next lull, at least I thought it was a lull, we are told to jump out of the boat I guess so that we can practice retrieving someone into the boat. Well it seems to be quiet and slow moving but once in the water you see just how quickly the water is moving and how powerful the current is. Everyone recovered we continue down over some more rapids and then the next test is a balnce test, we stow our paddles and all stand on the outer tubes of the boat holding each other and it all seems quite stable and then suddenly 4 of us are in the river again, I am sure we were pushed. It is quite lumpy here so it takes a while to get us all back in the boat but all back safely in we progress.
Having moved on quite a bit we are moving quite quickly and suddenly the boat lurches violently and we lose another 4 overboard, we ask how the lurch occurred and our capitain had put a karabiner on the side of the boat and pulled up which tipped the boat on its side, great fun.
Another boat has now overtaken us with all our faffing so we give chase and soak them as we pass and manage to lose a couple more of our crewmates overboard in the process. A bit further on we thought our capitain had flipped the boat again but apparently we had hit a rock and the boat stopped and tipped forward before slipping sideways back into the flow of the river.
Back to the shop and we take a look at the photos, what great fun and what a great crew we had with us.
11th March Bucaramanga 35 miles
We spent the morning getting ourselves sorted and updating the blog including lots of photos, you will need to look at the archive to see everything.
This afternoon we headed off Giron, an unspoilt colonial town but the only part we saw seemed industrial which doesn’t match its description so we truck on to try to find a cigar factory, having found the town we are looking for a needle in a haystack when some locals interested in us and our bikes offer directions. Struggling to understand a young guy offers to lead us in his car which is much easier. We go to one place but it turns out to be a storage and distribution unit rather than a manufacturing place, they however direct our guide to another place, similar story, and again another set of directions. Well at the fourth stop we seem to be in the right place but are unable to go in to see the cigars being made but they bring out a tobacco leaf for us and then several more, we indicate we would like to see them rolling the cigars so a bunch of cigars are given to us but no invite in. Oh well, we leave with our gifts and thank our guide for all his help and call it a day and return to our hotel.
This afternoon we headed off Giron, an unspoilt colonial town but the only part we saw seemed industrial which doesn’t match its description so we truck on to try to find a cigar factory, having found the town we are looking for a needle in a haystack when some locals interested in us and our bikes offer directions. Struggling to understand a young guy offers to lead us in his car which is much easier. We go to one place but it turns out to be a storage and distribution unit rather than a manufacturing place, they however direct our guide to another place, similar story, and again another set of directions. Well at the fourth stop we seem to be in the right place but are unable to go in to see the cigars being made but they bring out a tobacco leaf for us and then several more, we indicate we would like to see them rolling the cigars so a bunch of cigars are given to us but no invite in. Oh well, we leave with our gifts and thank our guide for all his help and call it a day and return to our hotel.
Friday 11 March 2011
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