When I went to France and first met Anne in 1974 I first heard of an English band called “Tanyazafteeer” as I spent time explaining “English Band Lyrics” to her friends next door where I was staying. It seems an appropriate title for this blog entry as it now ten years since two very inexperienced motorcycle travellers set off from the UK with an idea to ride across Europe and Asia back to Australia. I recall being in the Eurotunnel shuttle on day one surrounded by leather clad sportsbike riders heading for a MotoGP event in Germany. We did not even mention our plans which would have probably seemed ludicrous given the shiny new bikes and mountains of kit loaded on board. We did not even update our travel map on the blog until we had left Poland as it would have been, in our view, just an insignificant blip on the world map.

So here we still are a decade later, which seems to be time to reflect on the last 10 years. I certainly did not expect the blog still to be running after all this time. When we headed off to travel down Africa overland with our backpacks in 1982 on our first aborted RTW trip, we had no thought that one day we would circumnavigate the world on motorcycles, twice!

We started a hand-written diary, no ipads then, back in 1982 on our first long term trip down Africa,. The scribing lasted about a month and confirmed on re-reading 40 years later that I had no literary skills which would have cemented my teachers’ assessment when I left school. I am glad we persevered this time otherwise we would not have this record to supplement our memories.

Our timing in 2014 was impeccable. Russia, Iran and Burma/Myanmar would all be closed to us today. Even our crossing of Columbia was during a two week ceasefire between the Government and FARC in 2015 was fortuitous. Each of those countries was not only a key link to our overland route but enabled us to meet the local people and form our own views about both the country and the people.

It is somewhat surprising, given the use we put it to, is that the majority of our our motorcycle equipment is still in use today. There is however a caveat, after 10 years of use, most is worn out, leaky or works intermittently. Any major motorcycle trip, or minor one for that matter, will need to see all clothing, boots, intercom and other key items replaced. We have wrung the maximum out of the products and would likely source products from the same companies again given the sterling service they have provided.

When looking back over the last 10 years, two RTW motorcycle trips, 4WD in Southern Africa, motorcycle trips to Iceland, Ireland, the UK, Spain and France plus an enforced COVID break have kept us busy and I would not change anything. We saw amazing sights, had fantastic experiences, created lasting memories and made new friends around the world. For us it comes back to people.

What will the next 10 years hold for us? We shall see……..

Anne & Anthony