Get your summer kicks!

Just nine weeks left before we close the competition folks! Don't forget that not only can you win a brand new "Rhonda" of your own, but also a bikers holiday at MotoBreaks in France and plenty more biker booty too!

I am now home in the UK to attend the TT and Goodwood Festival of Speed. If you're going to either then I will see you there! I can't wait!

Good luck with the Raffle!

Cheers

Steph
x

In to the Jungle

Having failed in my mission to meet Pacha Mama via the ancient inca methods of ceremonies and hallucinogenic plant forms, I decided it was time to revert to my old ways of getting close to Mother nature. As there is a serious lack of Welsh forestries in Peru, I had to settle for the Amazon.

You won’t find Chocachanta on the map. It’s 22 inhabitants are blissfully hidden in the misty amazonian cloud forest about 6 hours out of Cuzco. While everyone else headed North to Machu Pichu, I headed east, back over the Andes and down in to Kosnipata Valley and Manu National Park. Here in Chocachanta I would meet Jose, a 60 something year old who, as far as I could make out, has spent most of his life travelling the world studying insects. Jose is a Majorcan who settled here about 6 years ago. His friend and partner in crime is 30 something year old Paolo, from Barcelona, who joined him 2 years ago after coming for a short visit and accidentally falling in love with the place. Together they set up Reserva Tierra Linda. This would be my home for the next two days. 

The Ayahuasca experience - In search of Pacha Mama

 More and more people are turning to ancient medicines and healing techniques to help them cope with every day life these days. Yoga and silent meditation retreats have never been more popular.

Here in Peru an hallucinogen from the Amazon is fast becoming the next big thing, with women in particular swearing it is the answer to spiritual enlightenment. 

Ayahuasca ceremonies have been taking place since the Inca's and over the past 10 years spiritual healing clinics have been growing in number, catering for the thousands of people who travel here every year to take a journey in to self discovery. 

Ayahuasca is just one of the therapies you can experience at these retreats and it by far the most popular. 

Win your very own Rhonda!

Today sees the launch of my fundraising competition where you are in with a chance of wining a brand new Honda CRF250L as well as several other great prizes like a weeks holiday with MotoBreaks in France or a days off roading at the Dave Thorpe Honda Off Road Centre. There is even £100 cash prize to start saving for YOUR next adventure and many more great prizes.

All you have to do to enter is click on the link below and choose how many tickets you want.

Good luck!

onestephbeyondcompetition.co.uk

With thanks to Honda UK, MotoBreaks, Kriega, Auritech, Dave Thorpe Off Road Centre, Ride Magazine and my parents for providing some great prizes.

20% of all money raised from this competition will go to Rally4Life

La Paz and Death Road

Before leaving Bolivia there were two places I just had to visit. La Paz because it's just a crazy location for a city (It's the highest capital city in the world) and Death Road, well because it's called Death Road!

El Camino de la Muerte (Death Road) is named as such supposedly because of the number of deaths each year. However, I believe it is mainly to draw in thrill seeking tourists. It works.
The road sees in excess of 25,000 cyclists each ear and the majority of the tourist vendors in La Paz offer a day trip to this infamous site.

The road starts at around 4,700 meters, travelling down the mountain and through the jungle for about 30km. It is now bypassed and most tourists travel down it then take the bypass back to La Paz.

I must admit to being a little nervous. I am not great with heights despite having travelled many dirt tracks with deathly drops in the Atlas Mountains and in the Himalayas. I work best when I don't know their coming! However, I could not let the experience pass me by and it looked to be a stunning trail with beautiful views. Mostly,  it was a challenge!