Mongol Rally, Day 8, 26/07

Slow start this morning as yesterday's riding was very tough in the heat.

At the hostel I met a couple of lads from Iverness who are touring the Nordics and Lithuania/Latvia on more sensible sized bikes and as usual they were in disbelief at how far I was going on the XR.

The mighty XR while still in tip top condition

A little maintenance was completed, the blown headlamp bulb was a pain in the dark the previous night and as I am about to go into Russia it would be the perfect excuse for the police to constantly hassle me for bribes. The USB charger still does not work but I will leave that for when I get to Moscow; as for the moment I am staying in hostels and hotels where I can charge my phone.

The ride to Rezekne in Latvia was again very hard, it seems that the Latvians have decided to dig up all the roads that head east and leave them in a loose gravel finish. The dust clouds are choking and the big trucks pepper you with stones as they rush past. Latvia seems to be woods, fields and lots of small farms, I did not see any industry over my whole trip.

Rezekne has a definite Soviet feel about it with lots of crumbling social housing flats and the expected big statues. My hotel is the usual lovely reception area then somehow you go back in time while in the lift and emerge to find a room perfectly preserved from the 1960's, complete with dripping taps and lino flooring.

Soviet era crumbling flats

The bingo hall next door (also bar, pizza restaurant, and general low life hang out place) is boasting a mega prize night of  100Euros! I suspect that the ex Soviet housewives of Rezekne will be there and horribly drunk later tonight!

Miles today 220M (352KM) and a lot of dust and dirt.

Mongol Rally 2015, Day 7, 25/07

So on Saturday morning bright and early, my lovely wife drove me to the airport to catch a flight to Warsaw where I had left my bike a month ago with another bike friend; Anna Wozniak.

Warsaw was in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures on the motorways of up to 38C - wow not expecting that, as the UK was dull and raining when I left.

Anna was at home, so it was great to spend a bit of time finding out about her - turns out that she has a semi medical background like me and works for Glaxo as a sales rep selling Asthma drugs.

Bike was still in great condition, I had a moments scare when it would not start, but had forgotten that the side stand cuts the ignition if down. After leaving a gift with Anna and the security guards, I set off to try and ride from Warsaw to Vilnius in Lithuania, I did not get far - Warsaw is a nightmare to escape and I spent an hour going in very hot circles not able to find the right motorway.
Eventually I asked a biker who I spotted on a large Suzuki and he offered to lead me out of town - really grateful as both me and the bike were getting very overheated.

Once moving things improved; my air jacket is brilliant, but the poor little XR was not happy above 50 mph so I had to go easy all day.

I eventually made it to Vilinius but late at night, then the Downtown Forest Hostel eluded discovery until gone midnight! Too late to go for supper so the whole day's food was a pain choco in airport and a hotdog in last service station, the Hostel sold bottled beer so I bought a cold Tuborg and was soon in bed out cold.

Total miles for the day after 12+ hours riding was a disappointing 333M (533 KM)

Oh my god here we go again! Mongol Rally 2015

So having not learnt my lesson last year, my lovely wife has again unleashed me on the unsuspecting world (or at least Eastern Europe) and agreed that I can ride to Mongolia once more.

Unfortunately work has delayed my departure so although the 2015 Mongol Rally started yesterday, I am still at my work desk for another week before donning my leathers and risking all for the sake of insanity.

Now this year the Aventurists have supplied some words for us all to speak whenever in a public forum, so here is a taster that puts us in the mood.

"Adventure used to be easier. Maps had edges and you could keep going until you fell off the edge of the world. Now you have to try hard to get lost. You've got to ignore the travel guides, you've got to throw your compass down the loo and you've got to set off with nothing but ignorance to light your path"

So to make progress after a late start I have a cunning plan.
A few weeks ago I rode my mighty steed (Honda XR125) to Warsaw in Poland and left it with the lovely Anna who is guarding it with her life until I return next Saturday - then it's head down for a thrash through Lithuania and Latvia with Moscow as my target for first proper rest and party time (hopefully there will be some very slow teams that are still in town)!

To get you excited here is the trusty steed (donated by Koh Lee Na) sitting by the Berlin wall while I was on my way to Warsaw.

As you can see from the painting I am metaphorically escaping! (pretty high brow for me)

Bigger boots, more armour and old age will hopefully keep me safe this year.

Home at Last and time for bed

So it's hard to describe how nice it is to be out of hospital today and back home with Angie and Scarlett.

Now before we go any further please understand the scale of my misdemeanours, after putting Angie through a week of stress and worry, yesterday was her birthday and I failed to get even a card! Maybe I will be in the dog house for a little longer than originally expected.

So a big thank you to all my friends and family who have called and sent messages, I feel really guilty because other than a couple of dodgy days the whole adventure had been super brilliant and I in no way deserve any sympathy from anyone. Currently I am just a bit weary, but overall I expect to be back to 100% in a week or so.

Lets really hear it for Pembury and Maidstone Hospitals, fantastic teams, beautiful people who have given me a complete overhaul, flushed out the dodgy plumbing and set me up for a super quick recovery, with luck a small adjustment to my hand and I will be back to full function - if anyone wants to rush me to a pub I have been told to flush the kidneys copiously - so all clear there.

In some respects I am a little sad over having dropped out before Mongolia, I was looking forward to seeing that amazing country and hopefully making more friends, but it is what it is and it was fantastic as far as I got. Would I do it again? yes in an instant, even to the same outcome. The people I met and the friends I made were more than worth the difficulties and I think that I have learned a lot about myself and other cultures from the whole experience.

Max and his team are still making great progress, the Saxo has lost its sump guard and radiator fan courtesy of James hitting a big rock, but nice men with big hammers have got them back on the road and they are doing fine.

Here is a picture of James when I passed them in Russia, doing the walk of shame back to a policeman's hut, pulled over for nothing but did not stop fast enough and incurred an immediate demand for money in passport, I donated some miniature Jack Daniels bottles that did the trick!

I have so many stories to tell that I should write a book - I suspect that would be preferred or I will bore you to death even more than usual.

This is probably the last proper blog update, I will add some more photos and notes about some of the places I stayed but for now go find Max Chapman on Instagram or Facebook and you can enjoy an altogether more alcoholic road trip to Mongolia.

Thanks for the charity donations - Cool Earth and the Nava Kiram Orphanage are truly grateful for your support and will say prayers in thanks for you.

A slightly less fat man, minus a small motorcycle, is now wobbling off to bed!

[Unofficial update by Scarlett #3]

Saturday 09/08

Well Dad's "brief trip to A&E" turned into less of a visit and more of a... two and a half day stay in hospital. After spending Friday evening in A&E to fix his thumb, Dad called with the bad news; the hospital had made the break worse! There was talk of needing to wire the bones in place and it was decided Dad should stay the night at Pembury.

This morning came the news that Dad's phone was running out of battery and we were left with the Orthopaedic Consultant planning on taking a look at some point during the morning, and they will take it apart today (or next week) and either manipulate or wire it.

He also said that the surgical team were going to do spleen and kidney function tests and a CT scan as well.

Then ... we didn't hear from him for the rest of the day!

Around 20:00 we managed to track him down to find that he was in transit from Pembury to Maidstone Hospital, where tomorrow he will see a urologist specialist!

Mum is going to visit hm at the crack of dawn tomorrow, so when she comes back I'll hopefully have some more information for you all!

Once again, a massive thank you to all of the well-wishers and everyone who has offered us support; it has really made this whole week so much easier.

[Unofficial Update from Scarlett: #2]

Friday 08/08:

First the good news:

Dad caught the first flight out of Kazakhstan on Thursday, and after 12 hours, touched down in London. A massive thank you to Jeremy for going to pick him up!

Phil got home safe and sound, and the first thing he did was ask for a cup of tea (clearly he couldn't be too bad off)! Immediately followed by a bath and supper.

This morning he went off to the doctor's surgery and they went 'yup pop off to A&E for your thumb' and then we will start  sorting out the kidney stuff in the next few days hopefully.
Dad is incredibly tired, but after a nap, he trundled off to Pembury, where he is still (20:24) getting his thumb re-set and some blood work done. He'll be home in a few hours though!

Thank you all so much for the kind words, well-wishes and offers of support for both Dad and Mum & I. We really appreciate it and it's made things a lot less stressful knowing we have such great friends to rely on.

The end of my adventure is in sight

Wednesday 6/08

So after having reviewed all of the information that my brilliant wife has extracted from the British Consulate in Almaty, the general conclusion is that you cannot leave, destroy or sell a motorbike that has come into Kazakhstan as a temporary import. You can only pay to have it taken out to another country where the same rules apply!
Reading between the lines, you can only go home by donating the bike to charity, and even then the charity may not know you have done it.

The problem with my current situation is that there is 7000 miles of rough road between me and the Mongolian finish, and with my right thumb in plaster, this is a bit of a non-starter.

I left the mighty Sinnis registration plate over the bar in the Guns and Roses Music Bar in Atyrau.

The next problem is the marble sized kidney stone that the last fall dislodged, which is now causing internal bleeding and a significant amount of pain. Inflammation of the kidney is growing daily, so I need to get back to the marvellous NHS ASAP.

At the start of this adventure, my greatest desire was to get "out of bounds" and the people I met were more important than the destination. So all of the goals have been met; I have made the most marvellous friends from all walks of life. I have experienced huge and savage times, and revelled in my own solitude for days upon end.
I have also found loneliness, despair and pain in situations that I never wish to visit again.

In all my experiences I have found that even in the difficult abused countries kindness exists in the vast majority. I have been offered small meals, tea and companionship when no words of language joined us.

Tonight at Atyrau Airport I am saying a prayer of thanks to Angie & Scarlett for organising my escape and yet in the back of my mind I regret that I am leaving this different world to rejoin our place of comfort and safety, where small kindness is seemingly so rare.
I doubt I will push myself into the great unknown to this degree again, but I have learnt more about myself than anything else and I am definitely not the hard man that I have aspired to be.
One or two of my road companions called me 'a kind man' and that seems like a better and more worthy goal.
A massive thanks to all of the other Rally teams that have helped me!

Wish me luck tonight in clearing Kazakhstan immigration! I can't wait to see my family and friends; it seems like a lifetime has passed.