Yup! You read that correctly. Most of us get bragging rights when we get from GP to The Cape on our big adventure machines, but here’s a young couple who rode from the Sunny UK to chilly GP on little Honda CG125’s…
Meet Lauren Board and Tom Gould from Sunset Seeker and I Like motorbikes.
As it does, it all started in sunny Blighty where Tom met Lauren. They decided that they liked each other and Tom had to tell Lauren that it was a short term thing because he was off on an EPIC Adventure.
Her reply?
“Well – I’m coming too!”
And she’s a keeper!
His version: “I even managed to convince my girlfriend that riding our motorcycles down the length of Africa would be a brilliant idea so we set out from England in December 2023 having done very little research and wondering what to expect.”
Tom already had a Honda CG125. Lauren went off and bought a bike, learned to ride it, got her licence… and off they went.
And then… her engine blew up… well not hers. It turns out there was no oil in the bike she’d bought.
Luckily, they met a traveler who had the exact same bike at home and he donated them his engine on condition that “It goes back when the adventure ends”.
Well – there’s no guarantee of when that will be, because…
Once they finish loafing here, they are going to “Head across the globe.”
How cool is that!
Here’s some of what Tom posted:
A world’s first, riding two Honda 125cc bikes from the UK to South Africa.
186 days
16,757 miles / 26,967km / 141,926,316 Bananas
22 countries (20 African countries)
3 punctures (1 pinch flat)
Many litres of oil
Even more litres of petrol
Lots of smiles and lots of frustrations.
I can’t even begin to put things into words. It feels bizarre to be here yet also like home.
We have crossed Deserts, mountain ranges, ridden through tropical storms, snow, sand, mud, gravel and everything in between.
Right now, we are taking time to rest, we’ll rebuild the bikes to be world conquering, before setting off to head up the East of Africa, and continue this journey around the world!
One thing that has remained constant on this journey, is by and large people have been incredibly friendly, welcoming and kind. People give Africa a bad rap but so many have fed us, clothed us, allowed us to stay or helped with keeping our motorcycles running and riding. The list of those to thank is almost too long but I am so grateful for having met so many incredible people.
If you met us in person, and showed any kindness but especially feeding us or giving a bed for the night or helping fix our bikes, and you’ll know who you are, thank you.
Thank you almost becomes meaningless when it’s said so often but just know, if I can ever repay the favour when we are settled in a home of our own, you will always have a place to stay, a meal waiting or support for whatever you may be up to.
Thank you also to those companies, sponsors and fans who have given us equipment, parts, donations, bought merchandise or sent their well wishes and supportive comments as genuinely, without all of that we’d likely not have made it.
I know I’m still behind with posts and YouTube updates but I promise I’ll go back through and continue to bring you up to the present day.
For now, it’s time for a beer, a Braai and a relax.
Until then, I hope you’ve enjoyed following along on our journey and I can’t wait to share the next steps with you…
Now, we were going to write a big long story about all of this epic (Yes, if you have ever ridden a small bike for a long time, you’ll know what we mean) adventure, but rather than that, we sat the happy couple down, plied them with biltong and interrupted their story often.
Please scroll down to the bottom of this lot for the chat, it’s really interesting.
Amazingly, their bikes look relatively unrattled – Tom had to find a wheel on his way down, his hub gave up the ghost. The couple made a plan with cable ties an travelled for 800 kilometres or something like that before they could find a replacement.
The one on his bike is actually from a Yamaha.
Oh yes! His one shock pops off fairly consistently, but other than that, you could start the trip back up again.
They never want to see chicken and rice again. Like ever. No seriously, along with banana’s, that’s what you live on on a trip like this.
To give you an idea, the couple sold everything that they own to do this ride. What you see on the bikes, is basically what they own. Doing the math, the cost of the journey works out to roughly R1000 per day, for both of them. And they did not camp the whole way.
Small motorcycles really do make a lot of sense.
All of the names in the image above are a part of this crazy journey too now!
Their names will stay on the bikes forever! There are a couple more to add to the list and still plenty of space so if you want to get involved, please send a message – spaces are £25 and you’ll be a small part of history and their story.
“Super grateful that so many have already signed themselves up and to those that have supported us for a long time. You are awesome!
I hope you have a great weekend and remember, life is better with a motorbike.
Cheers all!”
#ilikemotorbikes
Here are some words of wisdom for people traveling Africa from the couple:
Time
Time is a different concept here. There is very little rush and African minutes, hours and days don’t have the same meaning.
If you are told it will be 5 minutes or 5 hours, it’s likely that it won’t be anywhere near as quick. Often there is no way of understanding what is causing the hold up but that’s just how it is. We’ve learnt to be more patient and it has paid off repeatedly. Being held at a police checkpoint, a border or waiting in a restaurant for your meal all requires the same patience.
If you are in a rush or are like me and want to hurry things along then you need to change for Africa, you won’t change it!
One example of this was arriving at the Gambia/Senegal border – the customs officer aggressively requested a payment for him stamping our passports (approximately 5GBP / 6USD / 125 RAND). I refused knowing it wasn’t required and that was it. We were held and our exit blocked from the building whilst the officer became incensed at my refusal and more aggressive, shouting and demanding! He obviously hadn’t heard of my reputation for being stubborn as the more he asked, the more determined I was to refuse.
After 20 minutes and speaking with his boss, we were free to go with a smile and well wishes. Knowing we had time to wait, was on our side and it has served us well many times.
Note, none of this is a bad thing, it’s just different. We could easily get frustrated, and sometimes do, but we have to remind ourselves TIA (This is Africa!) and things are different here. Getting frustrated doesn’t change it and is us that needs to adapt to Africa, its not Africa that needs to change for us.
People
Many times when people found out of our plans, we’d have people warning us of the dangers of Africa, saying it wasn’t safe and telling us to exercise caution when engaging with the 1+ billion people that call this continent home. Now I don’t doubt there are some bad people and in fact we’ve come across some, however mostly we have found people to be incredible. Almost everywhere we go we are met with smiles stretching from ear to ear, curiosity, well wishes and often handshakes or fist bumps. It’s not uncommon either to have been offered refreshments from those that have the chance to engage with us.
Just a few of the things that have happened are; being offered tea and ending up with a full cooked lunch with fresh bread and omelettes, cars asking us to pull over on dual carriageways to talk with us and take photos, people offering water at the roadside through the Sahara Desert, locals taking us to beaches to meet friends, even helping us find accommodation and so many things besides.
It’s cemented my belief that most people are good and in fact, most people that we have met are great. Smiles and laughter flow our way like a tsunami and despite some of the challenges of the road, it has been these chance meetings with people that choose to go above and beyond to spread kindness, that will forever hold a place in my heart.
Borders
Unmarked buildings, being swarmed upon by fixers for money changing and sim cards, goats and chickens roaming freely and wild drivers with toxic fume belching vehicles all add to the chaos and stimuli when arriving at borders.
We’ve learnt to never give passports or documents to anyone not in uniform… unless it’s such a small border that you have to wake up the customs official wearing his best t-shirt and shorts who is lying totally on his desk to stamp your paperwork that is.
It can be a daunting experience but now I enjoy the theatre of it, treating it like a game to see if I can guess right first time which building to enter, and when, makes it all the more entertaining. I must admit one absolutely key app that helps us research and plan prior to a border crossing is iOverlander.
Without this app we would have undoubtedly paid for things that weren’t necessary or paid more than was required.
For example, pay for the Sierra Leone visa on arrival in USD? That’s $100. Pay for it in Leones? Ah that’s 800SLE…. Which works out about $35!
This is a classic case of – if you can dream it, you can do it. Amazing stuff. Below is the chat we had with them. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.
You need a motorcycle in your life! And it doesn’t have to be a big one!
Please give these guys a follow: