No, I haven’t converted the mighty KLR to run on LPG. I’m referring to the longest place name in Wales, and probably the UK too!

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

I’ll leave it to you to pronounce it, but I’ve often heard it referred to as Llan PG, or LPG. I didn’t realise how close I’ve come to it so many times, with it being just off the main A55 in Anglesey. Right on the way to Ireland!

Luckily I pulled off for fuel and ran into this petrol station. 🙂

Form filling must be a nightmare if you live here!

No, I haven’t converted the mighty KLR to run on LPG. I’m referring to the longest place name in Wales, and probably the UK too!

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

I’ll leave it to you to pronounce it, but I’ve often heard it referred to as Llan PG, or LPG. I didn’t realise how close I’ve come to it so many times, with it being just off the main A55 in Anglesey. Right on the way to Ireland!

Luckily I pulled off for fuel and ran into this petrol station. 🙂

Form filling must be a nightmare if you live here!

Saturday night at the HUBB. After the presentations and dinner, the usual Irish hospitality and entertainment kicked in and a great time was had by all. I managed to catch Dylan for a few words, to see what he thought of my bike ferry idea, to congratulate him and generally have a laugh.

He’d missed my presentation as I was first up on Friday afternoon. We got chatting about his last HUBB meeting in Virginia, and I wondered if Chip or Ken (my travelling buddies through Russia and Mongolia) were there. I know Ken’s farm is in Virginia. I was describing my journey when Dylan’s face lit up and he said “Ah, you’re the other guy!”.

It turns out that Chip and Ken were both there and presented about their journey around the world. I’d love to have seen it. Apparently they were pretty funny, I’m sure they were! From the sound of it I at least got a mention, so I guess I’m world famous now?

It’s a small world in so many ways, yet in others it’s so big! Before it got too late I asked Dylan to sign my tank. The ink will fade eventually like many quotes and signatures before it, but with a little luck the memories will live on for a good while longer.

I intend to write my adventures into a book. I’ve no disillusions about it being a best seller, I only know my mum and a few friends who would definitely buy it. I want to write it for myself though as much as anyone else.

The trouble is, it’s very hard to find time to fit that into my ‘normal’ life now. And where do you start even?

I bought Dylan’s book and I’ve read it twice already. It’s well written and if it was a novel, at times you’d find yourself struggling to believe it. But it’s not a novel. The fact it actually happened is amazing, and the fact it couldn’t happen again makes it all the more important to share the journey.

If you have the time, it’s well worth a read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Road-Ends-Incredible-Journey/dp/3952444855

At the Horizons Unlimited meeting last week, I had the feeling I was blagging it a little. Sure, I’ve ridden half way around the world, but there are others have gone much further than me. Yet, some of the folks there were seemingly in awe of what I’d done.

The last speaker on Saturday was Dylan Samarawickrama. He’d ridden around the world and I managed to catch his presentation. Wow!

Riding around the world isn’t that hard, as I’ve always maintained. But Dylan has taken the adventure to a whole new level. Crossing the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia is impossible by land. There are no roads, only impenetrable jungle. The two neighbouring countries don’t get on, and with FARC rebels and drug Lords controlling parts of the area the situation is unlikely to change!

Most people doing the Pan American highway fly their bikes over the gap. The more adventurous ones find a fishing trawler willing to take their bike. Not Dylan. He built a raft out of oil barrels, took the rear wheel off the bike and used the prop shaft to drive a propeller. Then set sail from Panama across the Pacific.

That sounded brave enough. Then I find out its 450 nautical miles across the Pacific! I’m not a water person and this just seems so incredible to me. I won’t steal his thunder by recounting the events that unfolded, you’ll just have to read the book. (I have!).

Suffice to say that as adventures go, this makes mine seem like a walk in the park! I felt like Wayne and Garth “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy!”

One thing about having more hammocks around is that the usable spots tend to get taken. Being a GA club most of the trees have been felled to keep the pitch clear. The goal posts were taken by Rob and I released my spot between the basketball post and the lamp post to Brendan.

I thought I’d have a go at hanging between the power pole and support wires. Ohm for the night, you’ve got to love that one! It was tricky as the wire flexed quite a bit, so even a very tight fly sagged when I got in. I was surprised at how easily I could make the power cables whip around, so I didn’t move around any more than I had to.

It was comfortable as ever though and I still love it. I could hear the hum of the transformers but it wasn’t intrusive. Next up is to try hanging across the corners of a serious transmission pylon. Talk about electric dreams!