Many people tour countries on their motorbikes. Some on a whim, or some as a planned break. We want our journey to have a deeper meaning than a simple sightseeing trip, or motorbike getaway. We feel the journey is a large undertaking, and should not be merely for our own desires to ride motorcycles, but it should serve others as well. Sharing an interest in the Chernobyl incident, we count ourselves lucky to be from the UK, both being born in the months before the disaster; those born in Pripyat would not have been so lucky. The site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster may not seem a first choice holiday destination. It is, however, a reminder of how we should learn from the mistakes of the past.

The deserted town of Pripyat stands as a solemn testament to not only man's destructive potent to life on earth, but also to the sacrifice people are capable of in order to save it. While the calamity at the Chernobyl Reactor number 4 claimed many lives, exposed hundreds of thousands to radiation, and left the surrounding area uninhabitable, the actions of the fire-fighters, reactor workers and liquidators who put themselves in danger prevented the situation from becoming far worse.

During the summer of 2011 to raise money for Unicef we are planning to ride a motorcycle each from Durham in the north east of England to Chernobyl, travelling through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and finishing in the Ukraine.

We are hoping to get support from as many people as we can and start raising money towards the end of 2010. Readers of the blog can help by following us on the left, spreading the word and getting others to read and follow and donate if they want to.

Many thanks from the riders for everyone's support.

Thursday, 13 May 2010

First Post on First Blog

As the title suggests this is the first post on my first blog, and I'm not sure what to write. At this point i am just going to write the first thing that comes into my head and eventually I'm sure there will be some sort of pattern occur.
This blog is to mainly keep a record of plans and inform people about the trip and to ultimately raise money for Unicef. At this point the trip is in the very early stages and there are still some major hurdles to overcome. On the plus side we have spoken to Unicef who are very happy for us to do the trip and even though it isn't possible to meet the people in the Ukraine that we are hopefully raising money for we have decided to take a day trip to the town of Pripyat which we feel is the next best thing.
At the moment, and especially at work I seem to think of motorbiking and being on a motorbike everyday, which usually brings me onto the trip. Above all else I hope the trip is a success and we do what we are planning.
I still have many questions for myself at this point and I am working through them one by one, questions like how long would it take to get through the EU country boarders? and how far is it sensible to ride each day? do we stop in at places on the way or just ride on? where do we sleep? all the way to silly questions like which set to use to communicate between the bikes?
I've already spoken to quite a few people that have been very helpful about so many aspects of the trip and have wished us well and pledged their support, I only hope this will continue as well.
John
Posted by John Bailey at 21:35
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous14/5/10 4:37 pm

    go john wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    ReplyDelete

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