Wild Camp to Darvaza Longish hot ride over really bumpy roads quite fun really, except for Lee who had a mini collapse at one of the petrol stops on the way - usual culprit this bug medic checked him out and let him ride on, he looked really rough apparently ashen was word the word used. I had some plonker of a minibus driver wanted to race me bloody idiot over these roads he stood no chance I was only running at 60% apparently he nearly turned the vehicle ove...

Ashgabat to Wild Camp Feeling better today I seem to have got over the bug bad stomach but that's all. Ride out the wild camp in the Karicom desert, I like deserts nice dry heat - apparently only a couple of types of scorpion and spider live around here we've been told to check under the tent to make sure some one else is not in residence first. Had our first serious off today Kevin fell asleep - he'd been ill last night and not had enough sleep - I felt gui...

Day in Ashgabat Well I'm still stuck in this disgusting hotel I tried to get out but unfortunately the passports had to go in to be registered so I couldn't check in to another hotel. It also seems that Col and myself make the mistake of assuming all rooms were as disgusting as ours, so we were wondering why there wasn't a general revolt, turns out most of the other rooms although not great are at least clean. So in hindsight we should have demanded we change ...

Turkmenbasi to Ashgabat Oh dear KUDU cockup day today. Because we were late of the ferry we had to make up an extra day by riding into Ashgabat in a single day, That of course was not their fault, however come lunch time a miscommunication meant that there was no food on the truck a big mistake cos in 40 degree temperatures you can't stand around for long. Most of the guys b*****ed of to find their own lunch while myself and a few hung about waiting for the fo...

Day in TurkMenbashi Woke late after the rigors of the trip yesterday the hotel is one of these pseudo ones that look great but only half of the advertised things work, The outdoor swimming pool for example is a pile of mud, no wifi etc. Took a walk across the road to have a stroll alongside the sea to discover a rather smelly beach infested with sea snakes. They tell me they're not poisonous but I'm not about to test it. They started to try to climb on the pon...