SOLA, IN MOTO
In 1982, at just twenty-three years old and halfway through her architectural studies, Elspeth Beard left her family and friends in London and rode off on a 35,000-mile lone adventure around the world in her 1974 BMW R60/6.
Exhausted by a recent break-up and with only a few savings scraped together from her job in a pub, a tent, a few clothes and some tools, all packed on the back of her bike. She was determined to prove herself with the still rather vague idea of circumnavigating the world.
She returned to London after almost two and a half years having lost much weight, but wiser by decades. She had ridden through unforgiving landscapes and war-torn countries, witnessed civil uprisings that had forced her to falsify documents.
She had repelled multiple sex attacks, biker gangs and corrupt police convinced she was a drug dealer. She had survived life-threatening illnesses, personal losses and brutal accidents that had left permanent scars and a black hole in her memory.
Sola, in moto tells an enthralling story of a true adventure, not just a motorbike adventure, experienced by a woman with undoubtedly exceptional character, strength, tenacity and resilience.
Today, it seems incredible that no one was interested in this story at the time, and that it took thirty years for it to be published. This temporal distance is sometimes felt, especially in the lack of detail, or in the quickness with which parts of the journey are glossed over.
Fortunately, Elspeth Beard kept an accurate travel diary, from which she drew profusely. The end result is, in each case, 336 compelling pages, well worth reading.
In rapid succession, like kilometres, we see places, meetings, drama and comedy, breakdowns and repairs, in a crescendo similar to a chess game.
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