History of Overlanding – 1970s
Long hair and crazy flares didn’t restrict overland motorcycling and it certainly didn’t stop Ted Simon.
Dr Dieter Kühnel
German rider Dr. Dieter Kühnel rode 64,000 miles (100,000 km) RTW between 1970 and 1974 on his 600cc BMW R 60/5.
His book ‘Rätselhaftes Indien. Von Burma durch die Inselwelt Südostasiens’ (translates as: Mysterious India. Burma through the islands of Southeast Asia.) tells the story of part of his travels. It was published in 1987, only in German as far as we know, by F. Schneider, Munich, Paperback. ISBN: 3505096660
Anne-France Dautheville
In 1972, French journalist and writer Anne-France Dautheville used a Moto-Guzzi 750 to participate in the ‘Orion Raid’ (Paris – Isfahan) and then continued solo on to Afghanistan. The book she produced as a result of the trip is a tasty tale, but one in which she concentrates on the people she meets and the countries she crosses, leaving the bike as rather incidental. It’s called ‘Une demoiselle sur une moto’ and was originally published in French by Flammarion in 1973.
Enthused by her ride to Afghanistan the previous year, Anne-France Dautheville may then have become the first woman to ride solo RTW, covering 12,500 miles (20,000 km) on three continents in 1973, riding a Kawasaki 125.
She wrote the book about her travels called ‘Et j’ai suivi le vent’ in 1992, which was published in French also by Flammarion. The paperback contains 323 pages, ISBN: 978-2080650146. The title translates as ‘And I follow the wind’ but we aren’t aware of an English translation of the actual text. Google translate provides this translation of a review on the French sidecar website http://dnepr.ural.free.fr/bibliotheque.htm. Enjoy…
“Following the adventures of the beautiful Anne-France … Upset jealous rumors (guys jealous …) that it would have made the raid Orion … truck, she decided to put an end to gossip and performs around the world in 125 Kawasaki. We obviously find the humorous and warm words – or cutting – this careful humanist.”