An epic motorbike journey, which took Freshbrook dentist Brendan Ball and his wife Natasha from Canada to Europe, via Japan and Russia has proved that you can meet and make friends in the most unlikely of places.

The founder members of Smile Menders, set out in June on the ten week road trip to highlight the challenges faced by people affected by radiation and poverty. Their adventure started in Canada, with an easy start riding across the flat prairies where they came across several emigrants from Natasha’s homeland who spotted the Ukrainian flag on their BMW.

The next leg of the journey began in Japan where a friend, who lived in Lydiard Millicent for two years when her husband worked at Honda, acted as interpreter. They made a poignant visit to Hiroshima, with obvious connections to Ukraine where people are still living with the after effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

A ferry ride took them from Japan to Russia where the contrast in road conditions and infrastructure was immense. Driving on one heavily rutted road, the bike slipped away from them and the couple were badly shaken and bruised in the accident. Drivers were reluctant to help and Natasha had to pretend to faint at the roadside before someone finally stopped to assist.

The poverty of eastern Russia made a mark. Most houses still have only outside toilets and Brendan said that he could smell villages long before he could see them. Hotel accommodation was equally poor and in one town they were obliged to share a room with six strangers.

Crossing the Urals marked the transition from East to West and the start of insurance cover; which was impossible to obtain for the first part of the Russian journey. Arriving in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, the hotel receptionist commented on Brendan’s New Zealand passport which she had never seen before. Within an hour, to everyone’s great surprise, three more New Zealanders arrived and one of the party came from Brendan’s childhood home town near Otago.

Riding through southern Russia, they noticed helicopters overhead, fighters taking off from an airfield and armoured vehicles on the roads. Later in the day on Russian TV, the couple learned of the sudden outbreak of war with the former Soviet state of Georgia. Brendan said, “we felt really very vulnerable because we were quite close to where the fighting was taking place; the Russians were very aggressive about their upstart neighbours.”

Crossing the border with Ukraine was an ordeal, with hostile customs and border guards insisting on the couple unloading and repacking all their possessions twice.  Once safely across, there was time to see Natasha’s mother and to visit the dental hospital in Cherkassy which Smile Menders has supported over the years.

After an uneventful journey across Europe, the relieved bikers arrived back in Swindon in September. “We’re still alive and very lucky to get back home with just a few bruises,” said Brendan. “We’re told very few people manage to do the whole trip with a pillion passenger. Natasha is solid gold; she was absolutely brilliant.”