The last few days have been hectic for the RideRightRound team (I know there is only two of us, but I wanted to make it sound a little more epic!). Things had to work like clockwork for us to get from Osaka on the 10th to Wakkani on the 13th with a stopover in Sapporo to pick up tires. I skipped seeing Linda, a cousin living in Japan and anyone else to make it up in two days. 20 000Y in tolls and a 9000y ferry ride later , we rolled into town at 2.30am. We headed to a hotel to sleep as we were both exhausted. We arrived at 12pm to check in for the 3.30pm ferry. As it turns out, although we thought we booked a ferry at 330pm, there is only one at 10am, when we were asleep in a hotel about 400m from where the boat left without us. You can imagine how frustrating it was, all that work and a little misunderstanding with times and we get to spend 5 days in the nth tip of japan on a national holiday weekend when everything is closed!

The next ferry isn't for 5 days, because of the holiday, but we are staying at a free campground just by town, so it isn't the expense that is the killer, it is the time. On a positive note, everything will be 100% when we step on to the ferry on the 18th

We will arrive on the ferry to Sakhalin on the 18th, the Mainland on the 19th/20th and that will give just under a month to get across Russia 9000km, some dirt roads in Mongolia, but possible without being crazy. An average of 300km a day- all depends on the roads and whether there are any issues with the bikes. I am really keen to see my folks in Germany! (SB)