March update

Another month and again not as much progress made on my writing as I would have hoped. At the moment I'm not sure I can see the end of this project and wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

Anyway, I have managed to get the first draft done. I've written 120 pages (85,000 words) on the Americas section and 99 pages (67,000 words) on the African section. Now I'm going back over it, improving, changing etc. This will take me a month or so I guess. Then I'll need to get some professional editing help. This will be the scary part. I'll send of what I think is a good manuscript only for it to come back with loads of comments and criticism. I think this part might be hard to take. We'll see.

I've signed up for the HorizonsUnlimited bike rally in the UK in July. I'm going to do a talk on my trip agian - not sure anyone will be interested as I did it last year, but I'll offer it) and at the beginning of April Tracy and I are going off to bike around the south west of the UK. Down to Cornwall for a week. Hopefully we'll visit David and Jill ( Travels with Nancy) who I met in North America last year.

I also got a phone call out fo the blue two weeks ago. Nevil, from Canada, rang me just to say hi (Those long winter nights in Canada....) He's planning a bike trip from the UK to Monglia for next year. I also got an email from Tom (The American I rode thorugh Africa with). He's going to be in the UK in May, so I'll hook up with him which will be nice. I regularly "talk" to Darlly who's working in Canada. I believe he hasn't been able to get his bike on the road yet as it's still winter up there.

As I'm actually taking Heidi out in two weeks I'll post a few photos in April of us on tour in the UK. Every time I go out on my bike I still get a thrill from knowing that the bike I'm riding around on in the UK is the very same bike I rode in Alaska - through the US - down to Panama - from Cape Town to Nairobi. 

So, sorry again to the peope who are visiting my blog at the moment. Not very exciting I know. But if you scrool down, or look at a different page you can catch up on what I did last year. This time last year my bike arrived in Cape Town and I was about to set off on the African section of my trip.......

February update

OK. February - not a great month for riding a motorcycle in the UK. Heidi is parked up outside and I haven't been out on her since before Christmas. I'm thinking I might take her out soon, but we're going through a cold spell at the moment.

This has meant, however, that I've been able to do some more writing. I've written about 140,000 words so far and I'm nearly at the end of my trip. By the end of this month I will have finished the first draft (how many drafts will I have to write? I have no idea) Once I've finished the first draft I'm going to go back through it checking it all and re-arranging some stuff to try to make it a little more interesting. Then I guess it will be time for a professional editor to step in and tell me its crap and I've just wasted six months :)

I'm of to Iceland next week for three days. I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights and this year is supposed to be a good one. So we have three nights to see them. I hope that's long enough. It's a long way to go if we don't see them.

I also have the first two weeks of April as holiday and really want to go somewhere on the bike. Early April is a little cold to head through Europe so it might have to be a trip around southern England. Perhaps not as exotic as Africa but I have't been down to Cornwall for a while and just riding Heidi anywhere sounds good at the moment. And April can be warm...

Tunisia - without Heidi

I was just about to sit down and do some more writing when I had a look at my blog. I'm getting more hits on it than I did when it was actually active and I was travelling. Weird. Who are all you people? I assume it's through the Ted Simon Foundation which means lots of people are logging on to read about motorcycle adventures - sorry, you'll be disappointed.

All I can say is, I'm trying my best to get this damn book thing done. I hope to have finished a first draft by Easter and then, no doubt there will be months and months of redrafting etc etc etc.

I did go on holiday over Christmas - without the bike. To Tunisia. And I can highly recommend it as a destination. There are NO TOURISTS there at the moment, great roads and wondeful Roman remains not to mention, in the south SAND! What more could an adventure biker want :)

I was feeling a little smug

Took my bike out today. I spent the day with lots of other fat, middle aged balding men, an alarming number of people in wheelchairs or with crutches and a few scantilly clad women - all who seemed to be called Carole Nash.


 Yes, that's right, I was at the NEC Motorcycle live show.

BMW 1200GSA "Triple black edition" £16,000!

I must admit I walked around with a bit of a smug attitude. Two years ago I'd gone to the show needing to buy a few things for my trip. Now I've done my trip (and am fully aware that I didn't need half the things I took!) and looked at all the stuff I could get on the Touratech stall and thought to myself - Hum, you don't need all that!

Fully loaded touratech bike

I found the "traveldri -plus"  stand and had a chat with Sam Manicom. He's been very helpful in getting me started on writing my book and it was great to catch up with him again.

Kawasaki haven't quite grasped the realities of two-up overland travel

There were also some weird bikes

Oh - when I get old I can see myself touring Europe on this - BMW 1600

Triumph's new Adventure bike - very nice

Damn - where did I park?

So, I'm still trying to write, and my plan is to finish a first draft by March. I'm currently writing and am nearly on the Namibian section. It's hard to get anything done during the week so I try to spend a few hours at the weekend but even that can be hard sometimes. I try to update my blog once a month - so if you want to know how it's going, come back...

Starting to write

OK. so, I've got this plan to try to write a book about my experiences travelling on my bike. I thought I'd keep you updated with how that's going.

As I'm a teacher I had a half term last week and I rode my bike 300 miles up England and into Scotland to stay with a friend. I spent most of the week trying to write and got quite a lot done. I've nearly finished a first draft of the North American section of my trip. Basically what I'm doing is working with the words I wrote to put on the blog as I went along. I'm changing some, cutting some out and adding stuff. So far I've written 85,000 words which equates to about 115 pages of A4 type on the computer. I have absolutely no idea whether it is any good at all.

I realise that this is just a first draft and I'll need to go over it again and again before getting involved with anything as technical  as an editor.  My aim is to finish the first draft (including the Africa section) by Easter (It's hard to do this AND have a job!) and then start the refining process. Hopefully that's when the Ted Simon Foundation will come in and give me a hand.

If and when things develop I'll post more here.  - Ah, to think this time last year I was in Baja California ...

I'm a Jupiter's Traveller

Believe me, I'm as shocked, bewildered, confused and scared about that title as anyone.

My own personal badge!

On Thursday night I went to launch of the Ted Simon Foundation. Set up to help travellers spread the word, the foundation was launched, up the road from my house, at the Coventry Motor Museum. I'd already decided to go along and support the event (after all Ted Simon was going to be there) but then I found out more about the whole adventure and decided to apply to be a "Jupiter's Traveller".

Bascially the foundation supports people, who have travelled, (not necessarily on a motorbike) to  record their thoughts and experiences and share them with the world. Or as it says on the website:

The Ted Simon Foundation believes that individuals of good will, moving among foreign cultures and making themselves vulnerable to the beliefs and customs of strangers, have great importance in promoting world understanding, and even more so when they can distill the essence of their experiences into a form that can be absorbed by many.

http://jupiterstravellers.org/


I applied explaining what I had done and that I was trying to write a book about my experience. Amazingly I was accepted and on Thursday night the fourteen of us who are the first cohort were announced at the launch. There is a blog page on the website and I think soon there will be more details posted there.

So hopefully now it means I will get some help in writing/editing/ publishing my book. A scary thought indeed. It also means I have to pull my finger out and do some writing. I have already written two chapters and got some positive feedback from people about it. But since starting work again I haven't written a thing. That needs to change. A lot of people are putting their time and effort into me, let alone their faith. I'd better pay them all back and produce something that encourages others to travel.

This new adventure I'm about to embark upon is a thousand times more frightening than just riding a motorbike around the world. That was easy.

This is the bike Ted Simon rode around the world on in 1973

How to import a non-EU motorbike into the UK

I arrived back in the UK on 9th June. My bike finally arrived on 14th July. As of today (30th August) I'm STILL not on the road. However, I've sent everything off to the DVLA and hopefully in the next day or two I should get a new vehicle registration number. It's taken two months and has driven me mad.

Below is a summary of what I have had to do. Of little interest to you unless you're going to do the same thing.

I'm off, with Tracy, on Thursday to a HU motorbike meeting (on the bike) and then it's back to work for me. I've managed to find myself a temporary teaching post - until Christmas, so I'll be gainfully employed again for a while. If it turns into a full time job, which I hope it will, it'll be short motorbike trips for the foreseable future. I've had an absolutely fantastic year and don't for a minute regret giving up my job and doing this.

I've been trying to put into words what a great time I've had on this blog and am curently trying to extend that into some sort of book. I don't know if anything will come of it but if it does I'll post something here in the future.

Thnaks for reading and ride safe :)

Dom

I've just been through the process of importing my bike into the UK and thought it might be useful to highlight the process here.

Go to this website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/ImportingAndExportingAVehicle/DG_4022583 Scroll down to the section “Previously used vehicle” and click on “Order and import pack” You will then want to click the box that says “Import Pack - Application to register an imported vehicle for use in Great Britain.”

You should then get, through the post a V55/5 form and a leaflet telling you what to do. Obviously it's all explained there but I'll summarise.

You will need to send all of the following to your local DVLA.

1. The V55/5 form.
2. A cheque to cover the registration fee (£55) and fee for tax disc (currently £74). You can write one cheque to cover both.
3. A copy of a current insurance policy. It can be difficult to get insurance cover as most companies require a UK registration number which, of course, you don't yet have. I went through http://www.bikesure.co.uk/. They got me insurance for my bike with Equity Red star. You use the VIN number on your bike.
4. A current MOT certificate. To get this you have to take your bike to a MOT test centre but you're not legally allowed to ride on the road until you have a new registration number. Catch-22.
5. Enclose all and any documents/certificates you have showing original registration of the bike in the country you bought it. I had these so I don't know how serious it is if you no longer have these documents.
6. Original documents confirming your name and address (ie passport. Driving license, bank statements, it tells you in the leaflet what you need)
7. Evidence of type approval. This is a certificate showing that the bike passes EU road standards. I didn't have this (and I'm sure you won't either) so I had to get what's called a MSVA (Motorbike Single Vehicle Approval). Basically it's like an MOT test. I had to get in touch with the DVLA and find my nearest VOSA office (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency). I then booked the bike in for a half hour test. They measure distances between things, whether the lights work, emissions test etc. Costs about £70 I think. There is a link to it on the page I mentioned earlier. The link will take you here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/ImportingAndExportingAVehicle/DG_4022105 If you scroll down you will find a section called “Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval Scheme (MSVA)”
8. Finally you need to enclose the appropriate HM Revenue and Customs form. Mine was called a C and E 389 form. This proves that I had paid 20% VAT and 6% sales tax on the current value of the bike when importing it.(Note it's the current value, I had to go to my local bike shop and get them to print a short letter saying what they valued the bike at, scan it and email to DLVA. Again I had to get my bike to the bike shop without riding it on the road!) Hopefully, for you, this will be sorted out quickly by your importing agent. Mine wasn't and was a real hassle but eventually I got it done.

In all this took me over 2 months to complete. I took everything to my local DVLA office. A week later I got a registration number and road tax certificate.

The frustrating thing is you CAN'T ride your bike while this is going on. Except, that is, when you are taking it to VOSA for the MSVA. Then (as long as you have insurance) you're allowed on the road.

All of this IS explained in the information you get but I thought it might be useful to know this in advance. I wasn't aware that I'd have to pay 20% VAT, for example, not that it would have have made any difference to what I did and how I did it :)

Still not on the road

I had hoped that by now my bike would be on the road. Not so. I've had the bike tested for road worthyness (Single Vehicle Approval) and it passed that and it's had an MOT. I've got it insured. All I'm waiting for now is the Customs and Excise people to tell me how much I have to pay. I think I'm going to have to pay 20% VAT. I hope to here in the next few days, then I send off all the paperwork to the DVLA and it should then take a week to get a number plate issued. It's all taking longer than I hoped and I'm getting very frustrated having my bike here but not being able to use it.

The wait goes on...

My bike arrived!

Just a quick message.

My bike arrived yesterday. It only took 5 weeks to fly here from Kenya! So far I haven't had to pay any customs or taxes, but then again I haven't been sent the Carnet yet which I need.

I'm now in the process of "importing" it into the UK. This Thursday it goes for a MSVA test (a sort of pre-MOT test) then an MOT on Friday then Is end all the paperwork off to the DVLA. Hopefully that will onylt ake a couple of weeks to come through, but there are several stages in this and it only takes one hiccup to stop the whole process.

I would love to have it all completed in 2-3 weeks so Tracy and I can, at least, go up to Scotland for a couple of weeks before summer ends and I have to start work (I know I know... this time last year I was just about to set off and now it's almost a distant dream) But then again I'm really lucky to have found a job so I can't complain.

I'll post a few photos and details of what happens with the whole importing thing incase anyone is interested.

Horizons Unlimited

Just got back from a great weekend at the Horizons Unlimited meeting in Ripley, UK. 5-600 overland bikers, great presenters (plus me) and I met up with lots of friends.

Slow bike race – Paddy Tyson falls off.
I met Nadine who I’d first met a year last April on the BMW off road course in Wales. She (as planned) had set off for Eastern Europe in April this year but got hit by a car in Sarejevo. She’s back in the Uk recovering but plans to head off back to Bosnia soon to repair her broken bike and continue her trip. Good luck Nadine.
I bumped into Mike this weekend. We’d met briefly near the Sani Pass in South Africa in April. He gave me lots of good advice when we met up and it was good to see him again.
Brian (the only one I took a photo off) had ridden his BMW 800GS from Canada to Argentina. We’d met very briefly at the HU meeting in Canada last August. Again, great to see him and catch up on what he’d been up too. We both agreed that the whole year just flew by and we couldn’t believe we were back. We had a beer or two and reminisced about bike travel and being in the UK and unemployed. What a miserable couple of bastards!

David and Jill had spent over a year, two up on a 1982 BMW getting from Eastern Canada to Panama. Again, I’d met then at the HU meeting in Canada and also for a day in Yosemite. I’d read their blog all the way so I knew what they’d been up too and they’d read mine so we didn’t have to waste time asking each other what we’d done. It’s a little weird seeing people who you hadn’t seen for nearly a year but knew full well what they’d done and where they’d been.  I hope to go and visit then down in Devon when I finally get my bike here.
Apart from that I also went to quite a few presentations ranging from a talk on visiting Norway, Lois Price’s solo trip down west africa to a group who ride scooters through the sahara to Gambia to donate them to a hospital (They do this in March and are looking for volunteers – if I’m not doing anything else in March I might give it a go)

This was my third HU meeting and was very different to the last two. Previously I’d been PLANNING a trip and was excited and nervous and keen to learn as much as possible. This time I didn’t have a motorbike or a plan and felt a little flat about the whole thing. I did three presentations, all of which went OK I think and was happy to pass on my experiences and ideas to others. But having spent three days with 500 adventure bikers all I want to do now is head off on a trip again. I clearly haven’t got it out of my system yet.

Not a great picture but it does prove that some people stayed awake during my presentation.

Perhaps not your first choice of motorbike for world travel. But this Yamaha R1 has been pretty much everywhere.

Another poor photo but it shows that any bike will do. In the foreground is a fully tooled 1200GS, (limited edition), which looks like it could go anywhere and probably hasn’t.  Behind it is an Australian post office delivery scooter, which has been ridden all the way to the UK from Australia.
News on my bike. As of today it is still in Kenya. I’ve paid the $3,300 (I know, I know) last Wednesday and as soon as that clear they promise to send it. So I’m hopeful that Heidi might be in the country by the end of next week, which would be good as the first step in the process of importing the bike is booked for 12th July. I have to take the bike to a DVLA office and get what is called at MSVA (Motorbike Single Vehicle Approval) which, I think is a sort of pre-MOT MOT. More news on that when it happens.
News on my fellow Africa travellers. Daryll and Angela (http://oneworld2explore.blogspot.com/) went to Uganda and Rwanda. They decided to end the trip back in Kenya and have flown the bikes back to Canada. They are flying to Europe this week and hope to come to the UK some time in August. I will, of course let them sleep on my couch. Tom, Pat and Chris went north. The road to Ethiopia was really bad and they stuck the bike son a truck for half of it. It appears 9from reading Toms blog) that they split up in Addis and the last a read Tom seemed to be lost in Sudan. he’d fainted in the heat, taken the wrong road somewhere and missed the weekly ferry to Egypt. Not quite sue what’s going on there really and sounds a little worrying. I’m keeping an eye on his blog. (http://tomrinbellingham.blogspot.com/)

So, just in case anyone is still reading this blog. I hope to get my bike imported and on the road in July. As of now I have no job for September and it looks increasingly like I won’t get one. I’ll have to come up with a plan B. I’ll let you know what this is when I work it out (and obviously clear it with Tracy).