Ted Simon · 1979 · global

Ted Simon's 1979 classic of motorcycle travel, the account of a four-year, seventy-eight-thousand-mile ride around the world on a Triumph Tiger from 1973 to 1977. Down through Africa, across South America and the Americas, over the Pacific to Australia and home through Asia and the old overland trail, Simon crosses forty-five countries and is changed utterly by the people he meets. Meditative, wry and humane, it inspired a generation of overlanders, Ewan McGregor among them, and remains the benchmark of the genre.

1. 1
   London

   1973. Ted Simon, a London journalist, points an overloaded Triumph motorcycle at the horizon and sets off to ride around the world, with no idea if it can be done.

2. 2
   Dover

   Down to Dover and the cross-Channel ferry.

3. 3
   Calais

   Ashore at Calais to ride the length of Europe.

4. 4
   Genoa

   At Genoa the Triumph is loaded aboard the ferry for North Africa.

5. 5
   Tunis

   Down through Europe and across the Mediterranean into Tunisia, the first of forty-five countries and the gateway to Africa.

6. 6
   Cairo

   Along the North African shore to Egypt and Cairo, the Pyramids, and the long road up the Nile.

7. 7
   Nairobi

   South through Sudan and Ethiopia to Kenya, where he lingers for months and is half-claimed by the people he meets near Nairobi.

8. 8
   Cape Town

   On down the length of the continent through Tanzania and the Rhodesias to the very tip of Africa at Cape Town.

9. 9
   Rio de Janeiro

   A freighter carries man and machine across the South Atlantic to Brazil and the heat of Rio de Janeiro.

10. 10
    Lima

    Across the breadth of South America and over the high Andes to the Pacific shore at Lima.

11. 11
    Panama

    Up the spine of the Americas through the western republics and around the roadless Darien to Panama.

12. 12
    San Francisco

    Through Central America and Mexico to California, where the road and the rider both pause for breath.

13. 13
    Sydney

    Shipped across the Pacific to Australia and the long empty highways of a new continent.

14. 14
    Singapore

    By sea again to Singapore and the steaming crossroads of South-East Asia.

15. 15
    Delhi

    North through Malaysia, Thailand and Burma into India, the spiritual heart of the journey, and on to Delhi.

16. 16
    Tehran

    West through Pakistan and Iran, retracing the old overland trail in reverse, to Tehran.

17. 17
    Istanbul

    Across Anatolia to Istanbul, where Asia hands him back to Europe.

18. 18
    Calais

    The last of Europe: Calais and the Channel boat.

19. 19
    Dover

    Back onto English soil at Dover for the final run home.

20. 20
    London

    And home at last to London, four years and seventy-eight thousand miles later, a different man on the same battered bike.