Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Riding Against the Odds: Elspeth Beard’s 35,000-Mile Motorcycle Odyssey

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Riding Against the Odds: Elspeth Beard’s 35,000-Mile Motorcycle Odyssey · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Break Fix Podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
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over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
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designers, and everything in between.
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Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder how did they
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get that job or become that person.
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The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
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Our guest is a British adventurer and motorcyclist who became one of the first
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British women to circumnavigate the globe by motorcycle in the early 1980s.
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Her journey spanned three years and took her across the United States,
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Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, India, and throughout Europe.
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Elsbeth Beard was just 23 years old when she set out on her journey in 1982.
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She had recently graduated from architecture school and was feeling lost
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and disillusioned with her life in London.
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She decided to take a year off and travel using her motorcycle as her
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primary mode of transportation.
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As she rode across the world, Elspeth faced countless challenges and obstacles.
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She dealt with breakdowns, injuries and illnesses, all while navigating
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unfamiliar terrain and cultures.
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But through it all, she persevered, driven by her love of adventure and her desire to
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prove that women could be just as capable as men when it came to motorcycle travel.
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And she's here with us to share her adventure with you.
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Joining me to help add ELs Smith's story to the Break Fix Collection
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is returning guest Jeff Willis, who interviewed ELs Smith as part of
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his new book, human in the Machine.
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So with that, let's welcome both ELs Smith and Jeff to break fix.
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Thank you for having us.
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Yeah, thank you very much.
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Well like all good.
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Break fix stories.
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Elspeth, we wanna talk about your origin, how you got started,
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especially in motorcycles.
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Where was the attraction and how you set off on this global journey?
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My introduction to motorbikes, I mean, it wasn't planned or anything like that.
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None of my family rode motorbikes.
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My father didn't, well, it actually started when I was
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expelled from school when I was 16.
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I ended up going to a college in London to finish off my A Levels,
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which were the sort of exams to get yourself into university.
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It was when I was at this college that I met this group of motorcyclists
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and became friends with them.
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And at the time I was cycling around London then and I was getting
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really, really tired of cycling.
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So Simon, one of my mates, offered to sell me his little Yamaha Y B 100.
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That was my very first bike.
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And in those days in the uk, you didn't have to take any motorbike test at all.
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You could buy any bike up to two 50 cc, put L plates on it and off you went.
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It was brilliant.
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So that's exactly what I did.
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I got myself, my Y B 100, Rick and Nick and whatever, taught me to ride up and
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down my back road or whatever in London.
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And then Monday morning I went off to college for the first time on my bike.
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But it really was just a cheap and efficient way to get around London.
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It was no more than that, and I can't say that When I got on the bike,
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I thought, wow, this is amazing.
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You know?
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And I had no idea that bikes were gonna become such a major part of my life.
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It was just transport.
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And in London it was the perfect way to get around.
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I think after a year of the a hundred cc, I got a little bit bored with that,
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so I bought myself a Honda two 50.
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And then again, after about a year of that, I got a little bit bored with that.
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So I bought myself A B M W 600, which was a 60 slash five.
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And that's the one you brought to the United States on your
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first trip around North America?
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No, when I bought my 600, my 60 stroke five, that actually was
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the bike where I thought actually you could go places on this it.
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It was a sudden realization that you could travel on this machine.
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So I did my first trip around Scotland on my own, then I went round Ireland, then
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I went round Europe the following summer.
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And then in the summer of 81, I flew out to Los Angeles and I bought
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myself an old R 75 stroke five.
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And rode it from the west coast to the east coast, and it was somewhere
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on that train riding in the open roads of Arizona or something.
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I thought, my goodness, wouldn't it be amazing if you
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could ride around the world?
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But I never imagined I would.
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It was just sort of this crazy thought that came into my mind
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really that wouldn't it be amazing if you could, you know, actually
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ride all the way around the world.
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So one B M W Motorcycle is a purchase.
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Two, uh, you're beginning to become a fan, but then the third
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one, now you're a collector.
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I know.
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Well, I do rather like the old bms, I have to say, they're so easy to work on.
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If I can service them and I can fix them, and I can strip them down and
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put them back, then anybody can do it.
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Really.
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They are so simple.
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I love knowing that I can fix my bike anywhere in the world
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with a basic set of tools.
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I mean, it's pretty amazing, especially now when you think to
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the, you know, motorbikes these days, which is so over technical
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and got so much electronics in them.
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I mean, they're just a different animal to what it was like.
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You know, when I did my trip, And I still, now, even today, I like a
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simple bike when I'm traveling, I still like to know that I can fix it.
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And we're gonna talk about the journey and the book here as we go along.
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I mentioned the third B M W, that's a 74 R 60 stroke six, which is the one
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you used on this 35,000 mile adventure.
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And then there's another one after that that gets mentioned that
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you purchased after you retired.
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So you're four BMWs in and I'm sure a couple more after that.
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I've owned a few bikes, yes.
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But I have a question about the stroke six that you rode in the trip and you kept
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referring to her as she, and in the car community, a lot of us name our vehicles.
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So I'm wondering, did the stroke six have a name?
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It didn't actually, I used to talk to her all the time and I used to encourage
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her and I used to promise her like oil changes if she got me over the mountain
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pass or she got me to a certain place without breaking down or whatever.
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So I certainly had a very close relationship with my bike.
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To me, she was always a she, I dunno why I would call her old girl quite
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a lot, you know, come on old girl, let's get up the hill or something.
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But I never actually had a name for her.
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So you mentioned turning your own wrenches on these bikes.
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How did that come about?
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Was that just out of necessity?
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Did someone teach you, were you already mechanically inclined before you
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started messing with the motorcycles?
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I wouldn't say I was mechanically inclined.
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I mean, my father was a very eccentric psychiatrist, but he was very much men and
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make do, he would always fix everything.
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And so it was very much part of me when I was a child.
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You know, he would always have things apart on the kitchen table.
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As I grew older, I would start to help him to take things apart.
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If the washing machine broke down, he'd just take it all
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apart and I'd help him do it.
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And I think that took away any fear that I had of taking things apart.
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You know, to me it was completely normal.
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If something was broken and had a problem.
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You, you know, you just got a screwdriver out and you got the
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whatever, and you just pulled it apart.
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You found out what was wrong with it, and you fixed it.
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And so I very much had that mentality and I am quite good with my hands
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and I quite like taking things apart.
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I used to make, you know, model airplanes and model ships when I was younger.
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And in 82 when I decided to go on the trip, I realized that in all the countries
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I was gonna go to, the only person who was gonna be able to fix my bike was me.
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I wasn't gonna find anybody.
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I mean, in half the countries I went to, certainly after I left,
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you know, Australia, they hadn't even seen a B M W motorbike before.
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So, I mean, you were never gonna find a mechanic who was gonna know how to fix it.
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I bought myself a Hanes manual, bought myself tools, the basics, and I just
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stripped the bike apart before I left because the bike when I left was already
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seven years old and had 45,000 miles on her when I started the journey.
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She was a reasonably well used bike right at the beginning, so I decided
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to strip her down and I replaced all the seals and the gaskets and
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I put new cables on tires back.
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I mean, anything I could think of that would be worth replacing before I left.
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And I learned a lot about the bike.
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And also I had friends of mine who had BMWs and so we kind
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of learned off each other.
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I used to go down to the local B M W, you know, mechanic at the dealership and pick
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their brains and, and ask them questions if I was stuck on so, so I just learned.
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But I did know my bike fairly well before I left.
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The only thing I was absolutely hopeless at and still am, is the electrics.
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I hate electrics, but the engine, I'm fine gimme anything
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with the engine, I can do it.
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But electrics, it's a complete mystery to me.
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Electrics, I prepared myself as, you know, the best that I could.
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You spoke about preparing for the trip and setting about on
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the trip and things like that.
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And one of the things.
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In Lone Writer, your book that chronicles the entire adventure is
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how you set about going on the trip.
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Lone Writer implies that you sort of just did it almost with
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no reason and no real planning.
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But it sounds like there was careful preparation, but I'm still very curious
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even after reading the book, what was the impetus for just saying, I'm gonna leave
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home and set about going around the globe?
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Well, I think I was not at an easy place in my life.
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I suppose I'd finished my first three years architectures
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during my time at university.
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I met and fell in love with this guy.
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He sort of finished our relationship about three months before my finals.
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And so I found it really difficult to work, and as a result I ended
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up with a really bad degree.
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I was sort of questioning whether I should do architecture at all anymore, whether
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it was the right thing for me to do, and I was just feeling a bit lost really.
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Firstly, it was the whole, what am I going to do with the rest of my life?
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Secondly, I was feeling really unhappy, and I suppose it was
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the sort of escapism in a way.
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By that stage, I'd been riding bikes for three or four years.
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I'd had my B M W for a year and a half.
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I'd done, as I say, the trips in Scotland, Ireland, Europe.
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I'd ridden across America the summer beforehand, and I had had this slightly
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crazy idea of riding around the world.
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I just thought, I need some time out.
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I need to decide what I want to do with my life, and I needed to get
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away, and so I thought, That's it.
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Let's go.
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I think that was in the sort of April, may of 1982.
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I sort of decided, and then I got myself a job in, in the local hub and I worked
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behind a bar seven days a week, all weekends, and I managed to save two and
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a half thousand pounds and that was it.
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And that's what I left with.
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And I knew it wasn't gonna be enough to get myself all the way around the world,
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but I just hoped it would be enough to get myself to either New Zealand
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or Australia where I could work again, earn some more money and worry about it.
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I mean, I think people now, when they plan these trips, because it's
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possible to kind of overplan a lot of it, you can sort of plan for months
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and months and months in advance.
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It just wasn't like that then, or I just didn't approach that trip in that way.
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I literally, I just did it in stages.
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And so I had my two and a half thousand pounds.
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I had my bike, I'd stripped it down, I'd learned as much as I could about it.
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And that was it.
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And in the October, I shipped my bike to New York, flew myself out there, and
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then I dealt with Riding across America.
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And then I worried about the next bit, and then I worried about the next bit.
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I didn't know whether the trip was gonna take me a year.
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I didn't know it was gonna take me five years.
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I didn't know whether I'd be back home in six months, was very
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much just sort of doing it on a wing and a prayer, I suppose.
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Whereas the Osage would say, you went on walkabout.
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There's no real intention.
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Well, I knew I was heading west.
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I knew that much.
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There's obviously undertones of heartbreak.
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There's this youthful rebellion.
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Throw on the leather jacket, get on your bike and just go see the world.
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But there's another piece that was described in detail in the
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book, which was Family Life.
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For you, and I didn't know which adjective to describe it best with.
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My gut reaction initially was maybe dysfunction, and then it switched
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to indifference, especially on your return home and how you talked about
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how you spent time putting your journals together, putting together
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the scrapbooks and everything.
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In the photographs you lamented about people not recognizing
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how big of an event this was.
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Not just for you personally, but on a global stage.
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And so I wanted to just hone in on that for a second and talk about how that
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also kept you going throughout all this.
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Was that reluctance to return home?
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I actually had a very happy childhood and my parents did have a
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slightly different way of bringing up children to most parents.
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I mean, they actually allowed us a huge amount of freedom and they
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believed that we should go out and learn from our own mistakes.
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I honestly think, I can't remember a crossword from either my mom or my
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dad and I was quite a pain in the ass when I was, when I was a teenager.
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I can tell you I was very rebellious at school.
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I mean, even when I got expelled from school, they didn't really say anything.
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They just kind of took me home and nothing was said and they just
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enrolled me in this college in London and I just kind of carried on.
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'cause they did have this attitude that they shouldn't have to tell me that that
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was a stupid thing to do or whatever.
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And it was much, I.
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More powerful if they just left me to work it out for myself.
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And so they did have this, what might have came across in the book
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as slightly detached, but they were always hovering there and watching,
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but they never really, or they tried not to interfere very much because they
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did believe very much in letting us go out there and make our own mistakes.
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And I think that was probably partly why I had this slight free-spirited mind.
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I didn't actually think that much of going off on my own
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around the world on a motorbike.
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I just thought, well, that's what I'm gonna do, you know,
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because that's what I want to do.
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So in a way, their approach and their attitude to our upbringing sort of
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helped my spirit and my spirit of adventure to go out and do these things.
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And although my mom, I mean, it probably was about the only time
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she did do whatever she could to try and stop me from going.
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But again, it was never said with a raised voice.
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It was all just calm.
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And my father didn't say anything.
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At all.
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He didn't say a word, and I think he was quietly quite proud of what
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I was trying to do, but he couldn't actually say very much because he knew
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that my mom was, was so against it.
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So it was, I don't know.
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It was sort of, family dynamics are always, you know, strange sometimes.
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Yeah.
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As you say, when I got back from my trip, their sort of
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indifference and disinterest.
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I did find very hurtful, but I think as time goes on and you know, you can
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kind of look back and you can see things from their perspective a bit more than I
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could then and now I'm a mother as well.
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So obviously I can understand what it must've been for my mom to see
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me disappearing off on a motorbike 'cause she hated motorbikes.
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Absolutely hated motorbikes.
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You do get a different understanding and perspective as you get older
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as to why they reacted and dealt with it in the way that they did.
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I started to theorize that maybe some of that was because you were
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keeping in contact with your family.
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They did come visit you a few times during the trip in India and other places.
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There were letters being exchanged throughout the three years.
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So it's not like you just vanished like some people do without a
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trace, and then they reappear one day on someone's doorstep.
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So maybe in that sense, they still felt connected to you and your
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return trip home wasn't the grand parade that you were expecting.
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Yeah, that's true.
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I mean, I was actually very good at keeping in contact with them.
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I mean, certainly in America and New Zealand and Australia, I would
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phone home every two or three weeks.
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Which in those days was a real pain in the neck.
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'cause you had to walk for miles to find some phone box in the middle of a
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street somewhere and dial 50 different numbers in to reverse the charges
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and it was much, much harder work.
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So I used to phone home, as I say, every two or three weeks.
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I mean, after I got to the Far East and India, it got a bit more sketchy
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because it was really hard to find anywhere, you know, to phone from.
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I was pretty good at writing letters and I had sort of post restaurant
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places where they could write to.
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So I used to pick up mail from my friends and family every two months or something.
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So I definitely kept in contact with them and I used to send these tapes home.
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I used to record into these tapes and send these tapes home, and my dad
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used to transfer them from the micro cassette onto a standard cassette,
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and then my mom would listen to them in the car as she drove to work.
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So, I mean, she wasn't completely disinterested and I think a lot
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of it was per way of sort of dealing with what I was doing.
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It was almost easier for her to detach herself from it than try
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and immerse herself in what I was doing for her and a mother.
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And now I was on my own and a woman, I was 23 years old.
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I mean, it must have been incredibly hard for her to not to worry about
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what I was doing every minute of the day and all these dreadful things
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that could possibly happen to me.
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So I think it was her way of dealing with it, which now I can understand.
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At the time I couldn't understand and I was quite hurt by the
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total lack of disinterest.
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Speaking of worrying, I'm kind of curious if you personally ever
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necessarily worried about much because.
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As you mentioned, you didn't have a real solid plan of what to do and where
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to go, but you did have a very solid feeling of rebelliousness of independence.
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But this was also at a time where women were not necessarily thought of as
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people who could do something like this.
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You're a young, beautiful woman going into some of the most
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dangerous areas in the world.
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What were some of the plans for self-defense or survival for other
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challenges like language barriers, discrimination, including race and gender?
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Did you have any plans for that or was it something that you just
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dealt with time by time at work?
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I sort of decided right at the beginning that I wasn't gonna carry a
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gun or a knife or any weapons at all.
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I was just not going to do that.
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And I think one of the advantages that I did have was because, So few women
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rode motorbikes, especially big bikes.
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When I was actually on my bike in all my bike gear with my full face helmet
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on, most people assumed I was male.
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Mm-hmm.
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So actually when I was riding the bike, I felt pretty safe.
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I mean, I was always careful.
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I never rode after dark.
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I would always find somewhere to stay.
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I, you know, I'd always start, you know, looking at four in the afternoon, five
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in the afternoon, make sure I was in somewhere, in a motel, in a whatever.
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Before it was dark.
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I never wore makeup.
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I never wore jewelry.
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I cut all my hair off.
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I wore the most unattractive clothes, baggy trousers, most unattractive
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clothes I could possibly find.
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So I think if you're sensible, I mean, I always used to get a sense when I was.
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Going into a town or a village, if it didn't feel right,
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I would just keep going.
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If I went into a, a cafe or a restaurant, and again, it didn't feel right, I
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became quite sensitive to all of that, and I would always be looking around and
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watching who was around me, and I would always sit with my back against the wall.
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If in a restaurant, for example, I mean, it's very simple things, but
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it made me feel sort of safe for me.
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It was just instinctive to do it because it was trying to protect myself and.
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Trying to minimize the chances of things going wrong.
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Lots of opportunities where you were fortunate to be
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traveling with other people.
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Not saying they were there as your bodyguards, but there were adventures
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with Mark and with Robert and others.
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And there were plenty of times where you were in the Outback by yourself
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as an example, or traveling across the United States on some of the
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most boring highways you'd ever seen.
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If I recall the quote correctly, there's some of that too.
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And Robert especially, I won't say he was armed, but he carried
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a knife and things like that.
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So if you were in a sticky situation, I do remember one instance in
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Iraq and Iran where you made the mistake of going out not covered.
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But then again, in another instance where you were stopped, I believe,
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was the Indian father that pushed his daughter into the road.
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You didn't take your helmet off for fear that someone would
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know that you were a woman.
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So there was a lot of really interesting situations that you had
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to deal with throughout all this.
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When I met up with Roberts in India, that transformed the whole journey.
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I mean, it really did.
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I mean, all the other riding of the bikes, although I met up with Mark
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in Indonesia, you know, we traveled on public transport through that.
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But certainly all the riding the bike in America, I was on my own.
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Australia.
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I mean, I met up with, uh, with Tom and Ewen.
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We traveled together for four or five days, fortunately, 'cause
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that's when I had my first accident.
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So that was lucky I was with them.
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And then Southeast Asia, I was largely on my own.
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India, I was largely on my own until I met up with Robert
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traveling with another motorbike.
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I mean, it was just extraordinary, the difference.
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I mean, it went from just trying to survive almost every minute of
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the day, which is what the trip had become to feel like certainly in
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India to nearly a being a holiday, just having somebody else there.
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Robert was a mechanic as well.
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So it's only all these fears scratching my head every time my bike broke down,
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or, not that it did that often, but you know, it was always a worry to me, would
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I be able to find the problem, would I be able to solve the problem and fix it?
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And just having Robert there just made so much difference and it's company and
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it's, you know, it's just having somebody to talk to and it makes life a million
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times easier traveling with another bike.
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You know, if you are ill, for example, you've got somebody
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who can look after you.
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I mean, I, I remember in parts of India I'd been lying in this.
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Guest house on a bed somewhere.
22:36
And I, I mean, I thought I was gonna die and I had nobody to go out and get water
22:40
for me, get any food for me, nothing.
22:43
And I was too weak to get up off the bed.
22:45
So it's situations like that, having somebody else there, it's just makes
22:50
so much difference, a lot, lot easier When I was traveling with other
22:54
people, but most of the time on, on the bike, I was actually riding alone.
22:59
Jeff mentioned language barriers for those that have read the book or will
23:03
read it soon, you begin to realize you've struggled your entire life with dyslexia.
23:07
And I wondered if that posed an additional more complex challenge of reading street
23:12
signs and maps and things like that.
23:14
Was that an imposition for you on the journey as well?
23:17
No, it wasn't actually.
23:19
I mean, in fact, being dyslexic, because your brain works in a slightly
23:23
different way, dyslexics tend to be very good at reading plans and maps.
23:28
And I'm actually a very good map reader, even though I say so myself.
23:31
But I am actually very good at reading maps, which was very useful.
23:35
So like in Thailand, all signs would be in like Thai script, but I would
23:40
see it more as an image or a picture.
23:42
And I think again, that's what dyslexic.
23:44
Your brain works, as I say, in a different way.
23:47
It's more on images, and I'm a very visual person.
23:51
I see things as images and I actually found being dyslexic more
23:56
probably an advantage when I was traveling than a disadvantage.
24:00
But you don't know because obviously when you're dyslexic you
24:02
only know what it's like to be.
24:04
Dyslexic.
24:05
So I don't know what it was like if anybody else had been
24:07
traveling, but um, when it came to communicating with the locals, I
24:11
was very good at drawing pictures.
24:13
'cause that's another thing that dyslexics are quite good at doing.
24:17
'cause where you can't do certain things, you know, you're
24:19
quite good at other things.
24:20
And so I could draw very well.
24:22
So I used to just draw pictures, you know, if you want food, you put, you know,
24:25
your hand to your mouth, you want sleep.
24:27
So it wasn't difficult.
24:29
I didn't really have that much of a problem in managing your fuel and
24:33
your speed and your expenses, first of all, were there any compromises?
24:37
Obviously things are different there as far as passports, work
24:40
permits, visas, arranging transport from one space to another.
24:45
How did you deal with the shipping companies?
24:47
What were the expenses like?
24:49
How did you deal with the actual money exchange and.
24:53
The fact that the b m BMW's not a common bike necessarily at
24:57
that point in time in the US or overseas compared to other brands.
25:01
When you had breakdowns, how did you source parts?
25:03
How did you manage?
25:05
There's an awful lot of questions in there.
25:07
Sorry.
25:07
Yeah, so what do you want me to deal with first?
25:10
The money side of it?
25:11
Yeah, the money side of it.
25:12
How did you deal with.
25:12
Paying for all these things.
25:14
And to Jeff's point, how much did this all cost by the time it was all said and done?
25:18
Well, that's a good question.
25:19
I left with two and a half thousand pounds and that got me across America to ship
25:24
my bike from London to New York was 175 pounds, and I flew to New York for 99.
25:33
Pound 'cause it was the Freddie Laker era when he was doing
25:37
all these really cheap flights.
25:38
And I got across America to ship my bike to New Zealand was really expensive
25:43
because in those days, the main shipping routes went from America to Australia.
25:49
And then my bike would've had to have gone from Australia to New Zealand.
25:52
So to actually get my bike to New Zealand was really, really expensive.
25:56
I was paying for it to go all the way to Sydney and then Sydney to New
26:00
Zealand, and then I was gonna have to ship it from New Zealand back to Sydney.
26:03
And I just didn't have the money to do it.
26:05
You know, I did have to make tough decisions and compromises because
26:09
I would've loved to have had my motorbike and ride around New Zealand,
26:13
but I just couldn't afford it.
26:14
So I shipped my bike straight to Sydney and then I went to New
26:18
Zealand and I hitchhiked around the country, which is beautiful.
26:21
I love New Zealand.
26:22
And when I arrived in Sydney, I had $50 left.
26:25
That was it.
26:25
That's all I had to my name.
26:27
It was $50.
26:28
Fortunately, I had friends in Sydney.
26:30
I slept on the floor for about a month while I managed to get some work.
26:35
I got a job as an architect's assistant.
26:38
I like to call that one an unpaid internship.
26:40
Well, the first one was unpaid internship.
26:43
It was indeed, that's a whole nother story.
26:48
But then I did get paid.
26:50
I went to another architectural practice and I worked there for about four
26:54
months, and they did pay me, and I got a job in a pub in North Sydney as well.
26:59
So I was working pretty much all day and all evening and all weekends,
27:04
trying to save as much money as I could.
27:06
So I was in Sydney for seven months.
27:07
When I left Sydney, I had managed to save $6,000 us, I think it was.
27:14
The $6,000 got me home and I arrived back in London with the thousand leftover,
27:20
so it was 5,000 from Sydney to London.
27:24
I suppose I understood that part of the 6,000 was lost during a robbery somewhere
27:30
between Southeast Asia and India.
27:32
So I kept wondering how did you make the money back?
27:35
Did you make money along the way?
27:36
No, it was, yeah, so when I was in Singapore, I had all my money stolen,
27:41
but I carried it in American Express Travelers checks, so I got it all back.
27:47
Oh wow.
27:47
Ah.
27:48
I have to say American Express were brilliant.
27:51
They really were.
27:52
'cause we had everything stolen a whole lot.
27:54
I mean, I had a bit of cash stolen, but most of the bulk of my money
27:58
was in the travelers checks.
28:00
And I was good.
28:00
I kept all the numbers and I kept all the, so I, I knew exactly what
28:04
numbers had been stolen and so they just replaced them all outside of
28:08
the unpaid internship in Australia.
28:11
At one point, it almost seemed like you didn't wanna leave.
28:14
You were reluctant to leave Australia.
28:16
You kept making excuses and procrastinating, especially on your
28:19
departure, which was a reoccurring theme throughout the trip.
28:23
It felt to me like you fell in love with Australia and.
28:25
You almost were gonna stay there, or am I wrong in that assertion?
28:29
No, I think that's very true.
28:30
I did in the various places where I kind of settled down for a bit.
28:35
I mean, not a, I mean there weren't many.
28:37
I did find it quite hard sometimes to move on.
28:40
You know, the road was a cold, lonely place sometimes, and when you've got
28:45
the comforts of someone's home or you've made yourself a little home
28:49
somewhere, it's hard to leave all that and push yourself out again.
28:54
I often say to people that one of the hardest things.
28:57
On the trip was actually leaving the first time, you know, making
29:00
the step, taking that big step to actually leave for the first time.
29:05
And I think when you get settled in places around the world, it's going
29:10
through the same process again.
29:12
You have to readjust your mind into thinking you're gonna be on
29:16
the road again, and you're gonna have to look after this and do
29:18
this and live in a certain way.
29:20
And it just took time to make myself actually go.
29:24
But again, once I was on the road, I was fine.
29:26
But it's just that step, you know, of leaving.
29:28
But I did enjoy Sydney.
29:30
I, I, you know, I loved Australia and I made lots of friends in Sydney and
29:33
it was really home from home in a way.
29:36
And it was quite daunting going out again, having been in one place for
29:40
seven months and made all these friends, and suddenly you are out on your
29:44
own, on the open road, on your bike.
29:46
Again, having to look after yourself and do everything yourself.
29:50
It wasn't easy sometimes.
29:51
So Jeff alluded to probably one of the most ironically, comical parts of Lone
29:57
Rider, which is the Visas, passports, and work permits at some parts.
30:02
The way you described the bureaucracy of different governments and
30:06
embassies was just off the charts.
30:08
Oh, I know.
30:10
'cause you couldn't really plan that far ahead.
30:12
And I also didn't really know what countries I was gonna be going to next.
30:17
I mean, I really didn't plan very much beyond the next country
30:21
because things changed a lot.
30:23
And sometimes you'd have to change route or you couldn't go to that country.
30:26
You'd have to go to another country.
30:28
I mean, for example, when I was in Northern Thailand, I planned to
30:31
go through Burma to get to India.
30:33
Well, all the road orders were closed.
30:36
No, you can't go through, you're not allowed.
30:38
So I had to turn around and and ride 1500 miles back all through
30:42
Thailand, all the way down to Malaysia to catch a boat across to India.
30:46
So you have to be very adaptable and very flexible and be prepared
30:50
to just change just like that.
30:53
And you just get used to thinking like that.
30:55
So the visas, I would just get the visas literally for the
30:59
next country I was going to.
31:01
And then when I was in that country, I'd get the visas for the next
31:04
country and I'd work out sort of where I was gonna go or which route
31:07
I thought I would try and get on.
31:09
I was certainly trying to get a visa for, oh yes, that's right,
31:12
the work visa for Australia.
31:14
That was it.
31:14
Absolutely not isn't versus is the tourist visa, which is a whole nother thing.
31:20
When I first, when I tried to get a work visa because I knew I was gonna be working
31:24
in Sydney, I was pretty sure that's where I was gonna, I mean, I, I kind of decided
31:29
halfway across America or something that Sydney, I'd be able to earn more
31:32
money there than I would in New Zealand.
31:35
And I was pretty confident I could get to Sydney on my funds that I had.
31:39
I think I went into about four or five Australian high commissions all
31:44
across America and they kept saying either affiliate forms and anyway,
31:47
they kept saying, no, no, no, no, no.
31:49
Then when I got to Los Angeles, I thought, you know, I was getting kind
31:53
of closer and closer to Sydney and then I said, well all don't give me a
31:56
work visa, just gimme a tourist visa.
31:58
And they said, no, no, no, no, we can't give you tourist visa now 'cause we
32:00
know you don't have any money and we know you're gonna have to work there.
32:03
And I went, oh.
32:05
So anyway, I shipped my bike to Sydney anyway.
32:08
And thought I'll get to New Zealand.
32:10
And I got to New Zealand and I went to the Australian High Commission in Auckland.
32:16
I mean, it was just such luck.
32:17
I mean, I walked into this head guy or whatever, and I was wearing
32:21
my leather jacket and he said, oh, he said, are you a biker?
32:24
And I went, well, actually, yes I am.
32:26
And so we had this whole thing about what I was trying to do and I said,
32:29
well, I'm trying to ride my bike around the world and I wanna work in Sydney.
32:32
And so he said, give me your passport.
32:34
And I handed it over and he just opened the page and stamped my
32:37
work visa and gave it to me.
32:38
And that was it.
32:39
You know?
32:39
So it was just such luck.
32:41
It's those moments where, It's just meeting the right
32:44
person at a particular time.
32:46
That can completely change your fortunes.
32:50
You know, everything of the whole trip.
32:51
It's just meeting that one person who can change everything for you.
32:55
Not only that, but it speaks volumes to the vehicle enthusiast community in
33:00
general where we're willing to help each other out, whether it's on the racetrack
33:04
or in an adventure or something like this.
33:06
I've always found that petrolheads as a general expression for all of
33:10
us motorcyclists and car enthusiasts alike, we tend to roll up our sleeves
33:14
and help our brethren and sister and out when we're in trouble.
33:17
It's just something about this community.
33:19
I know it exists in others, but not in the same way.
33:22
There always seems to be these limitations, whereas when it's
33:24
dealing with transport it, it opens up in a different way for all of us.
33:28
I think that's very true.
33:30
I do think it's particular with, you know, motorcyclists.
33:34
So I don't know.
33:35
I think it's just different with motorcyclists.
33:38
We do look after each other and we do help each other out.
33:41
I think that's very true.
33:42
So Elsbeth, you seemed to have enjoyed Southeast Asia with
33:47
Thailand and Singapore, et cetera.
33:48
Obviously not the biggest fan of India for good reason.
33:51
Have you been back?
33:52
To India and has your opinion changed?
33:55
I mean, I vowed when I finally got outta the country, I would never
33:59
set foot in that country again.
34:01
I did go back to India actually, but I was asked to be a general manager of around
34:06
the World Motorcycle tour, taking 23 motorcyclists around the world in 2003.
34:12
And as part of the tour, of course, we had to go to India.
34:15
I did return to India, but we did the kinda southern part of
34:19
India, which is a lot more sort of chilled out and easygoing.
34:23
I mean, I think when I was there the first time, I went from right up to Calcutta
34:28
and then the whole sort of industrial belt, which goes from Calcutta to Delhi.
34:33
I mean, it's the most populated, it's the most, it's just, ugh.
34:37
And I think that's the bit that I traveled through most of the time.
34:41
I mean, when I managed to escape and I got into Stan where it's very
34:46
sparsely populated, and then I went up to lay in the D again, very,
34:50
I mean, I loved it there, but it was just the multitude of people.
34:55
I mean, I never felt in danger and I never felt threatened in India.
34:58
It was just.
34:59
The curiosity of the people.
35:01
And I think being a woman, you know, they'd never seen A B M W before,
35:06
certainly never seen A B M W with this huge aluminum contraption on on the back.
35:11
And then when I took my helmet off and it was a woman, I mean, it was just,
35:14
they were kind of just blew their minds.
35:15
And so I did attract awful lot of attention in India and it did
35:20
become quite exhausting for me.
35:22
You know?
35:23
It really did.
35:23
I imagine just being a reader, reading some of those things
35:27
I felt for you in the moment.
35:30
Unbelievable.
35:31
Besides the negative experiences, where were some of the most positive
35:36
experiences of the whole place?
35:37
Like what really is indelible in your mind?
35:39
I mean, India is a fascinating country.
35:42
I mean, it really is extraordinary.
35:44
I mean, the color, the buildings, the temples, the forts, the, I
35:48
mean, it's an extraordinary country.
35:51
It really is.
35:52
But again, you see, when I started to travel with Robert in India, it got
35:56
a hundred times easier because all of a sudden when we stopped and we had
35:59
50 people around us, it didn't kind of matter so much because we had each
36:04
other we could talk to or look at.
36:06
And it's very different from when you're completely on on your own, especially a
36:09
woman on your own, and you're surrounded by 50 men, just much harder to deal with.
36:14
But with Roberts, it was much, much easier.
36:17
I mean, it does have some, as I say, stunning scenery, beautiful
36:20
buildings, amazing temples.
36:23
It's a very colorful country, but.
36:25
You do need to be quite strong mentally to travel through it.
36:29
Certainly on a motorbike, certainly 40 years ago, I'm sure it's different now.
36:34
I'm sure it's easier now or better or whatever, but it was hard work.
36:37
Plus the fact it was very hot.
36:39
It was about 45 degrees.
36:40
'cause I got there during the hot season and I got very ill in India.
36:43
I got distant tree, I got dysentery, I've got hepatitis, you know?
36:46
So I was really, really ill and it makes me very weak and I'd been on
36:50
the road then for a year and a half.
36:52
So I was tired, you know, my bike was tired.
36:55
Every day was a constant challenge, just kind of fixing
36:59
something just to keep her going.
37:00
It was just hard work.
37:02
Do any of the illnesses or maladies or the accidents that you've had,
37:08
do they still kind of haunt you?
37:09
No.
37:09
When I got back I was ill for about a year.
37:13
I had a lot of.
37:14
Problems with my guts and whatever for a year, and I went to the School
37:18
of Tropical Medicine and were in London and I did all these tests and
37:21
they found all these parasites and stuff inside me, but I'm fine now.
37:25
When I hit the dog in Thailand and broke my toe, that still
37:29
gives me a little bit of G now.
37:32
But apart from that, can't complain.
37:34
I can't complain.
37:36
Your memories are obviously very strong and you can recall all of these things.
37:41
Very easy.
37:41
Was this something where, While you were on your trip, you had an idea that you
37:45
were going to write Lone Writer, and was it being written as you were traveling or
37:50
was this written more as a retrospective?
37:52
No, I mean, I had no intention to write a book at all.
37:55
Mm-hmm.
37:56
Absolutely not.
37:56
But for some bizarre reason, I did keep everything and I don't know why I did it.
38:02
So once I'd ridden across America, I would package all my
38:07
shipping documents, my insurance.
38:09
My, any bits of paperwork, my speeding tickets, all these bits
38:16
of paperwork, I would package them all up and I would send them home.
38:20
And I was quite good at taking pictures as well.
38:22
You know, I was quite a keen photographer, take pictures.
38:25
And then as I say, when I got to the end of each sort of section or each leg of the
38:29
journey, I would get the prints developed.
38:32
I would send the prints home first, and once I'd heard the prints had
38:35
arrived, I then I, I sent the negatives.
38:38
Separately.
38:38
So I would hope at least I'd have a 50 50 chance of one of them arriving.
38:42
And then I kept all the letters that my parents and friends had written me.
38:47
And all this was incredibly useful when I came to write my book.
38:50
'cause I wrote my book 35 years after I got back.
38:53
It was like a year long process just going through all my document.
38:57
'cause my parents kept all my letters, I kept all their letters.
39:01
I wrote a sort of fairly sketchy di.
39:02
I mean, I wrote a diary off and on really.
39:05
I then had all my tapes 'cause my dad had kept all my micro cassette
39:09
tapes, so I had all of those to use.
39:11
I took about two and a half thousand photographs throughout the whole trip.
39:15
So I had quite a lot.
39:16
I didn't do it thinking I was gonna write a book, but I just had
39:20
this sense that it was important to keep a record of everything.
39:25
I have no idea why.
39:26
No idea.
39:28
After I left Australia, I actually wrote down all my petrol purchases.
39:33
Again, I haven't got a clue why.
39:35
Mm-hmm.
39:35
So where I bought the petrol, how much I've put in, and how much it costs me.
39:39
And the exchange rate.
39:40
So you can work out Exactly.
39:42
And actually at the back of my book, there's a whole table
39:44
of all my petrol expenses.
39:46
Mm-hmm.
39:46
Which is a slightly bizarre thing to do, but a lot of the time,
39:49
I mean, I was on my own a lot.
39:51
If you're spending an evening alone in a tent from five o'clock onwards, you
39:56
know, there isn't really a lot to do.
39:58
And so I would just to keep all these records, I used to keep a record of
40:02
where I stayed every single night.
40:04
I used to check my money, so count my money, how exactly
40:08
how much money I had left.
40:09
I mean, I was slightly obsessional with my money because I, I was so
40:12
determined I was not going to ask my parents for help because they
40:18
hadn't really been that encouraging.
40:19
I was absolutely determined I was gonna do this and I was gonna do it on my own
40:23
and I was not gonna ask 'em for help.
40:25
I used to check my money twice a week.
40:27
So I'd count my money and I'd work out exactly how much I'd
40:30
spent in the last like three days.
40:32
And if there was like 50 cents that I couldn't account for, I mean it would
40:36
really bother me and I would have to work out exactly where I'd spent this
40:40
50 cents, but I didn't have a lot else to to do, so it kept me occupied.
40:46
So I wonder if the gas receipts was as a result of the fact that your Speedo cable
40:51
broke when you were in Australia and maybe you were using that to figure out how far
40:55
you traveled or how far you could travel, you kind of reverse calculating it.
40:59
Yep.
41:00
There was that as well.
41:01
I think I did manage to replace the.
41:03
Speedo cable somewhere in Southeast Asia.
41:07
I think I got a Speedo cable in Kuala Lumpa, if I remember.
41:11
And I dunno how I got it.
41:12
I can't remember.
41:13
But I did manage to replace it, so then it was working again.
41:16
But also, you know, the time that you have inside your helmet.
41:20
I mean, it was hours and hours and hours and you know, you have to
41:25
occupy your mind with something.
41:28
And so I was constantly working out, you know, mileage per gallon and this,
41:33
and I, and then I would tried it all different speeds and how much difference
41:36
that made, and I calculate it all again.
41:39
And it was something to give me, something to think about when I was, you know,
41:43
so I have to say this, for those that are listening to this that haven't read
41:46
the book yet, you might be thinking, oh, this reads like a history textbook.
41:50
And it doesn't, it's not full of facts and figures and dates
41:53
and names and things like that.
41:55
It is a love story.
41:56
It is a struggle.
41:58
It is a journal.
41:59
It's all things wrapped up into one.
42:01
And then there's this just pleasant dry British humor interlaced
42:06
throughout every chapter.
42:07
Especially quotes like, you know, that rock that John Wayne fought over.
42:11
You know, things like these weird.
42:14
That I picked on throughout the book that just make you smile and make you chuckle
42:19
as you transition to the next thought.
42:20
So for those that are interested in reading it, I highly recommend it.
42:24
It does not read like a bunch of gas receipts and shipping labels.
42:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
42:28
No, sorry, I didn't mean.
42:30
Yeah, absolutely right.
42:31
It's just that the information is there at the back of the book,
42:34
should you be interested in it.
42:37
But what it does conjure is the question about what you really learned
42:41
from this adventure, how it changed you as a person, how you matured.
42:45
When you look back on it now 40 years later, what are your thoughts?
42:50
What are your reactions to some of the things that you wrote yourself
42:53
in your own journals and on the micro cassettes and things like that?
42:57
Writing the book was a whole nother journey in itself, which was a very
43:02
unexpected journey, to be honest with you, because I did my trip and then I got back
43:09
and I really struggled when I got back.
43:10
I have to say, I got very depressed.
43:12
I found it really hard to readjust.
43:15
Nobody understood what I had done.
43:17
Nobody wanted to listen to what I'd done for the last few years of my life.
43:21
There was no interest.
43:22
And so I very much sort of packed everything away and it was a
43:26
sort of portion of my life that I just put in a cardboard box.
43:30
It was in a cupboard, and that's really where it stayed for 35 years.
43:35
And then I got on with the rest of my life.
43:37
So I went back to uni.
43:38
I finished off my architecture.
43:40
I then bought a Victorian water tower.
43:42
I spent seven years converting that into my home.
43:45
I did lots of other trips.
43:46
I traveled to South America, Africa, I.
43:49
I got my pilot's license, so my life just really just moved on and I can honestly
43:55
say in 20 years or 25 years, I don't think I thought about my trip once at all.
44:00
I just carried on with my life and it was really going back and
44:04
looking at my diaries and reading my diaries and listening to my tapes.
44:09
That was the weirdest thing because I'd never listened to them.
44:12
It's like time travel.
44:13
Yeah.
44:13
Why would I listen to them when I came home?
44:15
So I never, I had never listened to them.
44:17
So I was listening to myself, a 23 year old in the Outback in Australia,
44:22
and my bike has just caught fire.
44:24
It was really bizarre.
44:26
Did you ever say to yourself, listening to yourself, what an idiot I was,
44:30
or was it more rose colored glasses?
44:32
No, it wasn't actually.
44:34
I actually sounded very, very posh.
44:36
I sounded a bit like the queen.
44:39
I got a very high voice and I said, but when my bike caught fire, I was
44:45
almost just kind of laughing about it.
44:47
I was like, oh yeah, my bike's just caught fire.
44:48
Ha ha, ha, ha.
44:49
What am I gonna do about this?
44:50
Oh my.
44:51
I was so kind of, I don't know, kind of chilled and relaxed about stuff, which
44:56
I'm sure I wouldn't be now, but then I was, and in many ways I didn't recognize
45:01
it was like listening to another person.
45:03
It really was.
45:04
It was very strange.
45:06
My book is very open and very honest about a lot of the things that
45:10
happened to me during the journey, and I think a lot of people have been
45:14
quite surprised that I have been.
45:17
As open and honest as I have about certain things.
45:20
You know, it was that detachment that the fact that 35 years had gone by, that I
45:25
was sort of able to write the book as if I was writing about somebody else, in a way.
45:31
But anyway, going back to your first question about how it
45:33
changed me and actually writing the book, it made me realize.
45:37
That the bike trip was a very pivotal time of my life, and it sent me off in a
45:44
direction that the rest of my life took.
45:47
Once you've been out on the road and looking after yourself and dealing with
45:51
all the problems that I had to deal with on my own, you really do realize,
45:56
or I certainly felt that there wasn't anything I couldn't deal with or tackle.
46:01
I mean, it really was life changing.
46:03
I mean, after I came back from my trip and then I did my architecture, then
46:06
I bought the water tower and the water tower I had to buy without planning
46:11
and consent and whatever, and everybody said, you'll never get consent.
46:14
You'll never, I mean, the council said, well, never.
46:17
And I just remember thinking, yes, I will.
46:19
I'll just do it because I've done all this.
46:21
I can do anything and nothing was a problem.
46:24
And I don't see things as problems.
46:26
I just see them as things that overcome and things to get through.
46:29
And I think that's something I learned from my trip that there
46:32
really isn't anything you can't solve.
46:34
There isn't a problem that can't be solved.
46:37
If you are determined and you believe, and that's the other
46:40
thing, you have to totally.
46:42
Utterly believe in what you're doing is right.
46:44
100%.
46:45
You can't even have a, a little chink of doubt.
46:48
You've got to Absolutely.
46:49
When I was doing the tower, I mean the fact the tower should be converted
46:54
into a house, I mean, I was just, so, this is the only thing this
46:58
building can be, you know, used for.
47:00
I just didn't give up every obstacle that was put in my path, I just
47:04
dealt with it, got rid of it.
47:06
Next one got rid of it, next one.
47:08
And after a year and a half of that, I finally got the approvals.
47:12
And they, everybody said, you'll never do it.
47:14
And just like everybody said, you'll never ride around the world.
47:18
And, but if you want something enough and you're determined
47:20
enough to do it, you can do it.
47:22
And that's what I learned and that's why now I don't have any fear of taking
47:26
anything on or, I mean, I'm a bit of a bully in a China shop sometimes I'm,
47:32
but you know, I think you have to be like that if you want something enough.
47:36
Would you ever do the trip again?
47:38
No.
47:39
Why not?
47:41
Well, I wouldn't do the same trip again or something similar because
47:44
there wouldn't be any point, but certainly wouldn't do it again.
47:47
Now, I think traveling now is so, so different and I'm so glad I
47:52
got to travel before technology had taken over our lives.
47:57
It really was venturing out into the unknown.
48:00
Certainly when I started the trip in America, I'd try and plan
48:03
like two or three days ahead.
48:04
You know, I'll stay here tonight and they're there the next night and it's
48:07
300 miles and I'll do there the next.
48:09
And by the time I got to India, literally if I managed to get to the end of
48:14
the road as far as I could see it.
48:17
That was good.
48:17
That was it.
48:18
I just literally planned 20 minutes ahead, half an hour ahead.
48:22
It was just, everything was instant, that moment, and you
48:26
just lived every day like that.
48:28
And you can't really do that anymore because there's just too much
48:32
information, too much, you know, you can plan things too much now.
48:36
So I'm really glad that I did the trip when I did.
48:40
I always think of those from about 75 to about 85, I think was the golden years
48:45
for traveling, because it's when bikes or cars, they had reached a stage where
48:49
they weren't gonna break down every week.
48:51
You could actually rely on them.
48:53
The riding gear was reasonably good.
48:55
It wasn't brilliant, but it was okay.
48:57
And the world was still there to be explored.
49:00
There was no technology to, so it really was the golden age.
49:04
Yeah.
49:05
And that's the period of time that's usually romanticized by
49:08
the backpack, the bottle of wine and a, a baguette and some brie.
49:12
And that's how you travel the world with $50 in your pocket.
49:14
And, and it's very true.
49:15
And those days, to your point, are long gone.
49:18
You can overplan everything.
49:19
A G P S is gonna get you out of a bind versus you had to figure it out.
49:23
I don't know where I am.
49:24
We're just gonna ride until we see something familiar
49:27
and then deviate from there.
49:28
You did mention something before about all the naysayers, all the
49:32
people that said you couldn't do what you wanted to set out to do.
49:35
And there was one in particular, uh, Mr.
49:36
David Calderwood.
49:38
I put him up as your number one rival.
49:40
That was the tipping point that pushed you over that said, you
49:43
know what the heck with all of you?
49:44
I am gonna do this and I'll prove you wrong.
49:46
The book didn't come full circle on your relationship with Mr.
49:49
Calderwood, and I wondered if.
49:51
You ever wrote to him again if he ever reached out to you, and what his thoughts
49:55
were on the success of your journey?
49:57
Well, interestingly, I've never met him, but it was after my book was published.
50:03
If anything had happened before my book was published, I would've
50:06
put it in it, but it didn't.
50:07
So after my book was published, I did various.
50:11
Interviews and whatever.
50:13
And there was one in interview I did with somebody in America, it was
50:17
a long time ago, I can't remember.
50:18
And I sent him the copy of the letter that Dave Calderwood had written me.
50:22
It's incredibly condescending, chauvinistic letter.
50:26
Anyway, he put it up on the internet.
50:28
So the letter was winging its way around the internet for quite a few years.
50:33
And obviously somebody had told Dave Calderwood that this
50:36
letter was up on the internet.
50:39
He actually contacted me on Facebook Messenger and he said, oh, hi.
50:43
You know, um, apparently I wrote a letter to you in the early
50:46
1980s, but I don't remember it.
50:49
Um, but if I did, then I'm sorry.
50:52
That's all I got.
50:54
I'm roundabout, sorry.
50:55
I know.
50:56
I will take that as a win.
50:57
There's a lot embedded in that very short statement, so Yeah, there is.
51:01
Exactly.
51:01
And I only waited 35 years, so there you go.
51:05
There's another part of this book, and I mentioned it before, is the
51:08
romance part of this entire journey.
51:10
And there's three major characters in the book, not necessarily characters
51:15
'cause they're real people and there's Alex who kind of set things into motion.
51:19
Mark, who is riddled throughout the entire chronology.
51:23
And then Robert who ends it.
51:24
For those that have read the book, we all know how Robert's story ends and I
51:27
won't go there, but I do wanna highlight.
51:30
Mark and Alex just a little bit.
51:32
'cause Mark is the father of your son, Tom, and then Alex seems to just
51:36
pop up and disappear out of nowhere.
51:38
Does he still do that?
51:40
He still pops up and disappears?
51:42
Yes, I saw him.
51:45
I saw him about six weeks ago actually.
51:47
He just phoned me up.
51:48
He said, oh, I'm just passing.
51:50
Can I have a cup of tea or something?
51:51
I went, oh, I'm fine.
51:52
Okay.
51:53
So he popped up and we had a cup of tea and we had a very nice.
51:57
Chat and then he vanished up again and I haven't heard from him again.
52:00
Probably pop up again in another year or something.
52:04
And what of Mark?
52:05
Tom now is 32, so the need for his parents to stay in contact as obviously
52:11
as needed as it was when he was younger.
52:13
I mean, we get on okay.
52:15
I mean, he's got another family now and so he's got his own life.
52:19
I mean, it's 30 years ago, so it's, you know, we've both moved on on our way,
52:23
but you know, we're civil to each other.
52:25
But yeah, it's fine.
52:27
Are you still in contact with Robert's family or his brother
52:30
Herbert or anybody else?
52:31
No.
52:32
Well unfortunately his father had died already, so when I came back
52:36
and we came back through Europe and I stayed with him before I, I rode
52:39
to London, we stayed with his mother.
52:41
So his father had already died I think when he was younger.
52:44
Mother died obviously quite a long time ago.
52:47
Herbert, his brother, I haven't been in contact, but I am in contact actually
52:51
with some of you know, Robert's friends.
52:53
Motorcycling and, and friends of Roberts who I am in contact with.
52:57
I think I've touched on this.
52:59
When we originally spoke, when I was interviewing you for my book, if some
53:03
young person, whether it's a young lady or or what have you, came up to you and
53:06
said, I really wanna ride my bike around the world, just like you've said to many
53:11
others on your start of your journey, what would you say to that person?
53:15
Oh, I would say absolutely do it.
53:17
I mean, no hesitation.
53:19
At all.
53:20
Best thing I ever did, really, it was the best thing I ever, ever did.
53:24
Even with the way things are so different now and all of the challenges.
53:27
Yeah, but you know, you, you have to do these things in the moment that you have.
53:32
I'm sure there were people riding bikes and doing long trips in the, in 1930s
53:36
and they probably look at my trip and they think, well, why would you bother?
53:40
You know, you've got decent roads, you've got bikes that work
53:43
all the time and it's boring.
53:45
So, you know, we all just have to do it in the time that we're here, it's
53:49
not the same, but still an amazing world out there to see and explore.
53:55
And I mean, I would say switch off the G P s.
53:58
That is one thing I would say to them, don't try and overplan and switch off the
54:02
G P Ss and just go out there and get lost and explore and don't get into this trap
54:08
of planning every minute of every day.
54:10
Mm-hmm.
54:11
Which isn't easy to do because it's there.
54:14
I mean, I went to Mexico early last year and a friend lent me a bike and
54:18
I thought, right, I'm gonna do this the old school way and I'm not gonna
54:22
use a G P Ss and I'm just gonna have maps and I'm not gonna book any, and
54:26
actually you couldn't kind of do it because when you arrived anywhere,
54:29
all the hotels have been booked out.
54:31
Oh yeah.
54:32
Because everybody books everything ahead weeks and weeks and weeks ahead.
54:35
So you arrive in places and there's nowhere to stay.
54:38
So unless you book like everybody else is booking a few days ahead, you get
54:43
places and there's nowhere to stay.
54:45
What I heard there is she's not willing to camp out anymore.
54:48
I'm.
54:50
You're damn right I'm not.
54:53
That's one thing I refuse to do.
54:55
I'm too old to, to be in a bloody tent, I tell you.
54:59
Ugh.
54:59
Not for me.
55:00
Do you still ride and do you have a, a big trip planned?
55:04
What's your next adventure?
55:05
I do.
55:05
I still ride.
55:06
I was actually doing a trip in Tajikistan last.
55:09
May.
55:11
Wow.
55:11
And unfortunately, I fell off and broke my ankle, which wasn't very clever.
55:14
Oh, no, no, it wasn't good.
55:15
So I'm still doing trips.
55:17
I'm actually coming over out to America.
55:19
I'm visiting a few dealerships in Virginia, Mary land, and then
55:24
I'm flying up to Minneapolis and then Chicago and then home.
55:29
So you mentioned visiting the United States and some dealerships.
55:32
Does that mean you're still A B M W fan, rider and collector?
55:36
I wouldn't say collector, obviously.
55:37
I've still got my old R 60 strike six.
55:39
My trusty, my trusty R 60, which I still ride.
55:43
She's still roadworthy and I still ride her.
55:46
And then I've got my R 80 GS basic, which it's in 1998, so what's that?
55:52
20 odd four years old.
55:54
I think of her as my modern bike and I know she isn't, but I suppose that
55:59
you stick with what you know and you know, I can service them all.
56:02
I can fix them all.
56:04
I don't trust anybody else really to work on them.
56:07
I like to work on them myself.
56:09
And then I, I've actually been invited because this year, you may
56:12
or may not know, it's the hundredth anniversary of B M W this year.
56:17
That's right.
56:17
And they're having a huge party in Berlin, which I've been invited to.
56:23
Alright.
56:23
And they've put this big poster together, which is a collage of about 10 photographs
56:28
of important people in the BMW's history.
56:32
Cool.
56:33
Awesome.
56:34
They've actually used the black and white iconic picture, which is amazing.
56:38
Very cool.
56:39
Anyway, so that's July.
56:41
I think so.
56:42
Yeah, it's good.
56:42
It's good.
56:43
I did actually buy a new B M W and I didn't like it at all.
56:46
Which we won't them.
56:50
Um, I dunno, it was just so boring.
56:53
It was almost too good.
56:54
Yeah.
56:55
Didn't have any of the old quirks.
56:57
It, it had no personality, no character.
57:00
No personality.
57:01
It was like a sewing machine.
57:03
It was just really boring.
57:05
I owned it for two months and sold it.
57:07
What about your son?
57:08
Does he ride?
57:08
Is he A B M W guy?
57:10
No.
57:10
Well, he has got a B M W actually, I taught him to ride a motorbike
57:14
first when he was 17 and he got his bike license before his car license,
57:18
but then he got a car and then it all got a bit cold and wet for him.
57:22
And so he doesn't really ride very much.
57:24
And then he became a father.
57:25
I became a grandmother.
57:26
Ah-huh.
57:27
Last year.
57:28
Congratulations.
57:29
Thank you.
57:29
So he doesn't really ride very much anymore, but he's still got
57:33
his B M W in the garage, but I don't think it's been out for.
57:36
Like two years or probably more.
57:39
What does he think of his mom's great adventure?
57:41
I don't know really.
57:43
He doesn't really say very much.
57:45
I think he's very proud of me.
57:46
I think.
57:47
Yeah, I mean he has actually read the book, which was probably not easy for him.
57:51
Kind of it is what it is.
57:53
Maybe it, it may, it helped him understand me a bit more.
57:56
It, you know, I did find motherhood quite challenging.
58:00
You know, maybe, I don't know, wasn't around as much as I
58:04
possibly should have been.
58:05
I did what I could, you know, we always do the best we can.
58:08
Mm-hmm.
58:09
And it wasn't easy.
58:10
The circumstances of, you know, with my father dying and, and the water
58:13
tower and Mark and, you know, I had a lot of other stuff going on and, well,
58:17
I'd like to hope he's proud of me.
58:19
I'm sure he is.
58:21
So, one last little question.
58:23
Elsebeth, do you still live in the water tower?
58:26
Oh, I do indeed.
58:27
I do indeed.
58:28
Absolutely.
58:29
Absolutely.
58:30
That's awesome.
58:30
I'll probably live there until I'm crawling up the stairs on my
58:33
hands and knees in my nineties.
58:36
Now actually it's really good.
58:37
It keeps you incredibly fit.
58:39
You know, you don't have to do any exercise.
58:41
I never go to the gym.
58:43
I nothing, I don't do anything.
58:44
I just live in the Watertown.
58:46
I've got 90 stairs up to my kitchen.
58:49
Wow.
58:49
So I'm up and down those stairs five, six times a day.
58:53
And I remember I had like a, you know, a nanny, an a girl who came to look
58:57
after Tom when he was about three and she was about 15 stone when she arrived.
59:01
A year later she was down to 10 stone living in the tower.
59:06
And then I saw her a year after she left and she was 15 stone again.
59:10
That's awesome.
59:11
And, and it's just taking exercise without thinking about it.
59:14
That's what I like about it.
59:15
You just live there.
59:16
It keeps you fit and slim and it's brilliant.
59:20
Well, El Smith, this has been a pleasure and I want to give you the
59:23
opportunity to mention any shout outs, promotions, or anything else
59:27
that we haven't covered thus far.
59:29
Well, really o only my book, which you've already mentioned,
59:32
which is called Loan Rider.
59:34
I've also got a photographic book, which I published last year, which I
59:39
compiled about nearly 500 photographs of my trip, which is a sort of coffee
59:44
table book and that you can buy on my website, which is www.elsebeard.com.
59:52
Nice and easy.
59:53
Elspeth journey was groundbreaking in many ways.
59:56
Not only was she one of the first women to undertake such a trip, but she also
1:00:00
did it at a time when the world was much less connected than it is today.
1:00:04
She relied on paper maps and guidebooks, and often had to navigate without
1:00:08
the aid of G P Ss or cell phone.
1:00:10
In the end, ELS's journey took her 35,000 miles and spanned three
1:00:15
years, but more than that, it changed her life in profound ways.
1:00:19
She returned to England with a renewed sense of purpose and a new found
1:00:22
appreciation for the world around her.
1:00:24
Today she is recognized as a pioneer of motorcycle travel and
1:00:28
an inspiration to women everywhere.
1:00:30
To learn more about El Smith, be sure to pick up a copy of her award-winning
1:00:34
book, lone Writer, which is available in print and via Audible on amazon.com.
1:00:39
You can also check out her website.
1:00:41
Elspeth beard.com or follow her on social media at Elspeth Beard on Facebook
1:00:47
and at Elspeth Beard on Instagram.
1:00:50
I cannot thank you both enough for coming on here, Jeff, for introducing me to
1:00:55
Elspeth and her story Elspeth, for coming on the show and being an inspiration to
1:01:00
women around the world for being part of the Petrolhead community and continuing
1:01:04
to just share this story with everybody.
1:01:07
It is absolutely incredible, and I think it's just one of
1:01:10
the gems in the motorsports and vehicle enthusiast community that
1:01:13
more people should know about.
1:01:15
I, I'm just in awe of what you did, even though it was so many years ago.
1:01:18
It's still an incredible and fascinating story, so thank you.
1:01:22
Thank you.
1:01:22
Thank you very much.
1:01:23
Thanks a lot.
1:01:24
Yeah, a pleasure.
1:01:25
Thank you.
1:01:25
Okay, all, bye-bye.
1:01:27
Bye-Bye bye.
1:01:32
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1:01:35
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1:01:57
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1:01:59
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1:02:03
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