Round the World Royal Enfields back in 1972

 It's not often you'll find a post on this site giving no more than a link but I've got to share this one.

Subhash Sharma has written the story of his round the world trip with three buddies and two Royal Enfield Bullets back in 1972. It's a great, warm hearted story of adventure and is well worth reading.

https://www.madornomad.com/the-first-indians-to-motorcycle-round-the-world/

Himalayan on the Trans European Trail pt 3

Himalayan on the Trans European Trail pt 1

Himalayan on the Trans European Trail pt 2

The third and final day of our Trans European Trail mini-adventure. Day two was tough work in places so it was no surprise that day three started slowly but as we got in to the swing of things we were rewarded with some stunning trails, the first of the day being right across the top of the Brecon Beacons.

This is where we woke up, on top of a mountain
just by the Talybont Reservoir. Beautiful spot but
blighted by midges. No time for a relaxing pack down
here. Just throw the tent and kit in to the panniers and
hot foot it away to escape the biting blighters.

Down by the reservoir we stopped at this point for
a morning brew. Perfect, no midges. Scenic beyond
belief, we were tinged with regret that we did not
pitch up here the night before.

Talybont on Usk. A sweet little village
and for the intrepid it has the bonus of
having a community provided shower
block in the village car park. Very welcome
after two days of riding on the hottest days
of the year.

This stunning trail that started close to
Trescastle took us over the Beacons.

The next stretch of trail started close
to Llandovery and delivered easy
going riding through stunning scenery.

This stretch though was marked by a
lot of gates, we seemed to regularly
pass through the backyards of various
smallholdings. 

And this was the last stretch of trail
before having to make our separate
ways back home. One of those 'how
did that happen' moments..

So that's it, three days of TETing. At times significantly harder than we had expected it to be. Wales really delivered the goods and I hope to return soon. Equally impressive were the Himalayans, they took everything we threw at them in good spirits and performed better than we had a right to expect them too. 

Himalayan on the Trans European Trail pt 2

 A good nights sleep on our Forest of Dean hillside and an early start to make the push in to Wales. For some reason I woke with a cracking headache, I'll put it down to de-hydration from the heat of the previous day rather than the beers we enjoyed whilst soaking in the view from our camping spot. The headache was cured with an excellent brunch at Coleford and then shortly after the going got serious.

The TET joins the Offas Dyke Path and the going gets tough fairly quickly. We met a group of mountain bikers at the bottom of the path from where it climbs up to the top of the Wye Valley, they assured us that we would find the going difficult if not impassable on the Himalayans. Undeterred we gamely rode on only to have them overtake us five minutes later when we stopped to search for the spring from my sidestand which had come detached and allowed the stand to drag along the trail.

The track up Offa's Dike Path to the
top of the Wye Valley.

We found the spring but as it turned out the tang that holds the spring had caught on a rock and snapped off (it was indeed tough going). As we were zip tying up the stand one of the mountain bikers came back down to report a fallen tree a couple of hundred feet up the path. A shame as we were over the worst of the rough going but the tree was indeed impassable (we rode up and checked all the same). We had to turn tail and ride back down - not easy in itself on a steep, narrow rocky track with a bike loaded up with luggage. The tree rather looked like it had been down for quite a long time and it seemed as if it was left down to deter intrepid motorcyclists...

And back down Offa's Dike Path after
losing my side stand spring and finding
our path blocked by a tree.

A quick stop at Tintern Abbey for rest and shade.

We rode back down to the River Wye and re-joined the TET further down the valley on another very stony path. This took us up to the top of the Valley from where we rode down narrow, winding asphalted lanes back to the river and crossed at Brockweir Bridge. Progress was now very slow going as the TET followed small lanes and we constantly needed to stop to confirm our whereabouts on the TET app - as in the previous instalment do sort out a phone mount for the app, it will save a lot of stopping and starting.

A generally easy path apart from this
hefty obstacle.

Once in Wales we followed a mixture of asphalt and green lanes, mostly steady going with a few short more challenging sections thrown in for good measure. Several of the lanes were quite hard to find and marked as private. In general we weren't sure which of the lanes were genuinely private and which had signs put up by landowners trying to discourage rights of access over their land. We settled on asking people if they were around - in some cases we got positive responses but in others polite denials. If no-one was around we trusted the maps and rode past the notices.

Really not sure how I managed to do this. It wasn't
very easy to extricate from.

As with the previous day the heat took it out of us. Progress remained slow though due to the very regular route-finding stops plus an increasing number of gates (very annoying when you don't have a functional side stand). I guess it would not occur to most modern bike riders but personally as a piece of advice I would say that life on the TET would be extremely arduous without the benefit of an electric start.

Close by Newchurch we came across a beast of a descent, very steep and very rocky. It was almost a turn back moment but we walked it through to check that we could exit the other side and went for it. With a Himalayan the only way for this hill was down, there was no question of being able to turn around and ride back up. If stuck at the bottom the only option would have been to carry up.

We rose to the challenge and waddled and manhandled our laden bikes down the slope and made it to the bottom without major mishap. 

And the beast of a track that ended
our day.

Photos never give good perspective of
incline but take it from me this was
very steep.

Matt has a fair deal more capacity than myself for off-roading but after this descent even he decided that it was indeed enough for the day and from there we hit the asphalt for a while and cut off from the TET once more. We decided to cut off the dog leg of the TET that goes down to Port Talbot and headed North with the Talybont Reservoir our target as a likely decent spot to camp.

Crickhowell proved to be a good spot to fill up with water for the camp, get in a couple of beers and grab a takeaway.

We rode up to the dam of the reservoir in search of a scenic spot, it was ok but it appeared that riding further onwards would yield better results. We had a recommendation from a couple in a van to camp at a bridge further up the road but it seemed a bit cheeky for wild camping and there was nowhere to leave the bikes bar the road. Thus we carried on in search of a spot, we rode over the mountain and back down the other side where there was a car park with lush grass and picnic benches set within woodland. It was deserted and ideal. We unpacked and settled down for an end of day beer before making camp. Within a few minutes of cracking the beers open we were attacked by midges. This caused us to flee and we had the idea that surely the mountain top would be free of biting insects. 

Our camp on top of Abercynafon at the head end of
the Talybont Reervoir.

We eventually found a decent enough spot at the top of Abercynafon, cracked open another beer and started to put up tents. How wrong we were, the little blighters were here too. By now we had rather too much committed to drinking beer to be able to carry on on the bikes so had no choice but to make camp. This was achieved in several stages (more than a couple of minutes in one place would result in an intolerable number of midges). Once the tents were up there was little real choice but to retire in to them early and escape.

Himalayan on the Trans European Trail pt 1

This mini-adventure was long in conception, short on planning and sweet in execution. We had talked about it for a long time, I bought a Himalayan partly with this ride and similar in mind and in the end our preparations amounted to looking at a low res image of the British section of the TET a couple of days before setting off and then checking out some Ordnance Survey maps over a beer or two on the eve of setting off...

So, learn from our mistakes, there are a few tips below. 

In many ways I had little idea of what to expect from the British TET, we had three days spare in late July and my green-laning experience is largely limited to lanes around my locality of Dorset and the Fosse Way. I had expected to encounter tracks that would occasionally be challenging, mostly easy going and all would be navigable by car so couldn't be too bad on a bike.

In the end, of the possible interested parties, just Matt and I set off from Dorset at the height of a heatwave and had vague notions of making it up to North Wales. We weren't going to be too fussed about following the TET with complete rigidity, but would follow the rough route taking in as many of the green lane sections in as possible and would be wild camping and self sufficient en-route.

We started off in familiar territory at Tollard Royal and rode up to Win Green to join the Ridgeway droves there and rode through to Salisbury racecourse. After a ride through Salisbury city centre we joined the track North of the city that is off the A360 (just by the camper van centre) that crosses the A303 and goes straight past Stonehenge.

 

Crossing the A303 is frankly quite petrifying at midday in the holiday season but worth it for the magnificent close up view of the stones. We found a shady tree and ate our lunchtime pasty with the stones as backdrop.

From Stonehenge it's straight on to Salisbury Plain. Easy riding at a Plain-wide limit of 40mph. We didn't quite hit the spot with navigation but didn't do too badly. 

On the Plain we found a fun little tank training area that we played in for a short time. After a couple of minor spills it was time to move on before it all went South on day one....

From Salisbury Plain we crossed the downs at Pewsey Down by road and joined another lane just North of West Kennet Long Barrow. Here the lanes changed somewhat from what I was used to and became significantly narrower and more overgrown. Granted we were riding at the peak of foliage growth but all the same there wasn't a whole load of space to ride a bike without getting constantly whipped by undergrowth.

After riding a number of North Wiltshire / Cotswold lanes (some of them more appeared to be footpaths) we hit the tarmac for a while to head to the Forrest of Dean where we reasoned that there would be good camping opportunities. We weren't 100% correct in that assumption as we had to prowl around for a good while to find a spot that was quiet and unobtrusive but in the end landed a peach next to a deserted barn and with a cracking view.

The Himalayans acquitted themselves pretty well on day 1, taking everything in their stride. For sure a lighter more off-road oriented bike would have been significantly easier for a few of the lanes but we were carrying full camping and cooking equipment: personally I wouldn't have carried much more if I had been away for three months as opposed to three days. More dedicated off road tyres might have helped but then again the road sections would have been less enjoyable. We covered around 150 miles in the day with about half of them being off road. Hard work in the heat.

Main learning from today was that there is a fairly decent TET app for Android (we downloaded it towards the end of the day). It makes route finding a lot easier but is not 100% - but don't forget it's all free and all set up by volunteers. Very sensible would be to set up a phone holder and charger on your handlebars and use the app to follow the route.

We were surprised by how few fellow travellers we encountered on the TET, we had expected it to be almost busy but we only saw four other motorcyclists in the day and they were on day rides with no luggage.

The reception we got from walkers, cyclists and horse riders was good, both Himalayans are on standard silencers and are unobtrusive, that combined with steady and considerate riding, open face helmets and a cheery greeting goes a long way.

Finally, brush guards - these are essential. We did a lot of plowing through brambles. Don't even think of riding some of the trails without eye protection...

Africa Bullet resurrection

The Bullet in its prime atop the Tlaeeng Pass in Lesotho.

It is just over twelve years ago that myself and my '55 Bullet flew home from Bamako, Mali. I had hoped to make it all the way home by road to complete a circumnavigation of the African continent but lack of money, time and a very sick Enfield put laid to those plans. The bike was leaking oil profusely and needed an engine strip to fix it and the chain and sprockets were worn out too. It needed to be in top form to complete another Sahara crossing so at that point I called it a day, put it on a pallet and flew it home.

And this is how it arrived home. Actually it arrived on a pallet
and this is how it was after being re-assembled.

By the end of the 18 months that I spent travelling with the Bullet I had gotten fairly tired of maintaining it, hence when it arrived home it sat unloved for a very long time whilst other bikes came and went (and a few stayed...)

However I can't stand any more the Enfield looking at me forlornely from the corner of my garage every time I go in to work on something else so I decided a couple of months back that it was finely time to put it back on the road.

On starting the project I had dearly wanted to keep the patina the bike accrued with its travels however unfortunately due to the various welding jobs needed it would soon become an absolute rust bucket if not refinished. So now the mission is to get it back on the road re-painted but keeping as much of its character as possible. I am aiming for a reliable year round bike so it will receive plenty of stainless odds and sods. In the back of my mind I have a yearning to return to Mali and ride the bike home from there to complete the circle so the bike will be built up to be nice and sturdy and prepped for adventure.

The faithful old Enfield is currently a bona fide basket case but will soon be back in one lump. Next stage will be a trip to the local paint shop. For the mean time here are a few of the initial steps and early stage jobs.

Currently in a sorry state and down to its
component parts.

And here's the front end.

Rear mudguard stays got strengthened with concrete
reinforcement bar at a boatyard in Luanda, Angola.
Still plenty of African red mud clinging on.

The frame and original '55 forks. I used an Indian disc front end
in Africa and plan to continue with that set up.

Work starts: the rims are thoroughly wire brushed and then
painted with Smoothrite on the inside. For best results thin
down the Smoothrite - on the tin it says you cannot use regular
thinners. Rot - use them, they are fine!

Always a good idea to fit Enfield stanchions in
to the alloy casquettes or top yokes with some
copper grease. I forgot and this is the result.
They only came out with a lot of heat and gentle
use of a pipe wrench.

I shouldn't really admit it but previously I had cut the saddle bracket
off as it fouled with fitting a dual seat which I needed for the
Africa trip. So, out with the welder to fix it back on.

Tschiffely's Royal Enfield

A few days back I published a post on the subject of A F Tschifelly's travel book , Round and About Spain, this was spotted by Basha O'Reilly who is the executrix of the Tschiffely Literary Estate.

Basha has been kind enough to forward these two images of Tschiffely taken from Motor Cycling magazine. The first is of Tschiffely meeting with Major Mountford and other big wigs of the Royal Enfield company. The little Ensign looks quite new in this image and one assumes that it was before he set off. Note too the comedically large 'L' plate.

In the second image (presumably also taken at or near the Royal Enfield works) Tschiffely lassoes Graham Walker, editor of Motor Cycling magazine, who is riding an Enfield Model G. Tschiffely was a horseman of great note, well known for his long distance riding exploits, motor cycle travel was a new departure for him.

If you care to find out more about Tschiffely the man and his travels visit the Official Tschiffely website.

Many thanks to Basha O'Reilly, the Tschiffely Literary Estate for forwarding these images for publication on this site.

A F Tschiffely meets the Royal Enfield top brass prior
to riding an Ensign model around Spain for his book
Round and About Spain.

A staged publicity shot in which Tschiffely lassoes Graham
Walker, then Motor Cycling magazine Editor.

Travels with a Royal Enfield Ensign

A F Tschiffely with his Royal Enfield Ensign, companion for
his four month tour of Spain in 1951.

Many thanks to Ken Bryant who got in touch and introduced me to Round and About Spain. I'm a bit of a buff of old motorcycling travelogues but had never heard of this one before. Aimé Félix Tschiffely (1895 - 1954) was a Swiss borne Argentine adventurer, academic and writer. Tschiffely led a colourful life and wrote extensively of his travels; a well known and successful writer during his career (thirties, forties and fifties), most of his adventures were on horseback.

For his journey around Spain Tschiffely however chose a different mode of transport, a Royal Enfield Ensign. The motorcycle is very much secondary to the story and it is all about the culture and people rather than the bike for Tschiffely certainly was not a motorcyclist at heart.

The brand of Royal Enfield is apparently not mentioned in the book, one wonders why? Perhaps it is that the conveyance is so secondary to the story that it does not warrant a mention. In the introduction Tschiffely describes visiting the Royal Enfield factory to choose a machine, reading between the lines he was perhaps given a bike or at least bought it on very favourable terms.

From the introduction.....

____________

I was thinking over the matter of transportation when a friend of mine came to my rescue with a brilliant idea. "Use a motor-cycle," said the one who, years ago, had been a famous motor-cycle racer, and who continues to ride one of these machines for amusement. Enthusiastically he continued, "I have a friend who is a director of a famous firm of motor-cycle manufacturers. I shall write to him at once, and I'm sure he will be delighted to supply you with a really reliable machine."

And so it came about that a few days later I found myself in a huge factory in the Midlands, where one of the directors showed me their latest model of a powerful machine. One look at it was sufficient for me. "Heavens," I exclaimed, "I don't want to travel jet-propelled! Please remember that I haven't ridden a motor-cycle for some thirty years." Catching sight of a much smaller - and therefore less speedy looking - machine and pointing at it I said, "That's the type of mount I fancy."

Round and About Spain front cover.

Round and About Spain rear cover.

Trans Africa on a 1955 Royal Enfield Bullet

A couple of friends have recently asked what has happened to the blog of my Trans Africa trip undertaken 10 years back. Well, it's still out there but the url has recently changed. There's now a link embedded in the right side bar of this blog for quick reference. For some strange reason in my browser you cannot get all the entries unless you sort them newest to oldest but it is all still there....

Just re-read it all. On second look there are some spelling clangers - it was all written on the fly in internet cafes pre-dating modern travels with laptops and always online gadgetry so apologies for that. An 18 month trip was digested in to 22 short entries but perhaps the brevity is its saviour. If you do take a look I hope you enjoy.

Corrugations on the Nile route south in Sudan. An arduous
journey which I believe is now paved all the way thanks to
Chinese investment.

Sudan Nile route again.

Egypt, The Sinai.

A sand road somewhere between Congo and Gabon.

Back in Morocco

On holiday in Morocco again and the two wheeler radar is ever on. Motorcycling in Morocco is about as good as it gets if you enjoy touring and hitting the odd gravel road so I've got to admit to some jealousy for the guys and gals getting around by bike as I'm piloting a hire car around.

It's been good to see a number of older bikes getting used as intended, a fair number of airhead BMW GSs out and about plus Africa Twins are perennially popular. On the road we came across three British registered new generation Enfield Bullets on tour plus witnessed the sight of dozens of Monkey Bikes traversing the Northern fringes of the Sahara on the Monkey Run. 

In terms of local wheels French mopeds are still abundant but are slowly being replaced by Chinese Honda Cub knock offs.  

Honda Africa Twin where it was destined to be.

Modded BMW GS on Dutch plates.

McGregor and Boorman wannabees this is a
proper BMW GS.....

International Motorcyclists Tour Club

I picked this machine badge up a while back, I would guess it dates from the fifties. A quick search reveals that the club is still in existence and was founded back in 1932. In 1938 the Club arranged its first 'partitour' group tour to the continent. I had assumed that these partitours were somehow connected to Ken Craven and his Mojacar Touring Club but it seems that just the name is coincidental and the Craven partitours actually began post war.

It's worth taking a look at the International Motorcyclists Tour Club site, they've got a good club history up there and are still very much active to this day.

The tale of an Autocycle tyre

Nearly 10 years ago I was with my '55 Bullet in Nairobi, Kenya.The bike had taken a real battering riding the infamous 'Moyale' road down from Ethiopia. The rear subframe had snapped and I needed a new front tyre.

Finding parts and engineers in an unfamiliar city brings adventures of its own. To fix the subframe I detached it from the bike, took the two now separate parts of the frame to a machinist in the industrial bazaar area to get an internal sleeve made to hold the two pieces of tube together. That done I re-assembled the bike and asked around to find a friendly bike shop with a welder. I rode gently to the shop with deference to my interference fit subframe. I pulled up to find the proprietor who was an elderly Indian gentleman unexpectedly waiting for me. He was welling up and emotional as he told me that he had heard the bike coming from up the street and it had reminded him of his years road racing around Nairobi in the fifties so he had come out to watch the bike pass by when I rode in to his shop. As his welder fixed the subframe he regaled me with stories of riding British racing singles in Kenya.

Shopping for a tyre led me to a wonderful tyre emporium in downtown Nairobi. Though a well stocked and brisk modern business the shop itself was a throw back to the nineteen thirties. On asking for a nineteen inch tyre I was taken to the stock room at the back and shown a selection, of which I selected a sturdy block pattern 3.25 x 19. The stock room was dusty and there was obviously some stuff that hadn't moved in a very long time. I was allowed to have a peek around and spotted a 26 x 2.25 Dunlop Motorette Balloon tyre. For some reason I felt the urge to purchase it as a souvenir, the price was very moderate. Why I bought it I am not quite sure as I did not have the space to carry it on the bike so had to post it home which cost more than the tyre in the first place. Something just tickled me that a War Grade autocycle tyre should still be sitting there after sixty odd years. Maybe I should have left it to stay there a while longer but I didn't.

When I returned from the pan-African travels the Motorette tyre was there waiting for me. Slightly a lame duck souvenir; very interesting it may be but it is not something easy to display or particularly welcomed by my better half as an ornament, understanding as she generally is. So the tyre languished under the bench in the workshop. That is until I heard from local military vehicle enthusiast Ron, who is restoring a 1939 James and was on the look out for tyres. It seemed like more than a good idea to pass the tyre on to someone who would use and display it on a machine rather than it sit under the bench for several more years. Thus it is how a tyre made in Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, England made its way to Nairobi and back to England again to finally be used as originally intended. 

New old stock Dunlop Motorette Balloon tyre.

Genuine War Grade!

Riding to Ladakh 2005 pt2

A few more photos from the Delhi - Leh and back trip in 2005. Shot in first gen digi camera quality!

Route-wise we traced our steps back to Manali, time was slightly short. From Manali to Chandigarh and then back to Delhi,

The mountain roads have whimsical and charming road safety
notices.

Best take them with a sense of humour....
The guys and girls who build and maintain these roads truly
put in hard effort to keep them open and running.

The 'Gator' curves series of switchbacks.

Bike park in Chandigarh.