BACKGROUND
This journey was first conceived in 2006, but for many long forgotten reasons it has been impossible to organise until 2009. The original concept was to make a documentary in conjunction with UNESCO, focusing on the key World Heritage Sites that are found all around this historically fascinating coastline. However, the more realistic and achievable slimmed down version is simply to make the journey and by its nature to draw attention to, and raise money for, a charity.
While a clockwise circuit might appear the more logical, the anticlockwise direction has been chosen so that we tackle the heat of North Africa in April and early May. Helmets and protective clothing do not mix well with the heat of the desert.
The aim is to send back a report each week accompanied by photographs which will be available for all to see and read. The map on the home page should update our daily progress.
SYNOPSIS OF THE TRIP
From London we will head in an anti-clockwise direction and will begin with a ride down through France and Spain. With the Moroccan/Algerian border firmly closed, we are obliged to take the 12 hour, overnight ferry, from Alicante to Oran in Algeria. From Oran we ride due east to Algiers and then, hugging the coast through Tunisia, to Tripoli in Libya. Stopping to see the sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratha we have a long ride around the featureless coast to Benghazi, some sightseeing in Cyrene before the chaos of the Libyan/Egyptian border.
As we ride the Egyptian coast we will stop briefly at the museum of El Alemein before reaching Cairo and a day of culture. The road east from Cairo (I believe) takes us under the Suez Canal through Sinai to the Red Sea where we catch a ferry from Nuweibeh to Aqaba in Jordan.
Once in Jordan we will camp for a night in Wadi Rum, immortalised by T H Lawrence, a night in Petra and a night in Amman while in Syria we will have a whirlwind 5 days criss-crossing the country visiting Damascus, Palmyra, Homs and Aleppo.
An early start to negotiate the border into Turkey, a night in Cappadocia at Goreme and then a hard ride west via Afyon and a ferry to Istanbul. From Turkey we head towards Dubrovnik via Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro and then up the Dalmatian Coast around the top of Italy and along the French Riviera before once again heading north to Calais and the Tunnel home.
Estimated time is 40 days and 40 nights on a journey of roughly 10,000 miles.
There are 8 days built into the programme for sightseeing and or catch up in the event of problems.