Firstly, hi folks, I'm new here, but have been following the site for years.
I was hoping to do a 3 month trip to Siberia, Mongolia and the Stans next year, on a Royal Enfield Himalayan, leaving in July. However, after months of negotiating with the company, I can't get the time off. My job, which I really like and don't want to lose, is seasonal, with summer being very busy, and winters very quiet. I can, however, get 3 months off next winter on half pay! I've been thinking of doing a long trip for ages, and am now looking at alternatives. I can get the three months anytime from November to March inclusive. Obviously this rules out my original idea.
A bit of background- I'm 57 years old, reasonably fit, and ride all year round here in the UK. I generally do two 7 to 10 day bike trips a year; some with a group of friends/bike club from Qatar, where I worked for 6 years (and got back into biking after a 20 year sabbatical), some on my own. All these trips have been on my own or rented Harleys. So far, I've done Scotland 5 times (camping on 3 of those trips), Italy and Jordan. My most recent trip (in March this year) was from Manchester to Lands End on A and B roads, following the coast, then back via East Anglia and the Peak District, camping for 8 nights. Now I want to do a much longer trip, venturing off paved roads for much of it. I did a lot of off-road riding in my teens and twenties, but none for the last 25 years! In Botswana I had an XR500 I bought off a guy who had ridden it from Holland, and my intention was always to ride it back to the UK. I've always regretted that I didn't. As mentioned, at the moment I ride a Harley, but I'm planning on getting a Himalayan for longer trips and a bit of green-laning here in the UK.
Anyway, I digress. Basically, I'm looking for suggestions for a 3 month trip between November and March next year. One thing I definitely want from a trip is to visit countries I've not been to before. This sort of rules out South Africa and anywhere up to Tanzania; I grew up in Botswana and worked throughout southern Africa. I also did a number of bike trips while living there.
At the moment I'm thinking of South America (excluding Brazil), though I'm open to any other ideas. I do like the idea of riding all the way down through Chile, then to Patagonia. I'm looking for advice on either shipping a bike, or buying one in South America. Shipping would be the preferable option, as I'm tentatively thinking of shipping the bike to somewhere in Central or South America, and shipping it back to the UK from Buenos Aires. Or, would it be possible to ride from somewhere in the States, all the way to Patagonia via Chile, and up to Buenos Aires, in 3 months?
Any advice/ideas would be very much appreciated.
NC 500 by
Jon, on Flickr