Cemeteries are pretty this time of year… One day I spotted this gorgeous church so turned off the main road into the village to check it out – and rode head-on into a funeral procession. They weren’t going fast so managed to avoid them! They were headed by a police car, then a girl carrying…
Articles by trevor
Palenque Doubts, and Riding in Survival Mode
After a couple of days working my way toward Palenque, it dawned on me that I should probably not have tried to make this run – would have been better to take my time. 200-300 miles a day on Mexican backroads is hard work! Well not all of it, the roads through the mountains are…
Sierra Madre Drama
I was enjoying this ride through the Sierra Madre, until this happened. I think it may have been something to do with the pannier clamping mechanism loosening off when I dumped the bike on the curb, landing on that pannier, a few days before. (Spoiler – the same thing happened a year later in…
On to the End of the World
I‘d agreed to meet one of the guys from that I’d met on the ADVrider formum in Palenque for “the end of the world” on December 21. It was early December when we concocted this plan – plenty of time to get down there I thought. But spent more time than expected around Copper Canyon,…
I Got the Tequila in Me
In Tequila – and tonight, tequila will be in me! I didn’t have long enough in Tequila – just one night. First stop was the Jose Cuervo tasting rooms. I thought I should have a finer appreciation of the tequila genre, and sipping a few different styles seemed like a good way to do it.…
Durango and the Devil’s Backbone
Made it to Durango the next day where I met up with 2 Aussies, Ken and Carol, who I’d first met in Creel. They’d found a great old hotel right in the center of town, off a pedestrian mall next to the main plaza. The plaza is all lit up with christmas lights and with…
Mazatlan has High Curbs
Kicked butt on the Batopilas road, tamed the Devil’s Backbone… crashed in front of a Mazatlan hotel! What a dick 😉 My right foot just did a ‘swoosh’ through empty air where I thought there should be pavement. I thinking “I wonder if this hotel will be OK?”, put my foot down without noticing that the gutter is really deep…
Heading for Durango
I headed east from Guachochi, hoping to make Durango the next day. I had decided to take 24 south, just before Parral, for two reasons – it looked shorter but also twistier than the other option, Mex 45 from Parral. There’s a Pemex gas station and an OXXO store at that intersection. In front of…
Back from Batopilas
The trip back up was a bit different to coming down – what were downhill sections before were now steep climbs. Mostly they were ok, but a few were steep enough and rough enough that you have to pick your route at the bottom, cos it’s going to be difficult to change course on the…
The Long Way Down (to Batopilas)
Here’s the video of the trip down into Copper Canyon. It’s about a 160 mile round trip from Guachochi, and fairly challenging on a big bike, but geeze was it fun! It’s long, but that’s deliberate so that anyone considering the trip can see the varied terrain on the way down.