MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands warm-up for ?a bit of a ride' through the Americas.
“We thought we were just going for a bit of a ride”. The speaker was 49 year old, Mick Daly, expressing some mild surprise at the amount of interest generated by his plan to join his old army colleague, Mick Simpson, in a motor bike ride from Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southerly town in Latin America, to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.
Mercopress caught up with this mild-mannered, but obviously intrepid duo, over afternoon tea in the historic Upland Goose Hotel in Stanley, Falklands, their base for a week spent getting used to their twin BMW 1150 GC SE motorbikes, which were shipped to the Falklands, a mere eight days or 1000 miles after being delivered.
As it happens, these Special Edition Adventurer BMW bikes are the same kind, which will be familiar to anyone who may have seen the television programme, the Long Way Round featuring a motorbike journey made by film actors Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. That's pretty much where the resemblance ends, however.
Unlike Boorman and McGregor, who on occasions clearly struggled to master such powerful and heavy bikes, off road, Daly and Simpson are both very experienced riders, having competed in motocross and enduro competitions as well as having undertaken some very long road trips.
Where Mcgregor and Boorman had back up vehicles and a camera team, as well as massive publicity and sponsorship, the two Micks are entirely on their own and self-funded. Far from having a support team waiting for them at each stop, they are not even very sure where they are going or for how long.
For two men with over thirty years each in the adventurous, but extremely ordered climate of the British army, a major attraction of their adventure is that it has no limits other than their own physical endurance, the elasticity of their own financial resources and the patience of their wives, who are both, by some weird coincidence, called Jane.
They see the journey, which they hope will take them through every country between Ushuaia and Alaska, before August, as a kind of mature ?gap year', not in their case a gap between school and university, but a transition from one career to another. They are clearly looking forward to savouring each new experience, which it will offer, but are prepared for some difficult and maybe even dangerous times ahead. From Manaus up the Amazon to French Guyana, for example, there are few roads marked on the map, which will make that part of the journey, "an interesting challenge" said Daly laconically.
With the shakedown on the Falklands complete, Daly and Simpson will depart the Falkland Islands on Saturday by Lan Chile, heading for Punta Arenas, where their bikes will join them, some days later. If all goes well, they hope to ride down to Ushuaia to start the long ride north to Prudhoe Bay Alaska around May 4th.
While their route is not exactly worked out in detail, the two adventures hope to devote the major part of the journey to exploring the countries of South America, which are off the usual British holiday or military track. On the whole, they are keen to avoid cities, but they also looking forward to visiting some of the continent's renowned natural attractions such as the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina, the Iguazu Falls and Machu Pichu.
Readers will be able to follow the progress of the two Micks via their website: www2wmc.co.uk, which will also allow anyone interested to contribute directly to the two causes for which they are hoping to raise funds: MacMillan Cancer Support and The Pirates Trust "Just For Kids", which is a charity set up by Mick Simpson's local radio station.
Of course, these two quiet, but sociable adventurers in the best British tradition, would also be very interested to receive local advice or hospitality from anyone on their route. By the time they get to you, they should have some interesting tales to tell.
John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley
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