ALONG THE SILK ROAD AND BEYOND…

By Nigel Barnett, Airborne Forces Riders PRA Branch

[Editorial Foreword

The Airborne Forces Riders formed up at the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem in September 2014. As the name suggests, the fifteen founding members were all British Airborne Forces veterans. The group — it is not a biker club — has grown to around 550 Riders and around 100 Supporters.

In January 2023, the ABFR became a ‘nomad’ branch of The Parachute Regimental Association, which has welcomed attached arms since its foundation towards the end of the Second World War. If you hold British military parachute wings of any kind and ride a motorcycle, the Airborne Forces Riders PRA Branch could be for you.]

The three ‘amigos’ who rode their motorbikes from England to the Chinese frontier and back in the spring of 2025 were John ‘Jasper’ Harratt ex 9 Para Sqn RE, Rick Clayton, ex 216 Para Sigs Sqn and myself, Nige Barnett, ex 216 Para Sigs Sqn. Jasper, Rick and I had all been mates in Aldershot in the 1980s. Jasper and Rick had fought in the Falklands. I joined 5 Airborne Brigade’s Signal Squadron late in 1982. We all had successful careers in the military and civilian life.

The idea began to form in September 2022 during the annual Airborne Forces Riders pilgrimage to Arnhem where we pay our respects to the fallen of Operation Market Garden 1944. John was talking about his wish, when he retired, to ride to Central Asia. Initially there were five interested but as the planning got going, it became apparent that we would be on the road for five to six months and then there were three.

By November 2024, the planning was in overdrive and the start date was set as 23 April 2025. The plan was to camp as much as possible in western Europe to reduce the costs. We had budgeted £100 per day, a target which we managed to keep to. Jasper was responsible for most of the route planning. In a nutshell, we didn’t want to ride on motorways or toll roads. We also wanted to ride as much as possible on unpaved roads. I think it is fair to say that fifty percent of the riding was on unpaved roads.  Much of the journey, which took 153 days, took us along the old Silk Road, a reality a network of ancient trading routes linking Europe and China. We covered 20, 197 miles from sea level to 15, 572 feet.

The route we settled on was dictated by world events and ran from the United Kingdom through France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Northern Macedonia to Greece. From Greece, we crossed into Asia through Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and the Chinese frontier. Then we turned around and came back, arriving in Holland in time for the annual Arnhem pilgrimage.

The locations we visited were outstanding, the local people were out of this world and their generosity surpassed anything we had ever encountered before. From Greece going East, the locals couldn’t believe that three men in their sixties were riding motorbikes from the United Kingdom to the Chinese border and back. 

From Turkey eastwards, the riding became very challenging at times. We had all attended off-road riding courses before our departure but some of the unpaved roads took us to our limits. There were near-vertical ascents followed by, in my opinion, even more difficult descents. The drop-offs were mind-boggling; if we fell off, our clothes would have been out of fashion before we landed. 

We had not realised how big Turkey was. We rode from the Anzac beaches to the site of ancient Troy and to Lycia, where Bellerohontes killed the Chimera. Bellerohontes was also known as Bellerophon, the ancient Greek hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus. Then to Mount Nemrut, Cappadocia where Jasper and Rick departed at 03:00 hours for their balloon ride. I watched the spectacle from the safety of a viewing platform. 

Cappadocia was the last time we camped. It was easier and cheaper to book into a hotel or homestay, with proper beds usually with a hot shower, and breakfast as part of the deal. We continued eastwards towards the Turkish-Armenian-Iranian border and then to Mount Ararat. Georgia was spectacular. We spent time sampling the produce of the vineyards and taking in the magnificent mountain views.

Russia was an unbelievable experience. We rode through many states, including Dagestan, Chechnya, and Astrakhan Oblast, crossing the mighty Volga River at Volgograd Olbast. Volgograd used to be known as Stalingrad. The people and their hospitality were extraordinary. En route, we visited the Caspian Sea Monster, an experimental ground effect vehicle of massive proportions built in the 1960s. 

Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world. Long straight roads for hours and hours, just like riding on sandpaper with the occasional horse or camel and trains that were in excess of fifty cars long! We wanted to visit the Russian Cosmodrome at Baikorur but were politely told by a female Russian guard that we each had to have an official visitor’s pass, which would cost $1,500 and take about fifty-five days to arrive. We went to a café and had a cold drink!

We all fell off lots of times, usually in the mud when the front wheels became clogged and stopped turning, throwing the machines to the ground with their riders. One section of the A26 highway in Kazakhstan between Kandyagash and Shalkar was extremely challenging. It had rained very heavily for about twenty minutes and the rain had destroyed the road. It took us three hours to ride three kilometres because of the mud. We thought at one point that we had made it back onto the hard top only to have our hopes dashed when we were forced back into the mud for about 300 metres, which took us two hours. Picking up heavily loaded bikes weighing some 320 kg numerous times was extremely demoralising.

On the whole, the weather for the tour was pretty good. It rained for a total of ten days. The knock on to that was that temperatures ranged from +5° C in the morning to +47° C in the afternoon. In Kazakhstan, the wind from 11 am  to 5 pm was relentless, the bikes were almost at forty degrees and the air just cooked us.

Border crossings were interesting and usually took on average about three hours. From Russia continuing east, the bureaucracy was something to behold; civil servants with the power to control how many times people can get on and off a bus didn’t they know we were ex-paratroopers and could easily endure at least three weeks!

The next three countries with their people, their scenery and the harsh environment were exceptional. Uzbekistan, the places of teaching, beautiful buildings as large as cathedrals and usually decorated with blue mosaics. Tajikistan and the Waken Corridor where everything appears to be in sepia and the mountains rising on our route to a height of 4655m or 15, 2723 feet before plunging back down the valleys into a technicolour world. Kyrgyzstan, just amazing. 

We spent a night in a yurt after a very difficult day’s riding by Lake Song -Kul. The hospitality was second to none, the food, washed down with an endless flow of tea, was delicious until after breakfast the following morning, when we were asked to try horse milk. It was just like putting a nine-volt battery on our tongues, setting our fillings alight!

We returned through Kazakhstan, riding the long sandpaper ribbon towards Turkey and Europe before finally arriving at Arnhem and reuniting with our comrades from the Airborne Forces Riders PRA Branch. What an experience it had all been! I am thinking of producing a book about it.