W
e met in the
summer
of
2016 and af-
ter
knowing
each
other
for around 3
months, we started planning this trip
together. Daryl had been dreaming
about this adventure since 2013 and I
had never got on a big bike until we’d
met.
Travelling was a passion that in-
stantly connected us. Daryl had
already travelled around Europe,
on his own, several times, but it
was during a backpacking trip to
Morocco where he got the urge to
travel further.
Morocco was amazing, but he felt
something was missing - his motor-
cycle. From then onwards, the route
we are on was always at the back of
his mind.
I had backpacked around India and
South East Asia for 4 months, also in
2013, and that is where I got the travel
bug.
Our home, a very small island in
the Mediterranean Sea with a popula-
tion of less than half a million people
is a country enriched with history,
culture and a fantastic climate. The
biker brotherhood on Malta is spe-
cial and Sunday rides are amazing!
Whenever we weren’t working, we
used to really enjoy going on a chill
ride close to the coast and stop at
various bikers’ meeting points where
you always find awesome people of
all ages, with all kinds of bikes grab-
bing a beer or a cuppa.
We left our home, Malta, on the
14th of September 2017.
Travelling on a motorcycle is spe-
cial. It gets you to place’s you would
TRAVERSE 46
never visit if you’re travelling other-
wise. Riding gives you the freedom
to amend your plans, choose your
itinerary freely and it connects you
to people in ways you do not imagine
before you leave home.
Naturally, riding also has its chal-
lenges, especially since big bikes are
not very common in some of the coun-
tries we have visited, so if anything
goes wrong, it is always a bit harder
to find help in repairing or replacing
parts. These were factors that Daryl
had considered when he was choos-
ing the ideal bike for our trip, but you
can still never know what might go
wrong. Moreover, even though he
has been riding bikes for ten years
and was quite knowledgeable, it is
being on the road that has given him
the most insight on the bike itself and
the choices he made.
A previous owner of a 2014 BMW