This Article was first published in The Road magazine in June 2020. The situation with the Covid-19 pandemic has deteriorated since then and the service is even more in demand. During this time the brilliant charity formerly known as team Rubicon UK has been renamed RE:ACT Disaster Response.
Continue reading “Bike Shed & Team Rubicon UK Motorcycle volunteers fighting the pandemic, one urgent delivery at time”
This article about a trip to Vietnam last year was originally published in The Road magazine.
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When I told our tour guide Mr Nguyen of my intention to rent a scooter as a form of transport, he looked me in horror and shook his head. “No, no, no!” he Continue reading “Good Morning, Vietnam!”
I wrote this back in 2016 for the Zenith Motorcycles blog.
I’m reproducing this here mostly because Continue reading “Back in 2016: Northern Spain on a Harley Davidson”
“It’s better to arrive at Auschwitz by bike than by train”
The Holocaust is one of the most difficult things to write about or to make films about. It is the subject which rookie director Catherine Lurie Continue reading “Film Review: Back to Berlin “
A profound treatise on solitude.
Much like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is not really about Zen or indeed motorcycle maintenance, so Russia. Mongolia. Motorbike. Me. is not really about Continue reading “Book Review: “Russia. Mongolia. Motorbike. Me.” by Nick Sanders”
“My biggest thrill is when I plan something and it fails. My mind is then filled with ideas on how I can improve it.”
~ Soichiro Honda
5,244km later, the first journey is complete, the loop is closed. This is not part of the narrative, more a join on the much wider arc of thought and experience.
I had the blessing of Ted Simon, a machine built by the disciples of Continue reading “9 Lessons For The Solo Motorcycle Adventurer (learned the hard way)”
There is a strong wind but the skies are clear. The scenic route from the West Country back to London goes via the A38 and the A303 which runs through picturesque Wiltshire. It takes in several Stone, Bronze and Iron age sites and monuments, the most significant one of these being Continue reading “The Best is Yet to Come”
It takes only a few minutes to get from one side of Santander to the other. At the waterfront near the ferry port there is Continue reading “The Pilgrim Returns”
Guernica is a few sombre miles behind me when I espy something I’d not seen before in real life: a Continue reading “Biscay Blues”
The reason for which all of the interactions on this trip so far have been so rich is their intensity, from my perspective, due to Continue reading “Echoes of Guernica”
The morning comes and I am still undecided as to which way to head. I type a random address in Santander into the satnav to see which routes are available. There are several, via Continue reading “Back in the Basque Country”
From Lyon to Castelnaud La Chapelle it’s nearly 600km. Not a short run, made longer by the fact that a considerable section of it is tiny rural lanes, many of Continue reading “En Garde!”
Solitude and loneliness are different things. During a few nights, on my own in a pension or guesthouse bedroom, I experience Continue reading “My Echo, My Shadow and Me”
My body is changing visibly and invisibly. The neck muscles are Continue reading “Liberté de Lyon”
I have no real plan from Prague onwards, except to try and get to Castelnaud for the weekend. Munich is in a convenient location on the map, and my time Continue reading “Austrian High, Swiss Low”
Moving south along the Autobahn towards Dresden, rolling at a comfortable velocity somewhere in the high Continue reading “Prague Autumn; Bavaria Bound”
Today is the first day without the threat of rain anywhere along my route, so the waterproofs are happily packed away. Breakfast is Continue reading “I’m Not a Donut”
The morning entails the routine which is becoming familiar: shower, repack everything, vitamins, sun block, gear. I say my goodbyes and head out. A fuel stop a few kilometres beyond Amsterdam. The previous Continue reading “Rocking Reeperbahn”
One is jolted awake by loud distorted bird noises being piped through the ship’s radio. In a pitch black room which appears to be swaying Continue reading “‘Dam It”
Setting off from Zenith Motorcycles after final checks, I swing by Halfords who sold me a faulty single barrel pump. A shop assitant, Sin, is extremely helpful and replaces it with a working one without qualms. I roll to the border of our neighbourhood escorted by my best friend Yvonne on her Suzuki Van Van. She turns West, I turn Continue reading “The Norse Emissary”
Blac Ridere 