About Norman Magowan

From Belfast, Northern Ireland, Norman worked in the aerospace industry for 10 years before moving to Stevenage in England in 1989. For the next 15 years he was gainfully employed in the UK Space industry. He took a voluntary redundancy package, swapping his role as Quality Manager on a leading space programme to take up the challenge of the Pan American Adventure.
Author Archive | Norman Magowan

Arrival in Panama City

The flight to Panama was uneventful with a tedious 3-hour stop over in Bogotá. The bikes were packed on Friday, shipped out of Ecuador on Saturday, we flew out on Sunday and the bikes were promised to be ready for our collection on Monday. We arrived in Panama on Sunday evening at the tail end […]

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Off to Panama and the End in South America

While we were away in the Galapagos, our 2 bikes were in the hands of BMW in Quito in yet another attempt to rectify the cold/high altitude starting problem. In fact on the day they were to go to the dealer, both refused absolutely to start even when left in the sun, which had previously […]

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The Middle of the World; Boobies and ‘Ah Fek’ Lava in the Fabulous Galapagos Islands!

We liked Quito! We had a home of our own for the duration courtesy of big Chris and a full schedule to mark the end of our days in South America. The equator lies a few kilometres north of Quito and is marked by 2 visitor / tourist sites at ‘Mitad Del Mundo’. First, there […]

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Cuenca; Dual Sports Moto Club; Back in Ireland! Volcanoes at Baños; On To Quito

Santa Rosa was not a place to linger and we were up early and away with a quick farewell to the dour faced staff at the grotty hotel. It was a grey dawn and the first part of today’s short ride took us through mile after mile of banana plantations. We were off back into […]

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Trujillo and Chan Chan, Turned Away at Ecuador?

The Garua fog conditions would be with us now more or less until we left Peru. The ride north to Trujillo, our next stop, took us along more desert coastline mainly in light fog but with occasional excursions into the sunshine where the road climbed to crest headlands or coastal mountains. We spent a day […]

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Back on the Bikes and out of the Mountains

Whilst we were shuffling along the Inca Trail and enjoying the delights of Cusco, our old bikes (they are getting very tatty now – real travel veterans, with scars and road damage to prove it) had been left for 10 days, unattended, in the hostel dining room in Cusco. We still haven’t sussed the cold […]

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The Inca ‘Trial’ & the Ghost of Machu Picchu

Well, we’ve done it! We have just had a long lie in followed by a scorching hot shower and then down to Jacks Café to join some of the girls from our team for a gut busting breakfast of Pancakes & Maple Syrup. It was well deserved; the past 4 days on the Inca Trail […]

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Cusco

It was a great ride from Puno to Cusco through more mountains with that old world Celtic feel to them, a twisty road that loved to play and had us arriving in the Inca capital with huge grins on our chops. Cusco is an amazing city, surrounded by more mountains than you could shake a […]

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Puno, Uros Reed Islands of Titicaca, Aftermath At Ilave, On to Cusco!

We had a day of rest in Puno where we booked up for another boat trip out on to the lake to see the famous floating reed islands – the Uros – and on to Taquile one of the bigger Peruvian islands. It was a great way to unwind after all the uncertainty and stress […]

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The Bridge At Ilave

We left Copacabana and Bolivia and rode the 8 miles to the Peruvian border. On the previous day we checked with bus drivers doing the Puno run as to the status of the blocked bridge at Ilave. Some good news! The passengers now had to decamp at the roadblock, then climb across the barricade to […]

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