The second thing that made this trip so memorable and enjoyable is simply the group of people I travelled with. By the end of the trip we were all good friends and I am sure I’ll ride with at least some of them again. The shared appreciation of the potential dangers of the trip and the enjoyment of the riding probably pushed us closer together than many “ordinary” motorcycle tours. It was 4500km of a life enhancing, even life-changing experience.

Here are a few photos that capture the spirit of Patagonia for me:-

This is as far as the road will take you in South America and what a road! Mountains, deserts, rainforests, glaciers, lakes and let’s not forget the wind. It blows constantly in the south – relentless and bitingly cold at times with speeds that sometimes required us to ride the bike at what felt like 45 degees just to stay on the road.

I’ll be updating this blog with more pics and words in due course as I get organised. At the moment, I am nursing a bad cold and a sore leg – yes, I did fall off.. – so plenty of excuses to sit at the PC and get some stuff sorted. A selection of photos can be seen in the right hand side bar and clicking any of them will take you to my Smugmug site with more photos – also here

Well, I survived another bout of off-roading. This was certainly an experience and totally unlike the BMW course last weekend. I have to say that the BMW course was in my view much better value and far more professionally run. To be fair, the BMW course advertised itself as skills building whereas the Honda offering is labelled an “experience”. There was no instruction to speak of and the environment – a motocross track – didn’t lend itself to the more structured tuition I should have liked. Instead we were just left to get on with it and to ask questions if we wanted although this wasn’t always easy as the instructors were hurtling round the track themselves half the time, ostensibly to check on the guests but it meant that they couldn’t easily be questioned.

Motocross is supremely tiring and I found it difficult to maintain the necessary concentration for very long before my jumps and cornering got sloppy. Still I am glad that I went although I sincerely hope that riding in Patagonia will be easier going and more like the enduro/trail type riding in Wales.

I managed to test my new Alpinestars Tech 7 boot which worked very well albeit they were a bit stiff to start with but are definitely more broken in now!

I had a fabulous couple of riding days in Wales doing this course in preparation for my Patagonia trip. The photos on this certificate don’t really do the course or the environment justice. I bounced up and down dale (with rocks) through ruts and rivers and mud up to my ears (especially when I fell off). None of this would have been possible without the expert instruction I received from the super friendly and capable instructors employed at the BMW off-road school in the Brecons under the guidance of Simon Pavey who runs the school for BMW. I mostly rode a BMW 650 GS which is the bike I selected for the Patagonia trip – although having been on the course think I might have been better off choosing the 1200 GS which I tried for a while and found has much more torque and is very comfortable if you need to sit down. Although I think I sat on the bike only a couple of times doing the course, the rest of the time I was standing on the footpegs – which has sharpened my boot decisions no end!. I rode both bikes through terrain that I doubt we’ll encounter in Patagonia unless we get very lost indeed, including in sun and driving rain which has been a superb testing ground for the gear I am deciding to take.

On gear, most importantly is the decision on boots. I have decided to buy the best pair of motocross boots I can find that fit. Having now been in the rough stuff for a couple of days, the combination of motocross boots (never waterproof) and Sealskinz socks is brilliant. You get all the strong ankle protection of the boot and the waterproofness of a Goretex liner. Since nobody makes motocross boots with a waterproof liner, this solves that problem. I found my feet kept dry and didn’t sweat either thanks to the characteristics of the socks (two layers of wool sandwiching a Goretex type permeable membrane layer).

I had rented enduro type clothing but on the second day, tried my Aerostich Roadcrafter suit which worked very well and had the benefits of pockets, warmth and comfort – makes me wonder if I actually need to have invested in the BMW Rallye 2 Pro suit… Although, I do wonder how long the zips on the Aerostich trousers would stand up to the beating of metal footpegs, rocks and the like. If these got broken on a long trip, I hate to think of how cold and wet it could get!

I’ll add more to this when I have slept a while – two days of intense physical effort are great but I do need a bt of rest. I am sure that without my efforts in the gym I would have been really knackered!

I did manage to locate a suitable pair of boots for my South American jaunt – a pair of Alpinstars Tech 7s seems to fit the bill and SWMBO has even agreed to give them to me for my birthday! I have also acquired a bunch of maps and even gone so far as to get a phrasebook and a set of CDs on Latin American Spanish. I need to learn some useful expressions like “Please help me pick this bike up – my arse is sore, can we rest a while? – I’m knackered, can we rest a while? – how much further is it?” and so forth.

I am hoping to get to the White Horse Wingding at Chipping Norton. I erected the new tent yesterday and I am glad to say it goes up like a dream single-handedly (although packing it up really needs two pairs of hands).

Boots are another story. I don’t want to use full motocross boots but I can’t find anything that looks really supportive, protective and waterproof compared with my present Daytona boots. These look as if they will protect against most things except a twisted ankle and I still recall how exactly such an injury cost me over $3000 in the USA in 1983 – quite apart from the fact I could only move around on crutches for a couple of weeks!

I have been putting many miles on the Wing going round various dealers in search of the ideal boot. It’s amazing just how many dealers have sales people who know zero about the stuff they sell. I hate it when they try and bullshit me – I am out of there like a dose of salts. It’s especially pleasing therefore when I find someone who knows and cares about their wares. I almost bought a pair of boots today just because the salesman was so pleasant and knowlegable – a girl who knew exactly what I wanted helped me find the nearest things to it but in the end agreed they weren’t quite right.

The clothing search has been mostly around London suburbs which has shown me that the bike is a heck of a lot easier to use in traffic than I ever dreamed possible, it also coped admirably with a torrential downpour on the M25 – I would have felt nervous even in a car but the bike seemed so solidly planted that I felt quite happy even though surrounded by trucks making bow waves.

It was a hoot to pull up on the Goldwing amongst all the BMW machinery and then to ask to try on the Rallye 2 Pro gear. It is a very close fit and very heavy with little in the way of chest ventilation although you can open up or even remove the sleeves although I see little point in doing that. The supplied Goretex liner is supposed to keep you dry (assuming it is zipped in) and any additional warmth will have to come from another layer. I tried adding the Airvantage waistcoat underneath (which is similar to the one Rukka uses for their SRO) – unsurprisingly, it adds to the feeling of constriction in the suit. I might add that I was already in a suit a size up from my usual fit! So – I am not sure about this thing.

This morning I was in Park Lane and went to the BMW Motorrad shop there – it’s very small – but was able to try the Enduro helmet and the Motocross boots. The helmet looks the business and feels very light – it can be used with or without the visor but unfortunately, it folded my ears over and despite several attempts I couldn’t unfold them and get comfortable. The boots, similarly were a touch too tight in my size and a real bastard to get off. They felt very secure for the feet and ankles when on but I wonder if I really need that level of protection for the riding I shall be doing?

At the Wingding, I bought a couple of shiny bits – a set of Turndown exhaust tips and a couple of chromed air intake accents.I need to give the bike a good wash before I try to stick these on, I am told too that I need to be very accurate in lining the things up as the glue is very strong and you only get one shot at it. Sounds as if I need to do it before I drink too much coffee!

My paper Aerostich catalogue landed on the mat yesterday and for those of you who haven’t yet acquired one of these I suggest you do so without delay – it is a veritable Aladdin”s cave of biking gear porn and guaranteed to be injurious to your financial health.

On the back cover was an ad for something I hadn’t heard of before – Aerostich tours. Intrigued I read the text then went to the tours website to learn more. Oh what have I done? Before I knew it, I had called the States and booked myself provisionally on the “End of the Earth Tour” through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego. Here are a few pics from the Aerostich site.

Today, after earnest conversations with my dear wife – about me going at all, as getting her to go would require at least a major miracle – my provisional booking has turned into a firm booking with deposit paid and my head filled with thoughts about freshening up my off-road riding techniques, the clothes I need to cater for temperatures ranging from freezing to boiling and whether my old motocross boots will do. Now I love my Goldwing but it sure ain’t the machine for this adventure. After thinking about booking one of the optional BMW R1150GS/R1200GS bikes I have decided they are too big and top heavy for my ancient bones and have opted instead to go for the basic BMW F650 GS about which lots of reviewers are very complimentary. It is certainly capable of the job by all accounts.

I may be completely daft but I love adventures and this promises to be a biggie. Logic says it’s for younger folk but also that if I don’t do it soon, I shall definitely be too old to contemplate it.

I have made a start again at the gym and am determined to (a) lose weight and (b) build up muscle so that when I inevitably fall off, I shall be able to pick myself and the bike up and continue riding. Not least because the amount of off-road riding suggests a potentially exhausting trip. I reckon off-road motorcycling is probably closer to the Tour de France in this regard than most people would guess!

Now I have to do all the stuff like book flights etc etc. I may also take myself off for one of the BMW off-road courses to see what I remember and repair any deficiencies in technique (there will be plenty of those to guarantee I get my moneysworth!)