London to Magadan
 

Hello!

My brother and I are just finishing up our trip from Canada to Patagonia. We have begun to plan phase 2 of our trip, which is to take our KLR 650's from London to Magadan (or Magadan to London).

We are in the midst of planning and would like some opinions on "when to go".

Is Magadan (or even Vladivostok) a viable option for travel during the months of September or May?

We are examining the possibilities of both an "East to West" route, as well as a "West to East" route.

Option 1: we could potentially arrive in Eastern Russia in early September, and then begin our route towards London. Is the weather in Magadan/Vladivostok acceptable for riding during this time?

Option 2: Begin in London in September, and then make our way towards Magadan. I believe the weather would prohibit travel during the winter months. But we need to be completed with our journey by mid-May 2017. Would weather prohibit us from traversing to Magadan or Vladivostok for an end date of ~May 15th?

I appreciate any advice that can be shared. If the weather makes it impossible, we might have to consider scrapping it for a North to South ride through Africa. But that's the beauty of Overlanding...there's more than one route around the world.


Cheers,

Gino

There have been lots of threads on the HUBB about weather in Siberia and the Far East.

I don't see how you could start a west to east trip in september on a motorcycle.

east to west might work if you don't mind cold weather and the risk of some snow. in european russia september is generally nice enough, but it can start snowing in October, although the last falls have been pretty mild with little or no snow through the end of the year.

Thanks so much for the help!

If we go West to East, we wouldn't begin our journey until March-ish, with the hopes of arriving in Magadan or Vladivostok by early May. Does this seem doable?

And sorry if this is re-hashing old threads. I searched, but only found people that made the trip in the months of June, July, and August.

Mid March to early May is the absolute worst time to be heading east. You'll perpetually be in the shoulder season between winter and summer. The roads will be in bad condition after the winter, there will most likely still be snow and ice in places, everything is dirty as the snow piles start to melt, and the weather will most likely be unstable. It's really the worst time to see Russia.

Have to agree with Eurasia on this one...it might be theoretically possible if you are willing to take your time and wait out the numerous bouts of bad weather, but I doubt that it is really practical.

Even in Moscow you can get full-on snow storms well into April (or nice 20 degree weather), and in Siberia it would be even more extreme. I wouldn't plan on it...

We did this in 2014 with Compass Expeditions
 

Compass Expeditions does this as a commercial guided tour from West to East every 2 years with about 15 riders, chase vehicle, and trailer. You can see a short teaser video of the DVD that was shot on this tour at https://vimeo.com/116224693. Or you can sit back hit "slide show" and see the pictures that my wife shot as a pillion from the back of my BMW at Picasa Web Albums - Walter Maurer - 2014 Road of ... Hope you have a great ride whenever you go and whichever direction you go.

Walt and Pam Maurer

Thanks everyone for getting back to me (sorry, haven't had a connection in a while, as we are still on the road in South America).

It doesn't seem like an London to Moscow or even a Moscow to London trip is possible during our timeframe. This is unfortunate...

But I think we are going to start investigating the potential of a South Africa to London adventure. Haven't done any research yet, but I'm fairly confident that winter weather shouldn't be an issue haha (but maybe rain?) Anyways, I'll start doing some research.

Thanks again for all of your input!