The extraordinary story of one woman’s solo circumnavigation of the world in the 1980s, by Paul Blezard. (Issue 3)
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of visiting Elspeth Beard’s Victorian Water Tower will leave with no doubt in their mind that she is a determined and single-minded woman.
Very few people would have had the nerve to buy at auction a cracked, derelict 1898 edifice with no planning permission, inhabited only by pigeons and half-filled with their excrement, let alone the vision to see that it could be turned into a unique and awe-inspiring home…. while the outside of the building is adorned with several well-deserved architectural awards, the inside is decorated with a series of black and white photos telling the story of a very different struggle and of adventure which pre-dates the saga of the water tower.
When she was still a young student of architecture Elspeth became the first Englishwoman to ride a motorcycle around the world…
The bike she used was a second-hand 1974 BMW R60/6 flat twin, bought for £900 in 1980… From the Big Apple Elspeth rode up to Canada, then down Mexico way before reaching Los Angeles with another 5,000 miles under the Beemer’s wheels.
…Having finally got in to Australia, complete with work permit, Elspeth spent seven months working in a Sydney architectural practice and living in a garage, replenishing her diminished funds. She spent weeks constructing her own bespoke, lockable, top box-cum-panniers out of folded and riveted sheet aluminium…
While still in Thailand, riding the dangerous main road down the peninsula, she had her second big crash of the trip when a dog ran out from behind a truck and went right under her wheels. Elspeth emerged from the wreckage battered and bruised but once again, miraculously unbroken. The bike, however, needed more treatment…
