GO FIND YOURSELF
Simon de Burton straps on his goggles and mounts a Royal Enfield for a voyage of discovery to the wilds of Morocco
IT WAS AT the Earl’s Court Motorcycle Show back in 1978 that I first met Ted Simon. I was a bike-mad 14-yearold and he was a wild-haired, maverick-looking type who was manning a small stand in one of the darker recesses of the giant exhibition hall. Beside him was a beaten-up old Triumph, covered in dust and fitted with a couple of tin boxes, crudely decorated with hand-painted route maps.
He handed me a piece of paper, which was the first press release I had ever seen: it described how Simon, at the age of 42, had packed in his job as a Times journalist, bought the ex-police Triumph and, just days after passing his riding test, taken off around the world on a four-year odyssey of hardcore biking and self-discovery. He was at the show to sell copies of Jupiter’s Travels, the book that told of his adventure and which has since inspired thousands of like-minded travellers to pack it all in and set-out to see the world from two wheels.
Back then there were no motorcycles built for the purpose of what is now known as ‘overlanding’, so Simon had to make do with a normal road machine that spent far more of its time being ridden on rutted tracks and across deserts than it did on smooth tarmac. It broke regularly, but each failure seemed to add to the adventure.
More recently, overlanding has become one of the fastest-growing areas of motorcycling and every major marque now produces a machine designed for the task with a commanding riding position, a large fuel tank, a tractable engine and pliant, long-travel suspension. Rider ability permitting, these bikes will tackle everything from high-speed travel on regular roads to fording rivers, climbing mountain passes and crossing deserts.
There’s little doubt that this particular biking boom is partly down to the Long Way Round and Long Way Down global tours (and resulting films) made by actor Ewan McGregor and his long-time biking buddy Charley Boorman, who did the trips on state-of-the-art BMW GS machines – helping to make it the best-selling largecapacity motorcycle on the market.
Such bikes, often accessorised with what seems to be lion-proof metal luggage, penetrating spotlights, GPS and ‘comfort’ seats, have become the default choice of wheels for wealthy types seeking adventure, although you’re more likely to see them looking polished on city commutes than covered in dust in the back of beyond – this is motorcycling at the ‘luxury lifestyle’ level.
For those with limited time to spare who want to take off, cover the ground quickly (and comfortably), then return to the rat-race as soon as possible, they’re difficult to beat. But for others who prefer the Ted Simon attitude to motorcycle travel – as he says, ‘the interruptions are the journey’ – a somewhat more ‘analogue’ approach might be called for, both in terms of machine and outlook.
So step forward Sam Pelly and Ed Talbot Adams, the proprietors of Legendary Motorcycle Adventures. Pelly (brother of Guy Pelly, nightclub impresario and friend of Princes William and Harry) is a professional photographer, while Talbot Adams is a former soldier and farmer who now lives in Gaucín, southern Spain, where – among other things – he builds boats, teaches Aikido and makes organic soap.
The rest of the time, Talbot Adams and Pelly take people on gently paced motorcycle tours that are intended to lead to inner discovery, broaden horizons and result in new friendships. In other words, the sort of motorcycle journeys that you’ll definitely enjoy if you appreciate how Ted Simon did it.
Pelly was on an extended road trip with his family when he met Talbot Adams in Andalucia. As usually happens,
‘Waking up reveals us to be in one of the most magical valleys I have ever seen’
they quickly discovered a mutual love of motorcycling and adventure – then realised they shared a belief that the best way to see places on two wheels was not, perhaps, to ride a state-of-the-art machine from point to point as quickly as possible, but to slow down, take stock, blend in and slowly soak up the surroundings.
‘The idea of establishing LMA came, in part, from my own “moment”,’ recalls Pelly. ‘I took a step back from it all and went travelling for two years with my young family – and that’s when I learned to appreciate the chance to take time and to simplify. We shed kit and baggage as we travelled and began to stay still for long enough to really
see. Legendary Motorcycle Adventures is about showing other people that they can do that, and that “stuff ” really can entrap us. There’s limited space on the motorcycles and in the support vehicle, so everything we take has to be compact and fully functional.’
The support vehicle, incidentally, is a 1989 Range Rover, into the back of which Talbot Adams has fitted a fully operational camp kitchen. The roof rack, meanwhile, is used to carry ‘swags’ – nifty, low-level one-man tents that can be erected in a trice and in which people taking part in the tours spend the majority of their nights.
The low-key approach is further echoed in the choice of motorcycle used for the trips. Not the latest adventure sport machines but simple, reliable, economical and robust Royal Enfields. For those who don’t know the story, the Royal Enfield Bullet has remained in continuous production for longer than any other motorcycle in history. The name originated in 1934 when Royal Enfield unveiled its new line-up of sports models – but the ‘look’ that more or less prevails today dates back to 1954, when the marque opened a satellite factory in Chennai to build bikes for the Indian Army.
The firm’s Redditch operation subsequently closed in 1970 as the British bike industry went to the wall – but the Indian plant kept going and the Enfield Bullet came to be regarded as the country’s default choice of transport for everyone from policemen to farmers. In 1994, Enfield India was bought by the giant engineering group Eicher. It reverted to using the name Royal Enfield in 1999.
Although the Bullet remains instantly recognisable, it has been brought into the 21st Century with fuel injection (on 500cc models), electronic ignition, disc brakes, and even an electric starter. But it remains the tough old plodder it has always been, and its proven record on the rough, often unmade roads of India has made it a popular choice with many tour organisers, including Legendary Motorcycle Adventures.
‘Going back to an older-style bike, which will cruise along all day at 50-60mph, which is robust enough to tackle dirt roads, and understated enough to blend in rather than stand out, seemed the logical choice for trips that are intended to be elemental and slower. It’s rather like flying by Tiger Moth as opposed to Learjet,’ explains Talbot Adams.
‘The Bullet fits perfectly with our idea of offering travel that’s stripped back to basics, but with a luxury element that is becoming increasingly difficult to find – and that’s the opportunity to think and to reflect,’ he adds.
As anyone who is up on their Spanish geography will know, the Talbot Adams homestead in Gaucín is an easy ride to the ferry port from which there are numerous sailings across the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier-Med. As a result, LMA’s core business centres around trips to Morocco, and it’s to there that I travel with the team in order to get a flavour of what it’s all about.
The group is a typically small one, comprising just one other riding guest, Pelly and Talbot Adams and the driver of the support vehicle, a highly experienced expedition leader called Sam McConnell whose particular expertise lies in travelling through the desert regions of countries such as Morocco and Egypt.
The 40-mile jaunt to the boat proves perfect for familiarising ourselves with the Bullets that we’ll be riding for the next five days and, once on the other side, their absolute suitability for the job quickly becomes apparent.
Moroccan B-roads can be rough, dusty and poorly maintained, so being on a motorcycle that’s not overly large or heavy, with compliant suspension, a gentle,
torquey engine and chunky tyres feels just right – and, in the traffic-clogged streets of towns we pass through enroute, the Enfields prove nicely nimble for filtering, too.
Having arrived in the late afternoon, our aim is to head for our first overnight stop, which (possibly to break us in gently) will be spent in a lodge in the Rif mountains. All is going smoothly and to the not-very-exacting schedule when some idiot – me, of course – manages to sustain a rear-wheel puncture. And then it starts to rain… Unfazed, Talbot Adams instantly produces a repair kit, which includes some of those rubber bungs that are designed to fill holes in tubeless tyres. I scoff inwardly at the likelihood that such a ‘liquorice’ would work – but it does, and we’re soon on our way.
The hold-up means, however, that we find ourselves in darkness halfway up the mountain – with a map and directions that seem somewhat inadequate. But the laidback nature of a Legendary Motorcycle Adventure soon finds us chatting to some hashish farmers, who ply us with the mintiest mint tea we’ve ever tasted and encourage us to relax with them at a roadside snack hut before pointing us in the right direction.
Our digs are a simple, single-storey stone building that has been left opened but unmanned in anticipation of our arrival, and it proves both welcome and delightful. Soon, with the bikes parked and Talbot Adams cooking up a storm in the back of the Range Rover (working from a recipe supplied by television’s ‘Hairy Biker’ Simon King), we settle in to what becomes a familiar end-of-day routine of fireside chats and moderate drinking.
Waking up reveals us to be in one of the most magical valleys I have ever seen, the previous evening’s rain having given way to a beautifully warm day that promises to be perfect for motorcycling and which we start (after a hearty breakfast) by riding to the absurdly picturesque ‘blue city’ of Chefchaouen.
After lingering over lunch and climbing back up the hill to where the bikes are parked (Chefchaouen’s narrow and labyrinthine streets are mainly vehicle-free), we fire up our engines and continue on our lazy way, ending an easy 150-mile day by striking a wild camp near the wellpreserved Roman town of Volubilis.
The evening is passed with more good food, a roaring fire and plenty of chat before we climb into our remarkably comfortable swags – from which we emerge in the morning to another beautiful Moroccan vista, in advance of loading up and heading towards the eastern High Atlas.
After almost a full day’s riding, we select a random track, abandoning the tarmac road, and in true LMA style set out to see where we might end up. The answer is at the foot of a remote and silent cedar forest where we pitch the swags in truly wild surroundings far from the nearest wi-fi network; tens of miles from the nearest hotel; hours from the nearest airport and totally disconnected from what’s known as civilisation.
But with a crackling fire, a good single malt, vibrant conversation on topics as diverse as astronomy, divorce, poet laureates and (of course) motorcycle adventures, we agree that we have seldom felt richer – or more acutely aware of who we really are.