The Path Less Ridden

I’m David, an avid motorcyclist from Sydney. I’ve set up this blog to track and share my adventures as they happen. Hope you enjoy!

After several years of road-riding, I felt that I needed a change – instead of riding the same three of four roads in the local area, I wanted to explore out of the way places and embark on some longer trips.  I’ve had the concept of long distance overland travel for many years now (in fact, it was the reason I first got my motorcycle licence, although that original trip never eventuated), spurred on by the likes of the Long Way Round and Long Way Down, Ted Simon’s Jupiter’s Travels, and many ride reports on the internet.

My first trip, in 2014, was a loop of the Southern half of Australia, covering 15,000km in six weeks and seeing many parts of my home country that I hadn’t seen before.  I had a fantastic time on the trip, and instead of scratching the itch for overland travel, it made me want to do an even bigger journey.  Planning for this began in earnest, and soon enough I had decided to do Sydney to London. Why this route exactly? Well, living in Sydney made it the obvious choice of start point, as well as allowing me a ‘shakedown’ leg of sorts within Australia, while I still have easy access to parts, workshops, money, communications etc.  As for the destination, Sydney to London hearkens to the original endurance rallies of the 1960’s (although they went the other direction), and is also one of the longest continuous overland trips you can do, without major stretches by sea or by air. London is an easy place to ship the bike home from at the end, without language or visa difficulties.  Finally, this route will cover many fascinating places, particularly some areas that would be difficult to see by any other means (notably Central Asia and Iran).

For those interested in doing similar trips, I’d suggest as a first port of call to visit the forums at Horizons Unlimited and ADV Rider – read up on some of the ride reports to get inspiration and work out where you want to go.