by Mide Emans
The Road of Bones is the stretch of road that runs from Magadan to Yakutsk. In 2008 the route was changed to go farther north between Kadykchan to Kyubeme, through Ust Nera. This road, the M56, is now a maintained gravel road, with small stretches of tarmac. The old road through Tomtor is now completely unmaintained and is known as the Old Summer Road section of the Road of Bones.
This stretch of road, 420kms, has become a challenge for bikers and 4×4 drivers to complete.
In 2015, we decided that we would ride the Road of Bones including the Old Summer Road section. Our team consisted of Kev, me, Gary (driving a Land Cruiser) and Fritz and Thomas, 2 Germans friends.
Gary’s jeep and trailer (with the bikes on) would leave Ireland, drive to Germany to pick up Fritz and Thomas’ bikes and then go to Warsaw. We would fly to Warsaw and and bring the jeep
over the border into Russia.In Moscow we would leave it with a driver, who would then drive it to Magadan. We would then fly home for 4 weeks while the jeep made its way east and
then we would fly to Magadan to begin our trip. We had learned from previous experience that a bike and the person to whom its registered must be at the border in order for the bike to be allowed into Russia. Thomas couldn’t make it to the border so he put his bike in Fritz’s name, against all advise. All of our luggage went with the bikes at the beginning of the trip so we wouldn’t need to bring much with us when we flew to meet the bikes in Magadan. The jeep left Ireland on 24th June and went to Germany en route to Warsaw. We flew to Warsaw on the 28th to meet them. We headed off to the Belarusian border… Stayed tuned to the February Newsletter for more from The Road of Bones or check out the rest of the story.
