Terra Circa

The Mondo Enduro round the world motorbike expedition attempted but did not cross the Zilov Gap in Central Siberia. In 2000 a follow-up expedition, Terra Circa, was organised by Dave Greenhough, brother of one of the Mondo Enduro team members. It was the first motorbike expedition to cross the infamous Zilov Gap.

The route went from London across Europe, western Russia and Siberia to Vladivostok. The team then embarked for Japan and returned to Europe crossing the United States. It took 7 months and they drove 20 000 miles.

The members were: Dave Greenhough (organizer), Austin Vince, Charlie Benner, Gerald Vince, Joe MacManus (until Turkey), and Matt Hill (until Turkey and then from Russia). Dave Greenhough had to leave early because of a knee injury, and Matt Hill jumped in again (he had left the expedition in Turkey with Joe MacManus) to finish with the others.

Like its predecessor, Terra Circa is a shoestring expedition with rough camping the order of the day and has a cult following amongst adventure motorcyclists.

The expedition was filmed and made into a six-part TV series, shown on British cable channel Men & Motors.

List of places visited per episode

Note that this list is not complete, as the episodes are scarce on the city names the expedition drove through.

Episode 1

London (Mill Hill School) - Dover - (boat) - Northern France - Verdun - Zurich - Pisa - Pompeii - Brindisi - (boat)

Episode 2

Igoumenitsa - Northern Greece - Istanbul - Erzurum - Samsun (Joe and Matt go back) - (boat) - Novorossiysk (Dave's knee injury) - Volgograd

Episode 3

Border crossing to Kazakhstan - Uralsk (not referred to) - Aralsk - Shymkent (not referred to) - Almaty (Dave goes back home and Matt re-joins the team) - Race to the border to Russia (which border?)

Episode 4

(Long Russia travel with no town names) - Irkutsk - (Dominic joins and then leaves) - (More Russia)

Episode 5

Zilov Gap approaching - Chernyshevsk - (Matt breakes his collar bone) Erofey-Pavlovich - (Crossing the Zilov Gap)

Episode 6

(Leaving Russia to Japan from Vladivostok) - Toyama - Akashi Kaikyō Bridge - Kobi - Los Angeles - New York City

References

• Terra Circa (DVD), Aimimage Productions. ASIN: B000KN9Q3Y.
• Times Educational Supplement Magazine, 23 March 2007, pp8-10.

External links

• MondoEnduro.com — official website.