BOOK REVIEW
Des and Steph at Lake Titicaca
The narrative is brutally honest and Des shares it , warts and all . For some , that sharing might be a bit difficult , but he shucked any embarrassment barriers to get his story down on paper . It is not a story of wealthy men on safari . There are no frills and , apart from countries that wouldn ’ t allow westerners to travel alone , little support for long stretches . This is ordinary men following a dream . Men old enough to know better , particularly Dick , but that just adds to the story . As Des comments – “ I have a soft exterior , hiding a softer interior ”. Life in general is laid out in countries the vast majority of Kiwis couldn ’ t place on a map if their lives depended on it , let alone the trail to get from one to the next . The route didn ’ t really suit the old BSA and Panther , apart from the low-octane fuel . Lighter , faster , better suspended bikes would have made it easier , but as the other book states , no one said it would be easy and the nostalgia simply would have almost totally deserted them had they gone for the softer option . Well worth a read on their own , do yourself a
favour and do the box set . The DVD is worth a watch too , despite gear failures in locations that were never going to proffer assistance ( new tech in the old-world stuff ...) hindering gathering high-quality video for much of their journey . I thoroughly enjoyed the read . It stirs the yearn to travel unorthodox routes to rarely imagined places and shifts how you might want to ride that road . It is also a great tribute to Dick , who tuned world-class machines for racers like Robert Holden back in the day and was a force in his own right on Bucephalus , his Manx Norton that was better than Norton ever made . Sadly , it was Dick Huurdeman ’ s last hurrah , but the clock is still ticking ... and you certainly have not heard the last from Des Molloy .
Available from Kahuku Publishing Hard Cover $ 49.90 Paperback $ 31 ePub or PDF for $ 10 Shipping ( printed versions ) $ 5.50 within NZ .
See more here : kahukupublishing . com
102 KIWI RIDER