Sam Manicom
MSL: How did it all begin? Did the bike or writing come first?
SM: When I set off as a novice motorcyclist aiming to try to ride the length of Africa, but with just three months’ experience on a motorcycle, my mind was far too focussed on dealing with the day in front of me to think about writing.
The days were usually full of fear, uncertainty, the knowledge that this was probably the most stupid thing I’d ever done, and awe. Writing anything other than a daily journal never entered my mind. I was out there for an adventure. Besides that, we’d moved around a lot when I was a kid and as a result my exam grades were pretty poor. English was one of the worst! What’s a noun, and pronoun or a verb? Nope, sports back then, and now riding and exploring was far more interesting.
As with any author there’s a story to be told and in this case it really begins with survival and a new adventure. I’d been blown away by Africa and had become absolutely sure that travelling by motorcycle was the perfect way to go. It was a freedom, practicality and fun mix. The freedom that having one’s own transport gives; I could take whatever side turning I liked the look of, and finding somewhere to camp for the night or a cheap local hotel was rarely hard. If I wanted to stay an extra day in some brilliant spot, I had no bus or
