Routes to Magadan
 

First time in this Regional Forum, and I'm having a very early look at routes to Magadan (from UK), and wondering what opinions/options are? I'll hold my hands up and say I've done very little research so far!

I'm thinking of leaving maybe April/May so's I'm in the south (if I go south of the Black Sea) before the heat gets too bad, and head towards Magadan mid-summer.

I'll be on an 1190 R, mate on a 1200 GS. We're both experienced off-road riders, but neither are we masochists!!

A few posts suggest missing Mongolia (I'm guessing due to the combination of size and infrastructure?) but others in the past have described it as a highlight.

We don't want to be in a mad rush. but neither do we have limitless time. So mid-paced. I'm thinking two months to Magadan, and perhaps a month accross North America to the east coast.

Are there any tricky visa's etc? I know when I travelled Africa N>S in 2010 it was a very complicated jigsaw puzzle! Is northern Iran possible currently?

Thanks in advance!

Magadan
 

Hello Ian,

I traveled in August 2003 alone to Magadan on a Honda XRL250 with very limited luggage. It was not easy, a lot of water,a lot of mud, a lot of mosquitos, a lot of river crossing (some I had to push the bike thru because it was so deep), some snow ... if you are alone on a big bike it would have been a very very hard. I know a guy that went alone on an Africa Twin in 2002, he said, this was the hardest he had ever done and he traveled around the world for a few years.

I dont know how the road is today, in 2003 there was no road (that was what the Russians said), but keep in mind that you want the rivers to be low, so go in later summer e.g. August. And dont forget to organize a way out of Magadan for your bikes. Have a look at a movie by two actors ... The long way around ... it gives you an idea. A german friend went in 2010, his name is Andreas Hülsmann, try to find his website and look at the pictures.

Enjoy
mika

As far as I know the road to Magadan is in a good condition now.

Most of the streets in Russia are paved, at least to the Baikal, and a bit further.
And I have seen pictures of friend who did it to Magadan, that seemed quite easy, a lot paved, some parts gravelroad.

And I would say, if you miss Mongolia, you really miss a Highlight.

You can do it with your Bikes.

2014:

The road to Magadan is NOT paved and will not be. There are NO rivercrossings at all and in general the road is in good-perfect condition apart from places where roadworks are going on. You can choose to try the old road but most probably you will end up in Tomtor not possible to cross the river unless you find a truck to put your bike on. In the coming years also this old road will be renovated, at least till Tomtor but with the financial crisis in the RF at the moment..........

GRTZ,

JP

I'm no expert but I rode to Ulaanbaataar this summer, took me 2 months on a KTM 690 via lots of off road, more off road than the other guys we met who were on bigger bikes and taking more of a road biased route.

2 months seemed like a real rush to me but we did wander around rather than take the most direct route, though thoroughly enjoyed going round the Pamir and Kyrgyzstan and the Aral Sea. Still wish we'd had more time.

My mate carried on to Magadan from Mongolia and that took him another month. I can't personally cooment on the Mong to Magadan bit but the route he took via the Western BAM and Road of Bones was hard work on a 690.

Jamie Duncan from BIKE magazine rode a 1000 V Strom to Mongolia and onto Vladivostock not Magadan. He made it through Mongolia though was very glad he got some off road tyres and not road tyres for Mong.

I think Mongolia is definitely worth a visit.

Depends if you're on a mission to get from A to Z on your trip, if so it's doable but you'll miss so much interesting stuff en route. Lack of time is a bastard that hurt us. 2 months to Magadan would be a real drag for me, certainly doable but not via the best route imho.

Re visa's I used Real Russia for everything and they were pretty good except for forgetting the Mong visa but when I proved they'd received the application by signed for courier they got it done in double quick time with a nice apology. I'd use them again.

Allow lots of time for visa's

I didn't go via Iran so can't comment, I went via Georgia, Azerbajan, north round the Caspian Sea then into Kazak, Uzbek, Tadj, Kyrgz, Kazak and back into Russia and onto Mong.

Get a multiple entry business visa for Russia rather than a tourist visa

Good luck and enjoy

Sorry, you are right , I changed it with Vladiwostok

Thanks everyone, sounds like a do-able challenge [on big bikes] which after all is what it's all about!

To be honest when I rode UK to Cape Town a few years ago on a 1200 GS there were the same concerns both in the replies to my post at this exact stage in my planning, and in my own mind. There are a couple of notoriously muddy areas (southern Congo, and entering Cameroon from Nigeria in particular), not to mention a desert! Having said that, although big bikes never cease to amaze me off-road, the one thing they really don't like is mud....

So correct me if I'm wrong: It's as easy or hard as you choose to make it as far as the Road of Bones junction. The main challenge starts with the ROB, depending on the weather, but the real challenge is the Old Road via Tomtor? Is that where they trucked their bikes across the river in LWR (pardon me for swearing!)?

BDG, what visas did you need to get in UK, apart from Russia? In my experience the downside is that they can constrain you to a schedule, and often cost more than at borders.

Regarding time, yes I'd love to take forever, but in the real world I only have limited time, and prefer to cover as much ground as I can in the time available. I usually average around 5000 miles a month on a big trip, admittedly often regretting that I can't stay longer when I come across somewhere nice! But I always find it satisfying to see myself moving across the map....

The road from Tynda to Yakutsk was a patch work of tarmac and graded gravel in 2012 and from Yakutsk to the OSR turn off was all gravel. It was very dry when we did it which caused lots of dust but the last couple of years have been wet so more muddy. They have built a new bridge over the Kyubyume river which is where you turn off onto the OSR to Tomtor so that takes care of crossing that.
I think you will be ok on the bigger bikes to Magadan on the M56 route via Ust Nera, the road to Tomtor will be ok also, depending on conditions you may struggle to do the whole OSR to Kadychan ( really depends on how much effort you want to put in ). If you do attempt it make sure you have enough fuel as there are no fuel stops between Tomtor and Suseman.

I got all the visa's except for Turkey in the UK before I left. As I only had a 2 month window timings weren't a problem. However as the Kazebegi crossing from Georgia was closed I lost 5 days getting a transit visa for Azerbaijan.

I got the following in the UK, Russia multiple entry business visa, Kazak dual entry, Uzbek, Tadjik plus additional permit for the Pamir and Mongolia. No visa needed for Kyrgyzstan.

It's better to be over visa'd than under visa'd in terms of dates and lengths.