ELSPETH BEARD

A woman, a BMW R60 motorbike, a trip around the world.

ELSPETH BEARD: THE WOMAN

The 1980s, a different world, a different society, a different culture. No mobile phones, no GPS and maps were unreliable borders changed every day. Elspeth Beard. A British woman, just 23 years old, tall, very pretty, a student of architecture. Elspeth spent her days studying and imagining new landscapes. She knew there was only one remedy: TRAVEL.

With the money she earned working as a waitress, she bought a motorbike: a BMW R60 Boxer and to start with she explored Scotland and Ireland, just to test the bike. She made just a few small trips OUT DOOR.

Elspeth soon realised that one weekend was no longer enough: Wanderlust had taken over. So she started planning something much bigger: Circumnavigate the World. And so it was. Alone, with her BMW R60, she began her solo round-the-world journey. Just imagine, in the 1980s, a woman on her own, travelling around the world on a motorbike.

“It seemed like a bad joke; but it was all true.”

From the Big Apple, she headed in the direction of Canada and then on to Mexico and Sydney: Australia.

– THE FIRST INCIDENT

In Sydney, Elspeth spent around 7 months.

She was almost out of money, so she had to work a little and decided to do so in an architectural office while living in a garage.

Elspeth’s journey came to a halt caused by an accident, the bike flipped over and she suffered a concussion.

Nothing serious, in fact, after about two weeks in hospital she was on the road again: all the way to Perth.

From Perth, she left for Indonesia and Singapore and it was in the latter place that she had another unpleasant incident: The theft of documents including visas to cross the various countries.

But Elspeth didn’t give up. Quickly sorted out all the documentation and was on her way again.

– THAILAND AND THE SECOND INCIDENT

In Thailand, Elspeth had her second accident: a dog suddenly ran into a tree.

There she was hosted by the family who owned the tree, and there she experienced a real lesson in communication:

“
They didn’t speak a word of English and I didn’t speak Thai, but we communicated with sign language”.

Elspeth Beard

The motorbike was seriously damaged after the accident but Eslpeth repaired it himself. From here she set off towards Calcutta and Kathmandu. It was here that Eslpeth met her parents after about two years on the road. The parents were very impressed by their daughter’s health, because she lost a lot of weight. Her health deteriorated further when she was stricken with galloping hepatitis. But Elspeth was a strong woman and continued her journey anyway. In the capital of Nepal, she met Robert, a Dutchman also on a BMW R60, who became her travelling companion. After an excursion to the Himalayas, the two together completed the tour in India.

LEAVING INDIA

The political instability in the country made getting out of India almost impossible. In fact, the authorities had not provided any pass that would allow anyone to leave India. Those were the days of Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple and the subsequent assassination of Indira Ghandi. Elspeth thought of forging one and managed to get out of the country. Not having seen one, the guards took it for granted and let them pass. After passing through Pakistan, the two motorcyclists encountered some problems in Iran, at that time there was the war with Saddam Husein’s Iraq. In Iran, Elspeth hardly ever took off her helmet, it served as a burka. When they reached Turkey, the two stopped in the country, Eslpeth needed to regain his strength and fix the bike. They returned to the UK via Greece and the infamous Highway of Death in the former Yugoslavia

“
It was a paved road with two lanes but a lot of dirt on both sides. If two trucks tried to overtake each other, they had to pass on the outside of the carriageway, with the risk of sliding into the ditch. The sides of the highway were a carpet of flowers in commemoration of the travellers who had lost their lives there”.

Elspeth Beard from her account.

In tre anni di viaggio Elspeth aveva percorso 77 mila km e perso più di 24 km.

In three years of travelling, Elspeth had travelled 77,000 km and lost more than 24 kg. Upon returning to the UK for 30 years, Eslpeth Beard did not talk about what was a real feat for the last century. After cleaning out a box, she found her notes and decided to write a book.

Today Elspeth Beard still rides motorbikes when she can, raises a child on her own, and she’s an established professional and above all: SHE HAS A VERY PARTICULAR STORY TO TELL.