Arriving at the famous Vitim River bridge sun rays were shinning through the clouds creating a dramatic feeling overlooking the daunting bridge. The Vitim Bridge is renowned to be one of the most dangerous road bridges in the world, about half a kilometer long and 15 meters high over the fast-flowing Vitim River. One of…Continue Reading “Riding the BAM Road – Crossing the Vitim River Bridge and Day 5 to Taksimo”
We got up early the next day, only to get a call from our Kamaz-driver in Kuanda who was supposed to drive the bikes over the river on the back of his truck. “River is too high, you have to wait a couple of days until the water level drops”. The Kuanda river is always…Continue Reading “Riding the BAM Road – Day 4: Chara to Kuanda”
We woke up once again to an amazing view over a river. After having some coffee and porridge we saddled the horses and headed west along the railway. The first 80 kilometers where pretty easy going. Suddenly the road got really muddy leading through swamps. Because of the recent rain some of the puddles were…Continue Reading “Riding the BAM Road – Day 3: From some Railway shack to Chara”
We were greeted the next morning by a lovely blue sky and the fog just starting to dissolve over the river next to our home for the night. The plan was to ride the embankment of the railway for some time until the official road improved a bit. After a couple of kilometers we reached…Continue Reading “Riding the BAM Road – Day 2: From one Railway shack to the next!”
Since reading about this 1’300 kilometre stretch of road a couple of years ago the idea to ride along the railway from Tynda to Lake Baikal was stuck in our heads. This road was constructed to build the Baikal – Amur railway between 1930 – 1984 and some sections have not been maintained since. It…Continue Reading “Riding the BAM Road – Day 1: Tynda to a railway shack”
After waiting for 9 weeks the bikes finally arrived in Vladivostok! Shipping from Uruguay had cost us many nerves and more time than we anticipated. The bikes were shipped to Busan in South Korea (because the commercial container harbour in Vladivostok/Russia is totally corrupt) and the plan was to ride around Korea for a few…Continue Reading “Zdravstvuyte (Hello) Russia!”
The weather was already getting colder by the day in Patagonia, but the forecast for the next days was no rain. So we decided to make a move and get down to Ushuaia in the next three days before the weather turns sour! One day riding over to the East coast to Rio Gallegos was…Continue Reading “Ushuaia & The End of the Road: WE MADE IT!”
Heading towards the Argentinian border south of Lago Gral Carrera the road led along turquoise blue lakes and climbed up into a vast open landscape with red rock formations that reminded of the Monument Valley. The road itself though was another gravel road with those bumpy cross ruts combined with very strong wind gusts. We…Continue Reading “Argentina: Stuck in the Pampas & Exploring the Perito Moreno Glacier”
The border at Mendoza opened again the next day, so after passing the crowds of people waiting to cross we made it into Chile! Together with Paul & Lauren we rented an AirBnB in Santiago de Chile to stock up on spare parts and work on the bikes, before heading down to Patagonia. In Patagonia…Continue Reading “Chile: The Carretera Austral”
Back on the tarmac and happy to have made it over all the landslides, river crossings and the snowy mountain pass we headed direction Salta through amazing rainbow coloured mountains. A new challenge was needed, but we decided on a less strenuous one: to ride through the wine area of Argentina and taste one wine…Continue Reading “Taking on the Argentinian lifestyle and facing closed borders”