Health Hazards? I’ve been investigating the health risks of travelling in Central Asia, and here is my conclusion: I am definitely going to die. The opportunities in this region to be slain by any one of a million bugs, parasites, animals and people are generous by any standards. The bugs all have strangely effervescent names, and promise an array of  excruciating and frankly disgusting symptoms to carry me to my end. Many of these bugs, the web informs me, I am likely contract through an intimate exchange of bodily fluids with a stranger. (I had no idea that Central Asia would be so exciting.) As a result I have spent the afternoon composing my final words.  They will be delivered, I conceive, in the crisp mountain air, while the shadow of a mighty snow-capped peak slants across the grassy slopes towards us in the setting sun. They will be heard by a lusty maiden (if I'm lucky) or more probably by a wrinkly stranger with twinkly eyes and high Asiatic cheekbones. I couldn’t have imagined a more romantic way to meet my end if I had thought of it myself.

A new Journey? After months of feeling like rubbish and dithering around, I've begun seriously thinking about my trip. The plan, such as it is at present, is to ride from the UK down through some of the remoter parts of Europe and on into Turkey, where I know some people and may stop over to do a little bit of walking on one of the long-distance trails. The start date will be the end of this coming March. If, when I get to Turkey, I'm not heaving up my guts by the side of the road (I have dietary issues) and I still have energy for the ride, I want to go on to South-East Asia. Which route I take will depend on the local bureaucracies and where the bullets are flying. The southern, most common route through Iran and Pakistan has recently become problematic. Between them, the Iranian government and the RAC (which issues vehicle carnets for the UK) have just introduced rules that will make Iran difficult and expensive to travel through - legally at any rate. Travelling through the Stans can be a bureacratic nightmare. China is out of the question for solo riders without bottomless financial reserves and endless patience. The only straightforward route I can see is through southern Russia, with a possible diversion into Mongolia and a trip up Lake Baikal. I'd like to see some of the steppe, but I don't want to follow it all the way: the route to the south is more interesting and varied. So, all things considered, I'm presently investigating a route through the Stans, stopping off at Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. The biggest problem will be getting into Turkmenistan which used to insist on your hiring a minder while in the country. Whether that is still the case or not, I will need to check. I'm told that regulations of this kind change all the time in this part of the world. There is really no way to avoid Turkmenistan on this route, though, as it is the destination of the only ferry across the Caspian. In any case I'd like to see the capital, Ashgabat. I bought the bike for the trip a couple of months ago, a new, 2014 Suzuki single-cylinder DR650SE. I have now run it in and have taken it on a couple of hundred-mile trips within the UK. It's fun to ride and by all accounts, bomb proof. I'm now finally arranging to get it kitted out to do the job (rack and panniers, bash plate, engine guards, decent screen, 25-litre tank, sub-frame reinforcements, that kind of thing). For this, I was recommended to Zen Overland, a small privately owned company based just outside Wells in Somerset, and so far they have been both friendly and very helpful. I've also started to get my head round visas and a huge pile of travel issues, like how to avoid American drones, local gunfire, bandits, lurgi, border 'guards', swamps, etc. (Just being dramatic here to see how it sounds.) Once I've crossed the Caspian, the aim is to follow one of the the 'silk road' routes and head for the Pamir Highway. The highway winds its way through Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and into Kyrgyzstan. (I might just miss out the Afghan section, though word has it that there has been no fighting in this north-eastern corner of the country for some time.) That's something I need to check (very carefully!). The highway ends at the town of Osh (founded by Alexander the Great 3,000 years ago and inhabited continuously since). I've dreamed about visiting Osh ever since I was 9 when I was told to draw a picture of Alexander riding up the main street for history homework. (And a damn good picture it was too, as I recall.) I'm investigating the highway a little at a time so as not to scare myself silly. (See below.) The highway is also known as the M41. (Umm.) http://upload.wikimedia.org/…/3/36/Transport-dush-khorog.jpg