Contributors

Barbara Alam Immersed in motorcycling since she was 17, Barbara is now Secretariat to the Parliamentary Motorcycle Group, the National Motorcycle Council, and helps run the charity “Motorcycle Outreach” which is supported by Horizons Unlimited. Travelling on her own, or as a guide for GlobeBusters, her biking horizons have taken her through Europe, across the Sahara and into West Africa, and most recently across Canada on her blinged-up BMW F650 Twin; her most exhilarating trip however, was 100 miles across Cornwall (where she now lives) on Simon Milward’s old Triumph Trophy, known locally as the “Torrey Canyon”. She agrees with Tolkien, that “not all those who wander are lost”.		Matt Bailey Released unexpectedly from his career in the City, Matt went away on his shiny new bike to figure things out. Ten years later and his now rather battered bike has taken him throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. He has often been moved by the amazing people he met and the things he has seen, and has attempted to capture his experiences in photographs. He has witnessed the land of the midnight sun, crossed searing deserts and frozen mountain ranges, and enjoyed a decent cup of tea in the most unexpected of places. He still hasn’t figured things out.

Nich Brown Reading ‘Jupiter’s Travels’ in 1979 tops a short list of early experiences that fuelled Nich’s continuing obsession with biking. Having spent the last three decades working in and around motorcycling, most recently representing UK rider’s interests as General Secretary of the Motorcycle Action Group, he still harbours a dream of following in Ted Simon’s RTW tyre-tracks. In the meantime, he takes every opportunity to explore new roads and tracks on his 660 Tenere, only occassionally falling off…		Tiffany Coates Tiffany is probably the world’s foremost female adventure rider with several RTW trips under her belt, nearly all of them on her faithful 1992 BMW R80GS ‘Thelma’. Selling her hair to buy tools, she embarked on her first journey to India with just two months riding experience, and hasn’t looked back since, except to maybe check if her pillion is there. She’s been chased by wolves and policemen, the Nicaraguan Mafia and by stampeding elephants. When not exploring, or acting as a motorcycle guide, Tiffany can be found at home in Lands End.

Bridie Chomse Having been brought up next the Roman Wall in beautiful Northumberland Bridie developed a love for all things ancient. Besides the Greeks and Romans her greatest passions are for literature, politics, modern history and travel. Having recently spent six months in South East Asia she is now in the penultimate year of a Classics degree, studying at the Sorbonne in Paris and living a stone’s throw from the Moulin Rouge.		Megan Ciotti Megan is an Italian-American Anglo-Scot who reached puberty living in Suffolk and maturity exploring the world. Widely travelled, particularly the Americas ‘by any means’ she then spent 18 months living in Indonesia working with human rights activists and 6 months in Guatemala doing something similar. Blessed with an English degree and a bouncing baby boy, Megan continues to crash scooters in exotic places…

Merv Colton Merv is a photographer with a travel bug. He has camped and hiked all over Africa and has been known to use donkeys to carry his camera gear. Merv won the Irish National Wildlife Photography competition and has worked as a sports photographer, thinking that if you can photograph Irish Hurling, you can photograph anything. Merv and Sarah, both Jupiter’s Travellers, are currently on a 2 year trip exploring South America at a very slow pace, priding themselves that their Unimog never gets stuck, just sometimes stops and rests a while.		Graham Field It took 20 years for Graham to realise he could combine his obsessions; bikes and travel, and 25 to gain the courage to put his experiences down on paper. After riding Europe and N America with friends, he headed off alone for a random destination somewhere east of Essex. He kept riding, but never really found it, recounting his tales in his first book ‘In search of greener grass’. Setting off for an intensive exploration of the Middle East in the near future, he finds it daunting to be too well informed beforehand.

Jakki Francis Jakki, like the rest of the Overland team, has a passion for motorcycles and travel. She’s been riding for years and along with husband Pete, has travelled south to Portugal and Gibraltar by Triumph and east on their Ural sidecar outfit (Boris) to Hungary. Jakki reads voraciously so is well equipped to review and compare the wealth of publications our overlanding passion is spawning.		Jacqui Furneaux After being a nurse and health visitor for thirty years, Jacqui set out on an unplanned journey. Starting in Thailand, she explored most of South-East Asia before a foray into Pakistan and India. Restless back in the UK, she bought a 500cc Enfield and set off again… through Asia, the Antipodes, and the Americas. She made it home to Bristol after seven years on the road, and her trusty Enfield is still her only means of daily transport. She is one of the first Jupiter’s Travellers, being supported by The Ted Simon Foundation to turn her experiences into a book.

Simon Gandolfi Simon is the author of a dozen books and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. He is tri-lingual, spent many of his formative years in Africa, has travelled widely by motorbike through Asia and the Americas and resided in a variety of countries before settling with his wife, Bernadette, in an ancient cottage with views across village cricket fields, to the hills of his native Herefordshire. His most recent book, Old Men Can’t Wait, follows his extraordinary motorcycle journey north, through the Americas. He plans to one day get his full motorcycle licence…		Timandra Harkness Timandra won the 1997 Independent newspaper column-writing competition with a short piece on goat-borrowing. She now writes for newspapers and magazines including the Daily Telegraph, WIRED and BBC Focus. She rides a Honda VFR800 but is prepared to be unfaithful to it in the name of journalism and/or getting out of her comfort zone.

Frédéric Jeorge Frédéric started travelling before he knew how to walk, thanks to his mother Liliane. When he’s not on the road, he’s more or less attached to a computer as an active lobbyist promoting and defending motorcycling as a member of the board of FFMC (French Federation of Angry Riders). Right now, he lives in southern France and is probably plotting a trip somewhere. His plans for the future always include a good meal, moving to New Zealand and finally buying a bike with shaft drive.		Sheila Kiggins Sheila rides, writes and plays the blues. She recently rode Australia, because they speak the same language, ride on the same side of the road, have good beer (!) and because kangaroos appear easier to dodge than cyclists. Ruby Thursday, her 1200 GS, has recently been retired and she’s now down to just the two bikes; a Triumph Adventurer and 2Moos Lautrec, the Africa Twin. She is famous for her ability to charm rain from a clear blue sky and was officially ‘Art’ for one hour in 2009 as part of the 4th Plinth project in Trafalgar Square.

Norman Magowan Belfast born Norman has been a two-wheeled nomad since the age of 17. With wife and co-leprechaun Maggie, he rode 35,500 miles from Chile to Alaska, and tells the story in the ‘Adventures in Yellow’ series of motorcycle travel books. His day job involves space, most recently working on the European MIRI instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope (successor to Hubble). His burning ambition is to one day touch the ground on a 1200GS.		Sam Manicom Sam was born in the Belgian Congo but came to England with his parents when he was 10. His first trip was a backpacking voyage of discovery across Europe, India and Australia, which often saw him down to his last $10. After a few years in retail management he learned to ride a motorcycle and 3 months later set off to ride the length of Africa. This one-year trip turned into an eight-year epic across 55 countries and spawned four books from those years on the road with his airhead BMW, ‘Libby’.

Andy McGregor Andy has managed to get cold and wet in just about every white-water river on earth and rides the most extraordinary machinery; a BSA A7, which may be considered an odd choice for someone who is, infact, a rocket scientist… He’s chosen his native Scotland as his base and records his continuing travels with exquisite, prize winning photography, more of which we hope to showcase soon.		Ian Mutch Mutch is a former merchant navy navigation officer, famous for failing to find the Mediterranean and is a founder member of The Motorcycle Action Group. He has published four travel books and his most recent, Harley to Mali, describes, unbelievably, a journey by Harley to Mali. Mutch is hopeless at riding motorcycles having never got the hang of it in 40 years of trying. He never answers the phone during meal times and his catchphrase for road safety is ‘Gently Bently’.

Lois Pryce Lois is a British travel author, freelance journalist, speaker and presenter. She is also a co-organiser of the Adventure Travel Film Festival. In 2003 Lois left her job at the BBC to ride twenty-thousand miles from Alaska to Argentina astride her Yamaha XT225. Upon her return she wrote the book of this trip, Lois on the Loose, which was published in the USA and the UK and translated into several languages. In 2006 she was off again, this time travelling the length of Africa in 4 months, and she published Red Tape and white knuckles on her return.		Simon Roberts Motorcycle adventurer, intrepid explorer and bare-handed wrestler of snow leopards (sort of), Simon was a keen touring cyclist until he was overtaken by loaded motorcycles on a steep Yugoslav climb in 1981. His Eureka moment. From then he toured the sweeping roads of Europe with his wife Julie until 2002 when tragically, Julie died of cancer. In 2005 he set off on a solo adventure to Kathmandu, being fortunate to take tea with Bin Laden’s brother. He now lives in France, working successfully as an illustrator. Simon says, ‘Do It now! Every day counts…’

Matt Stevens Matt was born and raised in the North East USA. After almost ‘getting it together’ with a proper job in news broadcasting, he realised it wasn’t really for him and went back to Extreme Sports instruction in Montana. He now lives between Alaska and Hawaii (because he’s not as hard as he thinks!), has been known to travel on impulse and uses his trusty 650 BMW ‘Juanita’ whenever he does.		Paddy Tyson Paddy is a wandering Irishman who has been travelling the world by motorcycle since 1991. He writes for various motorcycle publications in the UK and North America and provides light-hearted entertainment for those willing to sit through a presentation of earlier travels. Previously a lecturer, journalist and courier, he now campaigns for riders’ rights in the UK, is an advisor for The Ted Simon Foundation and a director of Shuvvy Press Ltd. He drinks an inordinate amount of tea.

Austin Vince Austin is one of the funniest nutters around. Always prepared to undertake the extreme, he pioneered the overland route through Siberia to Magadan and is still the king of budget motorcycle travel. Currently taking a break from his day job as a maths teacher, Austin is still pioneering, but now within the world of film making and is the organiser of the 1st international adventure travel festivals in the UK and USA, as well as one of the funniest public speakers you are ever likely to see.		Alan Whelan Alan is a ghost writer and copywriter. He has undertaken three epic motorcycle trips through Africa, all of which spawned books: Lancashire to Cape Town in search of the ultimate cuppa on a Triumph (African Brew Ha-Ha), a moto adventure in Ghana (The Black Stars of Ghana) and a circumambulation of Lake Victoria on a boda boda (Empire Road, due 2013). He has given over 50 talks and presentations about his travels.