Travel Log Week 12

Monday 18.9.00 Yukon Bridge Motel (GPS N65.52.58.8/W149.43.08.5) back to Fairbanks We got up late after our exertions yesterday, as although it was not particularly cold overnight, we were not pushed for time today and thought it best to let things warm up as much as possible before we started out. The restaurant was still full of hunters coming and going. There really are an awful lot of people up here although it is a big place and it does make you wonder if the amount of Moose and Bears being taken is sustainable. Some guys had seen nothing all week, others were fully loaded down with kills. The weather word today was that it is definitely likely to snow early this year and the layer we'd struggled over yesterday was "unseasonal", but apparently it had been enough to stop the tour buses coming up to the Arctic Circle already. The locals were saying that once it comes down properly they don't use chains at all, but this early snow is the worst to drive on as it is more slippery. Now they tell us! We had been lucky it seemed to hit the window we did, a day earlier we would have been in the blizzard, and left much later it will snow again for sure.

After a solid breakfast we loaded and fuelled for the return leg to Fairbanks and we were quite concerned to find that that what had been puddles on the forecourt were now frozen, and knowing we had to ride back over the Pass we'd spent over an hour on yesterday, we were a little nervous! Nothing for it but either wait another day or go for it so we went. Riding very carefully and looking for all the telltale signs; sure enough on all the shaded bits and lea slopes the splashing noise of the tyres went very quiet, we were riding on ice again, but it looked like water until you got onto it. All the roadside ponds were frozen over now, whereas yesterday they'd been ice free. And here came our dreaded Pass, a 1/2 mile ice and snow uphill to what was now a left-hander, and another 1/2 mile to the top; we stopped to assess it first and agreed to hit it fast and not stop for anything, and if one came off the other would continue and walk back down, rather than both get stuck. Full on in 2nd we kept it as smooth as possible and just steering by pushing our feet down on the pegs; we made it up, but just a slight extra touch of throttle and the back tyre was spinning, it was that close!

We throttled right off to drop over the other side and it was now the solid ice we'd footed up yesterday, even harder packed now and you could feel the bike moving under you all the time. As the gradient increased we had no choice but to go with it and speed up. It was so twitchy we were expecting a fall at any moment and were still picking up speed! We really really did not want to fall off now as it would wreck the bikes and boxes and the sound of crashing Touratechs we'd got to know quite well in Patagonia kept replaying itself in our heads. Having held our breath for about a minute, we finally got low enough down the mountain to get back onto gravel, now doing about 35 - plenty fast enough for a serious fall. We pulled up for a catch of breath and a de-stress! The sheer concentration in those few minutes of riding was nerve wracking! We carried on down the dirt road, Gordon at Blackfoot Motosports had been spot on with his tyre advice, no tyre would work on ice like we'd had here and in South America, but the rest of the road was entirely rideable. We were still extremely careful on the icy stretches, and we had one more high point where we'd first ground to a halt yesterday, but as we reeled off the miles conditions improved steadily.

We were delighted to spot a Porcupine crossing the road; Adam herded it back into the middle with his bike and while he got the camera out, John used his Africa Twin to stop it running away on the other side. They really are quite cute things, especially with their "backs up" and we hope we've got a decent pic. Watching him scramble away up the bank was good fun, another good experience. The road was now wide and hard surfaced and it was a pleasure throwing the bikes into the big corners and dodging the few potholes and we were also delighted to see another Eagle cruising on the wind. It seemed a lot further back than we remembered and the wind was a lot colder, but we eventually got back onto pavement and stopped for a Snicker break. We'd done another 350 miles all on dirt, much more the conditions we'd imagined before we came, similar to those we found in Argentina but it really brings it home how rough the Bolivian roads are. Mind you, on one of the Alaskan Highway upgrade works, the board justifying the tax dollars being spent suggested it was costing $1m per mile, which no way can Bolivia afford.........

The pavement run was another 30 miles of sweeping curves and undulations, great to ride, and just as we rounded one bend a Moose cow and 3 calves finished lunch on the verge and disappeared, we still can't get over how big they are! We made a quick stop at the El Dorado Gold Mine which was just closing. It looked interesting so if we have time maybe we will catch it tomorrow on the run down to Anchorage. So, after a quick stop to get some more DV tape, we got back to the Comfort to have a hot bath and recover after another tricky days riding, with only the 350 miles south to Anchorage to complete tomorrow. We both felt that yesterday was really the icing on the cake, no pun intended, as we had to ride through dust, dirt snow and ice to get to the Arctic Circle, a snapshot of all the conditions we've endured together with Paul over the last 3 months, and that was somehow fitting. It has been a struggle at times to get here and having to work hard at the last to overcome yet another section of snow; getting hot and sweaty while manhandling the overheating bikes up the hill and knowing you were that close to coming off big time made it all the more sweet. We could so easily have called it a day early but then we'd have missed out on a wonderful afternoon in the Arctic Circle, which put a real finish to the adventure.

The run down to Anchorage tomorrow will be a bittersweet experience, our last days riding after 3 months on the bikes; on the one hand we will be back to home comforts (and work!) soon, but on the other the thrill of seeing somewhere new every day will be gone, at least for now.........!

Tuesday 19.9.00 Fairbanks to Fairbanks! It was very frosty but sunny after a clear night and we loaded up early as we had definitely decided it would be nice to visit the gold mine since we'd been fascinated by the silver mine in Potosi and it would be nice to see how gold is panned too. The guy we'd spoken to yesterday as they were locking up had said "Oh yeah, my boss had did the same trip I think, but in reverse in 1975, starting in December". We were a bit stunned as we had not met anyone else who had done anything remotely similar during our trip, and right here at the finish we would maybe stumble across someone else with the same experiences. We hoped he would perhaps be there today as it would be nice to compare our journeys and we just had to find out more about riding in Alaska in December!

The Mine trip consisted of a small gauge railway pulling passenger cars around a circular track and while we waited to depart the Commentator (Earl) played Fiddle and Guitar and sang country songs, very good too. The train pulled out with Earl giving us a very informative presentation of the geological and social history of gold in the area; we went past an open mine with men working a pit and panning a stream and then we went into a permafrost tunnel, were we were shown how the miners used steam to eat away the frozen gravel beds which contain the gold dust and nuggets, so that they could then be panned for ore. The guide on this section did a great job explaining the techniques used and was warmly applauded by the audience, but as the train pulled out one of the two motorcyclists sat on their own in the last carriage gave him the finger, which took him aback somewhat! John then gave him a thumbs up to reassure him; to our English sense of humour it struck us as funny that with the exception of us two, all the others were unmistakably more mature people on holiday who were well into the entertainment side, which contrasts wildly with the more "reserved" British response to these things!

The train ran on past a working steam winch and bucket pulley and then we were at the panning sluice, where Dexter and his wife did a great presentation on panning and the history of the goldrush. They'd both been prospectors up country until they started work on this mine and like most people here seem to combine the tours with prospecting and another job. Great fun and the run of gravel did indeed produce quite a few nuggets, fascinating how it just comes straight out of the ground, but of course the trick is finding the right patch of gravel to work in the first place. We then went into the panning shed to pan our own sack of ore, with warm water and towels laid on, you could really see the thrill of prospecting. It is quite something watching a heap of gravel in your pan get whittled down to leave just small nuggets of gold, so simple! Gold Fever is a very real phenomenon and now we could appreciate why as its thrilling to see those grains of gold appearing in your pan, one nugget found up here is the size of a cigarette packet and worth $25,000; all you have to do is pick one up out of the gravel.Earl the commentator came over to help us out and also said that Tim in the Tunnel had asked him to find out what the finger was about! Earl had already suggested to Tim it was probably some kind of English "Monty Python" humour, and we assured him he was quite correct and all meant in good part. Earl has had some experience of English humour before it seems......

We all went into the Assay Office to have our findings weighed and while we were looking about, we were introduced by our train driver to Johne Binkley and his son Ryan, whose family owns the mine. We had a fascinating conversation. He really had started out in December, partly as it was the only time he could get off and partly as he wanted to be the first man to ride from Prudhoe Bay by motorcycle and he'd had to wait until the Oil Company completed the Yukon Bridge. It had taken a long time to get permission to ride what was then a private road and Johne had employed this time preparing and testing his R75 BMW for the trip. He used trials tyres which he fitted with studs, a big screen, muffs, many layers of clothing and a Bell helmet sealed under the eyes and with a snorkel attached so he could breathe without misting up the visor. Just as he was due to start he heard the permission was to be withdrawn, but managed to get on the transport plane and up to Prudhoe before the official letter arrived. It took him 3 days to ride back down, in temperatures of -60f, which makes our paltry -25c in Patagonia seem easy! Every time he stopped he had to restart very carefully as the tyres would go almost solid in the cold! After a short break, Johne then rode on down the Alaska highway in temperatures as low as -74f to Vancouver and on down to the tip of South America, arriving in Ushuaia after 6 months on the road, less a month in hospital in Mexico with a broken kneecap. What a story.

He invited us back to lunch and offered us a trip on their Sternwheeler (Paddle Boat) which was doing a tour that afternoon. When we saw "Klondike" at Whitehorse the other week (it turned out Johne's father Jim had skippered her before he started his own business in 1950) we had both said how much we'd like to go on one and now we had a chance, so we accepted the offer most gratefully, and decided to go to Anchorage tomorrow instead, no rush now after all. We paused to get our gold pannings weighed and were surprised to find we had got $20 worth. Fortunately it was Tim on the scales and we were able to make sure we'd explained some of the more obscure aspects of English humour. Tturns out he travels as well, also works in the State Legislature and does 4 months mining a year to keep a balance. In 10 years of doing the Tunnel presentation he'd never had that reaction before, trust our John to be different!

Over lunch we swapped experiences and looked at Johne's photos of his trip which were fascinating. He'd been to many of the places we had, but completed the walk to Macchu Piccu and went to Galapagos, both on our wish list still; he'd left his bike in Ushuaia meaning to return the next year and ride back, but met his wife while at home, started a Tug & Barge business and never went back. The dealer looking after the bike kept in communication for several years and it seems that Customs were looking for it as well after its import documents expired, but he is not sure what eventually happened to it. Maybe worth a trip to find out one day.

To get to the Sternwheeler, we were taken on a quick ride up river in the workboat and as soon as we docked, the Captain of the Sternwheeler cast off. This it turned out was Ryan, following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, and very smoothly done too. As we went downstream we were constantly impressed by the presentation. There was another excellent running commentary on the way, complete with a live video feed of the points of interest being talked about and we learnt a lot about river life here which was key in the development of the region. After he'd done some remaining jobs, Johne invited us up to the wheelhouse and we spent the rest of a wonderful trip up top with him and Ryan, looking out over the fantastic views and learning more about Alaska all the time. The boat stopped at an Indian Village and we disembarked to see dog teams at work, traditional arts and crafts, log house styles, and some fantastic traditional clothing. All the things we'd been interested to find out about indigenous culture, which seems far more active here than further south; once again the people demonstrating were very enthusiastic and informative and we returned to dock having had a great afternoon, all the better for being unexpected. Johne also showed us around below decks which was spotless. They built Discovery I & II themselves but had commissioned Discovery III in Seattle and sailed her up when finished, quite a trip. Their workshops were spotless and they are building another loco for the mine railway to be ready for next season, another good looking piece of work.

We then popped downriver on the workboat to see Johne's brother Jim's house which he is building, a magnificent log construction with timbers brought up from Montana as there are none local which grow big enough due to the temperature. Quite a place and carefully thought out, something else we were fascinated to see and find out the inside story on, these underfloor heating systems are wonderful inventions. Johne kindly invited us to stay over which was an offer we were more than happy to accept and after dinner out we spent a couple more hours comparing notes on our experiences. He told us about the Alaskan State "Permanent Fund"; when Oil was originally discovered. The State decided to put 25% of its revenue share into a protected fund and the interest would then be paid out annually to all Alaska residents, this year it will be some $2000 each; the interest is growing all the time and will continue indefinitely after the oil is gone, makes you wonder what ever happened to our North Sea oil revenue!

The family celebrated 50 years in business this summer and it was great to see a video of the Sternwheeler race they put on between the three boats, not that the brothers are competitive or anything, but Johne & Ryan won the race by getting their passengers to stand at the front to bring the paddle wheel out of the water enough to get some more revs out of it! It looked like a great day and coincided with his parents 53rd wedding anniversary, wonderful. He also told us a brilliant story about a supplier of mining equipment in Colorado that they use - On this companies' office wall there is a framed letter from their Colombian Agent:

"Dear sirs, I was visited today by some men who told me that your equipment actually belonged to them. I told them they were mistaken and showed them all the appropriate documentation for your equipment. However they did not agree with me and insisted it was definitely theirs. Despite the paperwork, in the end they did convince me that it was theirs and they took it away. Yours sincerely etc.

PS. They all had machine guns"

Having been in that region now, all of us appreciated the situation only too well and despite feeling sorry for the Company concerned, it was really hysterical! After a fantastic day of glorious weather and good company, we went to bed so glad we had made that quick trip back up the road to see the gold mine this morning, what an experience.

Wednesday 20.9.00 Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska (GPS N61.10.34.8/W149.58.44.6) After a wonderful nights sleep, unfortunately too overcast to see the Northern Lights yet, after breakfast Johne asked if we'd like to go out to the river plain and see if we could find his brother Skip who was Moose hunting out there. It was a beautiful morning and since it was a 5 hour ride down to Anchorage we'd still have plenty of light to complete the final leg of our trip today, we thought it was a great idea and another rare chance to see Alaskan life in ways we'd not normally be able to. What we had not realised though was that the best way to find Moose hunters quickly is by aeroplane, and before we knew it Johne & Ryan were busy doing pre-flight checks on the Cessna floatplane moored on the river outside! After taxiing up and down to warm up the motor properly we were off and climbing; what a way to travel. We'd noticed a lot of planes around and you could see why, the distances are so vast between settlements here and with many lakes and rivers to land on you can get around really easily. In winter they all just swap the floats for skis and land on the ice instead. Apparently Alaska has the highest proportion of pilots in the population of any State, and quite possibly the world.

The view from 2000 feet was incredible, blue sky and snow covered mountains on the horizon all around, including Denali (Mt McInley) in the distance, the highest mountain in North America. We flew down river and out over the vast marshes where the Moose roam, and circled around looking for animals and people. There were lots beaver lodges but no Moose in sight; we saw a number of hunters huts hidden away on islets and lots of tracks through the grasses where the fan driven airboats run. At last we did see an airboat and Johne circled around to see who it was, and the people below started waving. We circled away and Johne suggested creeping up on them from behind and buzz them, as with their engine going they would not hear the Cessna coming. It worked a treat and we zoomed by low over their heads, only for Johne to say "Oops, it's not Skip after all!" Leaving the surprised hunters to sort themselves out, he took us up round the north of Fairbanks and the sight of Alaska in Fall from the air was superb, what an experience, and we landed back on the river after 45 of the most memorable minutes of the trip. It also made us realise just how rattly the Cessna we'd flown over Nazca in had been, maybe Paul had been right to sit that trip out!

While securing the Plane, Johne asked if we'd driven wetbikes before which we hadn't, so he fired up the Polaris and warmed it up, and of course we just had to have a go on that too; what a beast, it is a 750 2 Stroke twin, about 90hp and does it go! The acceleration and braking is fantastic, and although the steering takes some getting used to it rides very like an offroad bike we had a good rip around and got the feel of it, and it would have been easy to have spent all day out on the river, another buzz! After tying tying up the wetbike again we went in to start getting ready to leave and chatted to Johne all the while. He was a little surprised not to have seen any Moose at all this morning, but he said that our concerns the other day about over hunting were not a worry; in fact the Moose population is rising and the authorities had been considering making it legal to take Cow Moose this season in order to bring the numbers back into balance. This was good to know and it seems the bear population is OK as well. When you see the land from the air, it is a vast space for animals to hide themselves in.

It was time to move out and we said farewell to Johne; We'd been made so welcome by the family and it had been a wonderful way to complete our trip, also Johne said it had brought back great memories for him of his own trip, which he felt had been a real source of self confidence and perspective to him over the years. Yet another chance meeting had given us more wonderful experiences to remember and this has perhaps been the most welcome benefit of our trip, the chance to meet and get to know people we'd otherwise never come to contact with at all, amazing.

It was with a real sense of anticlimax that we set off down to Anchorage, the road again felt to be downhill, more so than the real gradient of the land and although it was yet another wonderful ride in sunshine through spectacular scenery, we both felt a bit subdued. Still time to see the bizarre though: one embankment had a kitchen table placed on it and was piled high with cuddly toys, why, who knows! There were still signs to smile at too, the famous "Cripple Creek" is in Fairbanks, other creeks on the road were not so famous, but "Lower Troublesome Creek" must have a story to tell. The view of Denali as we passed through was stunning, that is one big mountain and it rises almost sheer from the plain, a little like the Andes down at Monterros where we climbed onto them. The valley widened out and continued dropping down to Anchorage, sparse pine tress giving way to bigger forests as we went south and the climate seemed to warm up, although in tune with our mood, the sky became overcast and was looking like it was going to snow before long.

Despite our subdued mood it was still very satisfying to ride by a sign which said "Welcome to Anchorage" and we went right past the biggest line of light planes ever on our way through the town centre and down to the waters edge to look over the sound; it felt at last like we were at the end of the road, with a very similar light and atmosphere to the Magellan Sound around Punta Arenas, 13500 miles further south! We found a hotel to book into for the night with email connections and just as we'd finished unloading the rain came, pouring down all night long. All that remained now was to contact the airline to pull our tickets forward and the Motorcycle Shop who would be crating our bikes for return to the UK, and our adventure would be over..............

Thursday 21.9.00 Anchorage Alaska to London Gatwick(!) The overnight rain once again meant no chance to see the Northern Lights, but fortunately it was a bright dry day. The Best Western breakfast got us going and first business of the day was to bring our air tickets forward, and it was almost too easy when American Airlines said "Yes". No problem, we could fly out midnight tonight! That fixed, we called The Motorcycle Shop who were to crate our bikes for the truck down to Vancouver, where they will be containerised at Mannix Freight for the sea trip home. They were expecting us after our email last week and it was only 3 blocks away, so it was with a strange feeling that we loaded up for the last time to ride the short distance through town to the shop. Every day since Houston we had ridden somewhere new and today would be the last time we would do that for the foreseeable future! We were ultra careful not to have a last minute accident on the way across town and soon pulled up outside Don's place; having introduced ourselves we took some commemorative shots of us with the filthy bikes and switched them off for the last time. We wanted to leave the bikes with their genuine "American" dirt on them, so all we really had to do was clean the Panniers off so we could carry them on the plane, and apart from putting out some of the heavier stuff to be packed in the crates with the bikes, that was it, job done.

We spent quite a while chatting with Don who has been in business over 20 years up here. He's a BMW and Triumph dealer as well, and had helped Nick Saunders on his record breaking round the world trip a couple of years ago, and had many tales to tell. What do Big Dogs and Harley Davidsons have in common? They both like riding around in the back of Pickups! The wind was really gusting hard and after wheeling the bikes into the workshop, we decided to retreat to the cafe over the road for lunch. The proprietor was playing acoustic guitar and singing for his customers as we walked in which was different, after he'd taken our order we asked him to carry on, it was really nice. A guy at another table heard our accents and asked what we were doing up here and when we told him he spent the next 2 hours picking our brains as his son is thinking of doing just what we'd done next summer. Gene is a great guy, one of the original survey team on the Alaska Pipeline, he's had a rollercoaster life so far and still seems to be working all the hours under the sun. We hope he makes it away for the cycling holiday he dreams of!

We checked back with Don at the shop, all was well, and after saying farewell to our bikes, we thought we might as well take a Cab over to the airport and wait for the flight there. A yellow sedan turned up to collect us and the panniers, the Cabbie was Croatian and could not believe we'd just ridden 13,500 miles, and wanted to know all about taxi's in south America. Well, where do you start? We also asked him about Moose, he said yeah, there are 600 in town right now! This conjured up all sorts of weird images of Moose doing their shopping at WalMart, getting drunk in bars etc, but apparently they really do come into suburban gardens during the hunting season, seemingly knowing that they cannot be shot within 1mile of a public highway. They're not stupid! Busy talking, he had to reverse back out of a one way, but we got there in the end, and then all we had to do was wait for checkin time. When they duly opened up, John's flirting technique worked so well that they forgot to charge us the extra $100 each for revising the dates, at least, that was his theory, Adam's was that they could not wait to get rid of us!

There were lots of hunters around still in camouflage gear and our pannier stickers drew a lot of interest. It really now started to feel like an achievement and we compared notes on what had been the most memorable points of the last three months. It is impossible to highlight any one event, we had met so many wonderful people everywhere including Daniel & Gloria and their family in Garayalde, without their help the trip would have finished there; Riccardo and the amazing tea rooms in Gaimen, Marta in Cafayate, the Passman family from Buenos Aires, Ceasar at Lake Titicaca, Victor at El Milenio, the Peruvian Carreteras officers, Chris Bailey and Rocio Torres at the British Consulate in Guyaquil and of course the incredible Wilson who moved heaven and earth to help us, the US Customs guys in Houston, Brandon & Mark in Yellowstone, Gordon Mounce at Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary, Dorothy Titchener in Prince George and of course Johne Binkley and the family in Fairbanks.

Then we started thinking about scenery and without exception, everywhere we have been there has been something striking, from Tierra del Fuego in winter, the many shades of Argentina, the deserts of the Andes, the fantastic Pan American highway up the pacific coast of Peru, the jungles of Ecuador, the heat of Texas, the incredible light of New Mexico and the Meteor Crater, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the wheat belt. the northern Rockies and Jasper, and the stunning Alaska Highway, to be capped by that tantalising view of the Brooks range from the Arctic Circle! And as for the wildlife............

Eventually it was time to board, no concerns about last minute overbooking like our Continental flight out of Guayaquil, and sure enough straight on. It was pouring with rain again and it was pretty bumpy for a while as we settled in for the run down to Seattle. We knew we were heading back to the "real" world when we came in to land, 06.30 local time and 6 lane highways heading into town packed solid with cars, people going to work. We'd really not missed that at all, indeed there had been so much going on just riding and surviving at times we'd not even thought about those day to day worries much while we'd been away. Excellent! A minor miracle, the mobile phone worked for once and we spoke to England. Weird to think we would actually be there soon and after a 45 minute turnaround, we set off again to Dallas and our next change. This meant we were losing time and it was late afternoon when we got back there, 3 months after we passed through on the way down to Punta Arenas and a strong sense of Deja Vue; while we had been away time had seemed to pass very slowly, but here we were back in Dallas in the blink of an eye, very strange.

All we had to show for the last 3 months was longer hair and a healthier complexion, but inside we knew we'd really been places and done things few other people have the chance to. True to form, the unreliable Orange phone now refused to work where it had been quite happy here on our last visit, what a surprise! All that remained was for John to check out the T Shirts, but nothing caught his eye thank goodness, and after a quick last minute Gate change by AA just to try and catch us out, we were off to Gatwick, with a somewhat early evening meal on the plane. As ever it was difficult to sleep, John kept eying the First Class curtain with envy and eventually it began to get light and we saw the lights of Ireland below. The next break in the clouds showed us a large estuary below, and with a shock, Adam realised he was looking down directly on the Solent and the family business, welcome home! It really did feel odd to be back and after walking straight through Customs (no concerns with aluminium panniers here thank goodness) we were back in England, after an emotional reunion with Adam's mum it was out and into the delights of the M25 motorway.

It really struck us that even in the times of overpopulation and excessive road building just how green the countryside is and how big the trees are, something we must not take for granted for future generations. So, a quite fantastic trip which has exceeded all our expectations and we will spend the next few weeks taking it all in, looking at photos and videos of the places we have been and try to make some sense out of it all. It has been great travelling and seeing so many new things and we could go and do it all again, but we are also looking forward to spending time with our families and friends, probably boring them to death with tales of the places we've been. It will also be interesting to see if we can maintain that broader perceptive once we get back into the daily routine; Paul has already pitched back into work at the Studio and is looking forward to the imminent birth of their next child, so it won't take long for the daily routine to change back into its old self, working 6 days a week but hopefully we will all be able to mentally slip back to conquering the Andes and riding down into Arequipa when the daily grind gets to us!

We would like to thank all those Companies who helped us out with gear, without exception the products we took worked brilliantly and made the whole thing happen, please visit their websites via the linkpage at the front of the site. We were also extremely grateful for the backup from home by Tom & Sally Williams who have been maintaining the website and sorting out our reports into the beautifully presented pages you have been reading, and Paul Hooper at Martins Rubber for technical support and constantly upping the limit on our Mastercard! We are also very grateful to Julie Crosshoare for encouraging Paul to carry on with the trip when it turned out that she would be pregnant throughout!

In due course we hope to be producing a Video and Book about our experiences, which will also provide extra funds for the Down's Syndrome Charity in the UK. If you are interested in receiving a copy of these, please email us with your contact details via the button on the home page, and we will keep you informed. We should also say that it has been great to hear from so many people that you have enjoyed reading about our travels as we have gone along, it has made us feel really in touch and when we are back and settled we will reply to everyone to say thanks. Once again our thanks and very best wishes to everyone who has made the trip possible, to everyone we have met along the way, and it truly has been an experience of a lifetime, you really should try it yourselves as it is worth all the hard work needed to get out on the road, make it possible and you'll never regret it!

PS, We never did see the Northern Lights, so its off to Norway via the Isle of Man in 2001 to see them, we are still working on how to see a Condor in the wild!

Web updated 16.10.00