Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Ride a Motorcycle Around the World

Product Information

The spring and summer of 1982 proved a turning point. An important relationship ended, a key step in her professional education in architecture was completed and she had prepared her BMW for long miles. The second leg of her ride took her across Australia, where she had a nasty fall and ended up in hospital for two weeks, up through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, India and Pakistan before reaching Iran and then making her way to Europe, finishing in the city where it all began, London. Elspeth lives just outside London in an amazing water tower she redesigned and refurbished herself over a seven-year period. She’s an award-winning architect with her own firm. When her book first came out, if you Googled her, all the information was about architecture and her business. Nine months later, it’s now motorcycle this and world traveler that.

Open disclosure: This review, though entirely unbiased, would like to encourage more women, not just men, to take up motorcycle touring. Adventures like Elspeth Beard’s are often seen as the preserve of ‘the guys’. As Elspeth proves in her book, they needn’t be. A young man, who I guessed was one of the sons of the woman who’d dressed my wounds, shrugged, handed me a dirty rag, then smiled. He seemed to be suggesting that this was all that was required to deal with the problem. Elspeth Beard has shared some of her audio files with Adventure Rider Radio, the sound of her younger voice all those years ago that she recorded to share with her parents. And, we also talk to someone who was in a position to either empower or disempower her while she was on this trip, something Elspeth wasn't aware of at the time that we created this episode for you, our listener.a b c "Encounter Extract: Elspeth Beard". Overland Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016 . Retrieved 18 April 2016.

But upon her return to the UK, she realised that despite her achievements, no one in England - newspapers, biking magazine and even her family and friends - was interested in her story, Elspeth said. “So few women rode motorbikes those days and very very few women travelled" Elspeth Beard (born 28 April 1959) is an architect and motorcyclist, noted for being one of the first English women to ride a motorcycle around the world. [2] [a] She later redesigned the historic Munstead Tower in Godalming, winning the 1994 Royal Institute of British Architects award for South East England. She now owns an architectural firm based in a converted stable in Godalming. [4] Personal life [ edit ]And so it continued for two days and three nights, a simple routine of lazing around, sleeping and watching television, eating rice, meat and vegetables, while my body healed itself. At times I wondered if it might be marginally less painful to ride my bike to somewhere with a comfortable bed but I enjoyed being part of a family again. Watching them go about their daily routine not only gave me an insight into the life of a typical Thai family, but also made me realize how much I missed being in the bosom of my own clan.

I was determined to make up for lost time, and although I had abandoned any hope of catching the cargo boat to Madras as planned, I hoped I could find another way. I was spurred on by a deep desire to get to Kathmandu by any means so that I could be reunited for a short time with my parents. Eighteen months had passed since they waved off a rather reluctant traveller from Heathrow. It was a long time and I really needed to see them. * In the early 1980s, at just age 23, Elspeth Beard decided to hit the road for a 35,000-mile, round-the-world adventure — going solo, on sabbatical from architecture school, and riding a 1974 BMW R60/6.R motorcycle. Her new travel memoir, Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World, is about that incredible, epic experience. In this exclusive excerpt for Outpost, Beard takes a serious wipe-out in rural India, and discovers the power of the human community. Excerpt: Story and and Photos by (and courtesy of) Elspeth Beard It is a journey that will change you forever, traveling is so important to understand other cultures and this understanding helps make the world a safer place. I discovered strengths I didn’t know I had, taking yourself out of your comfort zone is never easy but very rewarding. The hardest thing is to leave but once you’re on the road you will discover so much about yourself and the world you will never be the same person again.

Elspeth stated, ‘For most of us motorcycling represents freedom. This is how they see motorcycling – it gives them the freedom and because motorbikes are relatively inexpensive compared to cars, it is a form of transport they have got some chance at actually being able to get, to give them the freedom to go out and to do things.’