Amazing Portraits Of Elspeth Beard, The First British Woman To Ride A Motorcycle Around The World – Design You Trust

Amazing Portraits Of Elspeth Beard, The First British Woman To Ride A Motorcycle Around The World

In an age before sat-nav, internet, email and mobile phones – and in an age when women hardly ever traveled alone to adventurous countries – Elspeth Elspeth achieved something that is still remarkable today. In 1982, Beard embarked on a two-year solo journey that would take her around the world on her beloved motorbike – the first British woman to do so. From the outback of Australia to the mountains of Nepal, Beard has traveled through some fascinating places. The great stories behind these places and her achievement as a solo rider have been turned into a brilliant book, Lone Rider, in 2017.

More: Elspeth Elspeth, Amazon h/t: express, vintag.es

“When I set off to ride my motorbike around the world in 1982 I never imagined that my story would be published,” she said of her book. “On my return, in 1984, I put all my journals, tapes and photos in a cardboard box in the back of a cupboard where they remained for over thirty years.”

Beard learned to ride a motorcycle on Salisbury Plain at the age of 16. She began her round the world journey in 1982, after the third year of her architect training course, using a BMW R60/6 motorcycle. Beard added soft panniers, a tank bag and an extra bag lashed to the pillion seat before she embarked on the trip.

In October 1982, Beard shipped her beloved BMW to New York and arrived at Heathrow with a tent and a few belongings. “I was very nervous but I was also excited and felt a tingle of freedom.” When she arrived in New York, she got on her motorbike and rode to Canada, then south to Mexico and back north to Los Angeles.

“Traveling in those days was so different,” she said. “There was no internet and no satellite navigation. It was a real adventure. I didn’t know where I would be staying that night or where I could eat or buy petrol. I would plan my route two or three days ahead and hope for the best. It was thrilling and I finally felt free.”

After traveling thousands of miles across the United States, Beard shipped her bike from Los Angeles to Sydney, where she spent eleven months working as an architect, before motorcycling across Australia. In Townsville, Queensland, she had an accident which left her hospitalized for two weeks.

“I was traveling with two people I’d met on the way,” she told Express. “We were riding through the outback and my front wheel sank into a pothole. The bike cartwheeled and I flew through the air. I landed on my head and have no memory of the accident. All I remember is waking up in hospital feeling confused and frightened.”

If her traveling companions hadn’t been with her, Elspeth would have died. However, she was determined to carry on.

“I did everything I could to minimize the risk but you can’t do a trip like that without expecting to have a few accidents.”

Beard carried on riding to Perth, and she shipped her bike to Singapore, before traveling through Bali, Java and Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand.

In Singapore, she spent 6 weeks replacing important documents and gear after they were all stolen. In Thailand, she collided with a dog, and recuperated staying with a local family; the family fed her the remains of the dog that she had crashed into.

From Thailand, Beard rode to India, traveled to Pakistan and Iran, then through Turkey and back into mainland Europe before arriving back in London in November, 1984.

More than 30 years on, Elspeth believes her epic adventure made her into the person she is today.

“The trip completely changed my life and made me the person I am now. It taught me there was nothing I couldn’t cope with and there wasn’t a problem I couldn’t solve. Now I would never take no for an answer. It has given me an inner strength and confidence to tackle anything.”

When she returned, Elspeth finished her architecture qualification and now has her own firm near her home in Guildford, Surrey. But she still hits the road as often as she can.

“Now I have a collection of bikes and still love to ride. And I still have my trusty BMW. It’s like an old friend.”












If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Oh, Design You Trust,' our brand new Facebook page! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

"Stairway to Heaven" in Hawaii
Austrian Woman Used A Mix Of Concrete And Dish-Washing Detergent To Build This Amazing Dome House In Costa Rica
Going Down The London Underground In The Later 1980s
Incredible Photos of America's Malls In The 1980s
World's Largest Textile Created from Golden Spider Silk Dazzles
Photographer Travelled The World To Document Children And The Food They Eat In A Week
The Washington Post Travel Photo Contest: Animal Photos
Weekly Graphic News: Graphic Artist Illustrates One International News Each Week
15 Awe-Inspiring Photographs To Make You Fall In Love With The World All Over Again
Breathtaking Views Of The World That Will Make You Dizzy With Wonder
Portraits Of Homeless People And Their Dreams Of Old
Amazing Pictures of New York City in the early 1980s
Amazing Kodachrome Snapshots Of Beaches In The U.S In The 1950s-60s
Y40 Deep Joy – the World's Deepest Pool
Streetwear Illustrations Dive Into A Dystopian World Of Demon Hunters
The Tiny Island Housing London's Last 'Coronavirus-Free' Community
Photographer Evgeni Kolesnik Makes Conceptual Photos With Models Wearing Colored Flowers
Compelling Portraits of People Who Abandoned Civilization for Life in the Wilderness
World's Largest, Longest 3D Street Painting Debuts in Nanjing
Inspiring Beautiful Illustrated Portraits By Janice Sung
"Mersey Paradise": Photographer Tom Wood Spent Decades Photographing The Pubs, Clubs And Bus Rides Of Liverpool – And The People Who Inhabited Them
The Subversive, Queer and Iconic Covers to Films & Filming Magazine 1970-81
A Group Of Friends In Estonia Have Turned A 1984 Audi 100 Into A Cosy Wood-Fired Sauna
Captivating Cuisine: Exploring the Anime Genre of Food through AI