Ulaan2015 Clifden to Mongolia and back in aid of Temple Street Children's Hospital

thecivvie

May 2015, I will depart from Clifden to UlaanBaatar in Mongolia, travelling via Dublin, Dover, Antwerp, Berlin, Estonia and Moscow. This is a journey of approx 10,000km. The planned return trip is the reverse, but there is a good chance that I may travel back via Sochi, Trabzon in Turkey and Romania

This is a solo journey, with some camping and some hotel and hostels. I am hoping to also stay with people I know along the route

I will bringing a small Linux based net book to update here and other forums, a camera, pictures uploaded to Flickr most days, a gopro and a Delorme inReach SE gps tracker/communicator, which enables two way communications

The aim of the trip is to raise funds for Temple Street Children's Hospital. All fundraising is being done via an idonate.ie page. This ensures all funds raised goes direct to the hospital. I am funding the trip myself

I have a goal of €5000 but there is no maximum that I would love to reach as the hospital is a deserving cause

I have setup Twitter (@ulaan2015) Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ulaan2015 and a blog http://www.ulaan2015.com I will also keep this updated

thecivvie

this is the route I am planning to take out http://goo.gl/maps/JmqAK



the return journey I am looking at is http://goo.gl/maps/BHI4d



For some reason Google Maps wont show the Ferry from Sochi to Trabzon, I plan to take that and not drive through Georgia

Total journey is just over 23k km

arybvtcw0eolkf

Have you considered a facebook page?.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Valentin Quick Gun wrote: »

Have you considered a facebook page?.

https://www.facebook.com/Ulaan2015

it's worded strangely in the OP

thecivvie

Not sure why I put it as the way I worded it. Thanks for that

arybvtcw0eolkf

Cheers, I just 'liked' you on FB

serious3

doesn't look that far on a small map sean!!

thecivvie

No it looks like a trip around Clare on those maps. It is hard to imagine that 2/3 of it is in one country. And I may have been talked into Georgia as they have no visa requirements for EU citizens

mattieb

Fair play, I'll definitely give a few quid. Even though I'm totally jealous, haha!

dr strangelove

Good luck!

Would you not think about going through Iran - with and Irish passport you shouldn't have a problem.

thecivvie

dr strangelove wrote: »

Good luck!

Would you not think about going through Iran - with and Irish passport you shouldn't have a problem.

Sadly i hold a UK passport, think that may cause a few problems. I had considered it

positron

Wow, sounds like an awesome adventure. Best of luck with it, I will keep an eye on this thread and will donate towards the cause.

Question: Is that route something like the shortest route to get there, or have you thought about what to visit etc too?

thecivvie

positron wrote: »

Question: Is that route something like the shortest route to get there, or have you thought about what to visit etc too?

I have always wanted to visit Moscow, Mongolia and Timbuktu. Sadly the latter may never happen due to civil war and the like

The route originally was straight there and straight back but I realised that would be boring so decided to head down to the Black Sea and across to Turkey and Romania where I could spend a day on the Transfagarasan Highway

The shortest route is through The Ukraine but it does not appeal to me. The Trans Siberian Highway is something I want to do and may even head over to the Road Of Bones but may not do it as I will be on a Pan.

Another reason for my route is a family connection to the Bergen-Belsen camp, my grandfather was a medic who went in with the liberators of the camp. He came out a changed man.

I maybe taking a short detour on the TSH to visit the Ural motorcycle factory also. I have a list as long as my arm but cannot fit everything in

Zascar

Fair play to you mate, sounds like a fantastic trip. I’d love to do something like this one day – and doing it to raise funds for a worthy charity is fantastic. How much are you hoping to raise? I will of course donate. Not sure I’d like to do it on my own though – what happens if you get into trouble etc? How much do you think the trip is going to cost you and what are the plans for fundraising?

thecivvie

Zascar wrote: »

Fair play to you mate, sounds like a fantastic trip. I’d love to do something like this one day – and doing it to raise funds for a worthy charity is fantastic. How much are you hoping to raise? I will of course donate. Not sure I’d like to do it on my own though – what happens if you get into trouble etc? How much do you think the trip is going to cost you and what are the plans for fundraising?

Yeah I have been putting this off for years and after watching Oisin Hughs videos it decided it for me. The goal is around €5000-€10000 but to be honest any money raised for them is a great help

Costings have put a total at about €6000, I have been given a spreadsheet that someone else did, they did a similar journey and that is more than they spent.

There is a motorbike ride around Connemara leaving Galway May 10th, see https://www.facebook.com/events/567183043322822/ but all fund raising is being done online through the idonate page, see my signature

Trouble that was the second thing I looked at after the route. I looked at all communication options, I had settled with getting a SPOT communicator but the problem with the SPOT is there is a big hole about half way along the TSH towards Mongolia. I then found the Delorme inReach which uses the Iridium sat network therefore with a 100% coverage. It has a SOS that allows me to tell them exactly what is wrong, if I am able to, othereise the rescue centre alerts the nearest emergency service. My family and serious3 will have a link that they can send me message me.

thecivvie

Just a quick itinerary of my route. This is of course subject to change. I have tried to keep most days short on the saddle but there are a couple of long days. No rest days are shown as such but there will be a few, I am hoping to spend 3 days in Moscow and a week in Mongolia itself



TD1 Clifden to Dublin
Ferry to Holyhead
Travel to Oxford
TD2 Oxford to Folkestone
Channel tunnel
Calais to Antwerp
TD3 Antwerp to Bergen
TD4 Bergen to Poznan
TD5 Poznan to Gdan'sk
TD6 Gdan'sk to Riga
TD7 Riga to Määsi
TD8 Määsi to Pskov
TD9 Pskov to Tver
TD10 Tver to Nižnŷ Novorgord
TD11 Nižnŷ Novorgord to Naberezhnye Chelyne
TD12 Naberezhnye Chelyne to Chelyabinsk
TD13 Chelyabinsk to Kurgan
TD14 Kurgan to Omsk
TD15 Omsk to Novosibirsk
TD16 Novosibirsk to Krasnoyarsk
TD17 Krasnoyarsk to Nizhneudinsk
TD18 Nizhneudinsk to Irkutsk
TD19 Irkutsk to ulan-Ude
TD20 Ulan-Ude to Kyakhta
TD21 Kyakhta to UlaanBaatar

Return

TD22 Ulaanbaaatar to Kyakhta
TD23 Kyakhta to Ulan-Ude
TD24 Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk
TD25 Irkutsk to Nizhneudinsk
TD26 Nizhneudinsk to Krasnoyarsk
TD27 Krasnoyarsk to Novosibirsk
TD28 Novosibirsk to Omsk
TD29 Omsk to Kurgan
TD30 Kurgan to Chelyabinsk
TD31 Chelyabinsk to Ufa
TD32 Ufa to Samara
TD33 Samara to Kamyshin
TD34 Kamyshin to Elista
TD35 Elista to Vladikavkaz
TD36 Vladikavkaz to Tbilisi
TD37 Tbilisi to Batumi
TD38 Batumi to Trabzon
TD39 Trabzon to çorum
TD40 Çorum to Istanbul
TD41 Istanbul to Sofia
TD42 Sofia to Belgrade
TD43 Belgrade to Zagreb
TD44 Zagreb to Salzburg
TD45 Salzburg to Luxembourg
TD46 Luxembourg to Calais
Folkestone to Oxford
TD47 Oxford to Holyhead
Dublin to Galway
TD48 Galway to Clifden

Just a short few days on the saddle

BeerSteakBirds

Ill be watching your journey with interest. Its a similar journey to one I often thought about doing myself.

thecivvie

BeerSteakBirds wrote: »

Ill be watching your journey with interest. Its a similar journey to one I often thought about doing myself.

I have dreamed of doing this for years but with a family and work, it got put to the back burner. Decided now was the time to do it and to do it for a worthy cause

Last year I went to Aragon, Spain on a solo trip for the MotoGP. Drove from Cherbourg to Aragon in 1 night . Was a good training run. This year doing the same MotoGP but with 2 mates

With using an idonate page, fund raising is so much easier as I have no bank expenses to worry about and all monies go direct to Temple Street

BeerSteakBirds

Hopefully we can all learn something from following your journey and seeing what kinds of pitfalls you might encounter along the way

thecivvie

BeerSteakBirds wrote: »

Hopefully we can all learn something from following your journey and seeing what kinds of pitfalls you might encounter along the way

Hopefully not too many pitfalls. One word of advice I was given was to never refuse a drink and to avoid truckers, seems they are very "friendly"

I have a net book that I will be bringing and hope to be update this thread and add the odd pic as well

serious3

friendly truckers......hmmmmm whatever do you mean?

thecivvie

About a year to go before I leave and lots to do. Camping trips to test gear to do. Visas cannot be applied for until closer to Xmas

Wonda-Boy

Good stuff m8, keep us posted.

thecivvie

i will do, i have a flickr account for uploading pics, when i get wifi

positron

Flickr is awfully slow though. If I see a flickr url, I just don't click it anymore. I used to be on Flickr every single day for years, but it went south since Yahoo acquisition.

thecivvie

Yeah I am aware of the problems with Flickr, I will still links using photobucket to here, just with unlimited photo space it maybe handy for me

thecivvie

322 Days to go :cool:

Full route map is Full route Map. Google maps won't generate a short link for such a big journey



Just sourcing an Africa Twin to retro fit onto the Varadero and then need a Coleman Dual Fuel stove and some small pans for cooking and all done

blackbird99

bring 24" to 30" of fuel line, handy for syphoning petrol from the tank for the coleman stove.
they always run out when your all set up in a campsite.

thecivvie

Yeah I have fuel line and a Rotopax which will be full always in Russia and Mongolia. And loads of Paracord

serious3

thecivvie wrote: »

322 Days to go :cool:

Full route map is Full route Map. Google maps won't generate a short link for such a big journey



Just sourcing an Africa Twin to retro fit onto the Varadero and then need a Coleman Dual Fuel stove and some small pans for cooking and all done

OI! keep your hands of my Africa Twin!!

CNTRLR

savage route, i hope you are getting a decent saddle....
If you are into that sort of thing you will be coming fairly close to the nurburgring, always a lot to do there and there will be plenty of bikes around.
I am in the southern part of the netherlands, i hope you don't need help by then but if you do i can PM you my number, always happy to help.

thecivvie

CNTRLR wrote: »

savage route, i hope you are getting a decent saddle....
If you are into that sort of thing you will be coming fairly close to the nurburgring, always a lot to do there and there will be plenty of bikes around.
I am in the southern part of the netherlands, i hope you don't need help by then but if you do i can PM you my number, always happy to help.

I am going to get some sheepskin to put across my saddle. I love long days on the bike, site seeing is not my thing. I will hopefully not need your offer but will save the message

CNTRLR

you will be surprised by the amount of irish lads around the place, if the bike has irish plates, they will find you sooner rather than later, always handy to drop into irish pubs here and there its usually where the irish lads hang out, or at least from my experience if i ever had any trouble it was the first place to start looking for help.

thecivvie

CNTRLR wrote: »

you will be surprised by the amount of irish lads around the place, if the bike has irish plates, they will find you sooner rather than later, always handy to drop into irish pubs here and there its usually where the irish lads hang out, or at least from my experience if i ever had any trouble it was the first place to start looking for help.

That's very true. I have made a couple of contacts in Russia, one whom has a guest house and does motorbike tyres

thecivvie

Mongolian is visa free until Dec 31 2015. It is an attempt to boast tourism

That is a nice saving for me

http://www.infomongolia.com/ct/ci/8051

thecivvie

260 days to go before I leave sunny Clifden for the Mongolian plateau. All planning is done, visas will be applied for in the new year.

I do have sponsorship cards from Temple Street, and will now always carry one and the letter of authorisation with me

Cienciano

Love the route south of the black sea. Definitely what I'd try for if I was doing it.
I know a few irish lads that did it from the gs website here: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?29-Ireland
IF you need to ask anything they're more than helpful. Obviously advrider too.
Guys on the gser site did the road of bones

thecivvie

Cienciano wrote: »

Love the route south of the black sea. Definitely what I'd try for if I was doing it.
I know a few irish lads that did it from the gs website here: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?29-Ireland
IF you need to ask anything they're more than helpful. Obviously advrider too.
Guys on the gser site did the road of bones

The original plan was to ride across the Trans Siberian Highway, stay a week or so in Mongolia and then travel back the same way. Then I bought a map and seen all those wonderful places I wanted to visit and it kind of grew from there.

I am on advrider, Hubb and a couple of other forums. Also made contact with Lawrence Bransby who is a regular visitor to Russia, he is a great source of info.

The Road of Bones is still a possibility as I will have a 90 day Russia visa and depending on the cash available from the budget, I may travel to the Road of Bones.

I hope to update this thread once I leave but I won't be staying in hotels much, so will depend on if I can find open WIFI connections

thecivvie

This man had the right idea

thecivvie

230 days now to go, not much happening other than waiting now to apply for visas. Mongolia is visa free until the end of 2015 and Kazakhstan until I think July 2015, saves a few euros for the cheap petrol. Russia is currently around 70c a litre, Kazakhstan 67c, Georgia 99c and Turkey 1.74

thecivvie

205 days till I leave Clifden. All donations via the http://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/12794_ulaan2015.html page go direct to Temple Street
Please visit the blog at http://www.ulaan2015.com blogging is not my strong point so bear with me lol

Rory28

Worthy cause. Temple Street saved my life when I was in primary school. God damn burst appendix.

The trip looks amazing. Are you going to be camping the whole way or staying in hotel every now and then? Not sure I would like to camp in Russia. Cold.

thecivvie

Rory28 wrote: »

Worthy cause. Temple Street saved my life when I was in primary school. God damn burst appendix.

The trip looks amazing. Are you going to be camping the whole way or staying in hotel every now and then? Not sure I would like to camp in Russia. Cold.

Camping 99% of the time, I will bring plenty of warm gear and blag the odd barn where possible To be honest, I prefer cold weather over warm weather. I do have to stay in a hotel at least once, possibly twice for visa reasons. The hotel in Pskov is booked and has WIFI so will be uploading plenty of pictures from there :cool:

thecivvie

Well as a result of a conversation with a Russian journalist, the trip has appeared in a Russian newspaper Article Link. I am excited as I have made a lot of new friends in Russia, Georgia and Mongolia as a result of a lady from St. Petersburg

thecivvie

180 days till the off. Doing a trail run packing in the next week as i need to sort out any missing items. i am going as light as possible

Bawnmore

thecivvie wrote: »

180 days till the off. Doing a trail run packing in the next week as i need to sort out any missing items. i am going as light as possible

Have you got a complete list of buts and pieces you'll be packing? Would definitely be interested if you wouldn't mind sharing.

thecivvie

Bawnmore wrote: »

Have you got a complete list of buts and pieces you'll be packing? Would definitely be interested if you wouldn't mind sharing.

I do have 3 lists that I am working against. To be honest it is mainly electrics, laptop, phone, chargers etc. Clothes are kept to a minimum as I will wash everything along the way. Then extra oil filter, filter tool, puncture kit, some small tools, duct tape, cable ties, bulbs, spare clutch, throttle cables.

There are other bits, camping stuff etc but I am packing mainly to cut out a lot of stuff that I may not use. I have been offered 2 panniers, now they don't fit my brackets but can work something out

thecivvie

I have used these links as the basis of my list:

http://www.rideadv.com/ride-adventures-tour-and-rentals-blog/bid/35535/Motorcycle-Adventure-Rides-How-to-Pack-for-your-journey
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/paulandzoe/packinglist2007.htm
http://www.touratech-usa.com/media/vCDlaP/?size=original

thecivvie

One thing that these lists don't use and I plan to use intensively is Dropbox or similar. Scan's of Passports, Driving Licence, Insurance etc. Along with maintenance book for the Varadero will be stored. Do however want to find a secure method of storing documents. I will have photocopies, laminated anyway

thecivvie

170 days and counting down. All is going well. Bike will be rested after this weekend until closer to the event. Please remember to share the Blog or Facebook page, see post 1

gerrowadat

thecivvie wrote: »

One thing that these lists don't use and I plan to use intensively is Dropbox or similar. Scan's of Passports, Driving Licence, Insurance etc. Along with maintenance book for the Varadero will be stored. Do however want to find a secure method of storing documents. I will have photocopies, laminated anyway

Do you mean secure physical paper documents? I can recommend Pelican for watertight stuff - their laptop cases are (almost literally) bulletproof, and most of their cases could take a trip down some rapids and emerge perfect the other side: http://www.pelican.com/case_category.php

Otterbox are a cheaper alternative for small fragile bits, some of their phone cases can be used for folded documents, knick knacks, etc. http://www.amazon.co.uk/OtterBox-Pursuits-Series-Summit-iPhone/dp/B008TWF6S2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1415826355&sr=8-7&keywords=otterbox