Luckily straight upon arrival to Khabarovsk city centre, whilst looking for a hotel I met Pasha, a member of the Russian Pistons Motorcycle Club who understood exactly what I needed at that moment in time- somewhere safe to park up, have a hot shower...warm up, eat and rest. He arranged for all these except the latter. Man, we drank a lot of vodka...and slept little that night...
All the guys in the club were so supportive and helpful that I did not have to do anything except decide what to do with the bike transport, which they would arrange. In a few days the bike was on a truck and I on the 4 day train journey to Krasnoyarsk where people from the Barghest Motorcycle club were waiting for me. Again here I was looked after until we picked my bike up from the freight depot and I was ready to ride again. My trip followed this trend across the whole of Russia. Everywhere I went some motorcycle club would have already been informed by the one I stayed at previously that I am on my way. Hence I just rode from one city to another where at the end of the day I was greeted by bikers who provided me with a bed, food, a tour of their city , and more vodka... As such I have only good things to say about Russia and its people. They love visitors and even the traffic police are easy-going if you have a laugh with hem. I will definitely come back to see the places I've missed due to the cold weather and meet up with the guys who helped me so much.
In Ukraine I gave the bike a good service, had a look around the rather pretty Kiev, and was off again. First to Krakow, then Auschwitz, Czech, Germany, France and Spain....seeing family and friends along the way.
Well, this is it. I am very grateful to everyone who's helped me, but in another sense I am most thankful to the motorbike that's never let me down. I've travelled some 60,000km and apart from the usual wear and tear, 4 punctures, 2 headlamp bulbs and a clutch cable, nothing has broken.
My trip is over. It took exactly 2 years to the day. Without a doubt the best thing I have done in my life so far. I am a little sad that this time of complete freedom is over, but on the other hand I am looking forward to having a normal life for a while and making use of the fresh outlook I gained on my journey.
