Six weeks to go!

Not much to report over the past week on the trip front . The KTM Superduke went to a very good home - a nice Finnish couple that have recently moved to Melbourne - although I must say that they negotiated a very good deal...

Sum total of the week's progress was the purchase of a 12v socket to install on the bike, and a USB adapter that should allow me to charge my GPS and iPod on the move - ingenious. I also heard from a chap called Mark who will be doing Sydney to Switzerland on a GS1150 with his wife at a similar time.

Given the lack of news, I thought I'd mention a few words about my inspiration for the trip. Surprisingly, it wasn't Ewan and Charlie, although they did boost my confidence because if that pair could make it across Asia (with the help of a camera crew and a couple of 4x4s), I figure I should be able to make it on my own no problem. The whinging thesps certainly weren't the first adventure motorcyclists - before them, the most famous motorcycle travelog was probably Jupiter's Travel by Ted Simon. My favourite is One Man Caravan by Robert Fulton, who did a similar journey to mine (in reverse) on a Douglas twin in 1932. The way he tells it, he concocted the trip at a dinner party to impress a girl and felt compelled to follow through with the idea. And he was packing heat on the bike.

Inspiration for my trip came from an Australian couple that I met at Mrs Bandari's Guest House in Amritsar in 1997. They were doing Australia to the UK two-up on an R80GS, and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard. If it's still there, I'm hoping to stop off at Mrs Bandari's for a cold beer and some nostalgia.