Off to the desert we go 7th May

The morning has not started good as i have been on the toilet twice before 07:00 andit is not looking good. Oh well took some Immodium and ha should sort it, fingers crossed.
When visiting a police state they never miss an opportunity to have some propaganda and especially foreign motorcyclist’s. So camera crew at the ready for our departure on IInterviews and us leaving the hotel. They then proceeded to film us leaving the capital and behind the eastern archway
Into the desert we go and my guts are rebelling big style.
Great a night camping in the desert with the “TROTSKY’S” (trying to be polite) where the only toilet facility will be to dig a hole and squat over it with toilet roll in hand, Ugh! Deep joy!
I look really happy in this picture not because we have got two 4x4’s with us to take us to the “DOOR TO HELL” that evening
Also the eagle eyed and buff fetish type will see that he bike is looking cleaner. Yes it is as the guy who looks after the car park cleaned all our bikes while we stopped in the hotel for $8 each
The only problem is the driver sticks to 90kmph and the raod is featureless beside dunes and straight for mile after mile. The cramps have now started and i need to go, only 3 hours left of riding
We have one fuel stop which is for the adventurers we do not need but these little 800 tank’s will need to fill up to be able to make it to the next fill which is 150 miles away.
We get there and there is fuel but no electricity to pump it with.
Oh sugar, so plan B, is to go in the village and buy some fuel off the locals and fill the 800’s up first and if any left split it amongst everyone else


OK all done and we get to the campsite and then onto the border the following day
Park you bike, put up tent and then get comfy for the evening and the guide with the two 4x4 drivers will cook a Turkmen Plov. Great! Something else to not eat then as I have to keep to Bread water and rehydration salts. Oh no, it’s no good I need to go lie down so I do not have to think what is going on in my bowels




09:00 pm arrive really quickly and we jump into the 4x4’s and they then decide they are going to race each other across the 5km of dunes to the crater. I shut my eyes and think this will be coming up for a second visit shortly if we hit any more bumps like we have been.
Finally we arrive and we all pile out and we are hit by the heat

You should appreciate that I felt quite sick in this picture and was not in the best of spirit to strike the pose. Also it was warm at the side of the crater but quite call in the desert once the sun ahad gone down.
Quick bit of history, briefly this was a site where the Russians where drilling for gas and it all collapsed in. This has been burning for 50 years. There is talk about capping it but they are concerned it will cause an underground explosion. Next year it will be tried so it may not be there for much longer, the locals call it the “door to hell”
When we got back to the campsite i went straight to the tent with another Imodium, Rehydration Salts and straight to sleep


4955 miles - Davaza, Turkmenistan