YOU CAN ALWAYS SPOT a traveller. There is a kind of lightness in their eyes, often accompanied by a sweetness and gentility possessed only by someone with few cares to trouble their soul.
I was waiting for Jean-Louis Souchiere outside his hotel and wondered if he would be instantly recognisable when he emerged from the lobby amongst the crowd. Frenchmen generally don’t look any different to the other people in Sydney, and I doubted he’d have a waxed moustache and beret. After all, I’ve spent plenty of time in France and have not seen too many waxed moustaches and berets there either.
I needn’t have worried. He was given away by his relaxed demeanour, huge smile, warm deliberate handshake, and a shirt that said he had no shits to give about what anybody thought of his fashion sense, which is often the way when you pack lightly and for expediency rather than recognition.
And he has traveller’s eyes.
He is instantly likeable and comprehensively interesting. We went and found a cafe to have a chat so I could find out about his two-year around-the-world odyssey on a Ural Sidecar. Yes, you read that correctly. An outfit. Made in Russia. Built to a design based on bikes from a thousand years ago. But more about the bike later.
Right now I was keen to find out the genesis of this journey, and how he managed to pull it off. I’m one of those people who likes to have the odd giggle at all the retirees who buy a BMW GS Adventure with plans to ride around Australia, and the furthest they get is a cafe on the weekend, with empty panniers fitted. You know the ones.
We all have dreams, and after Ewan and Charlie turned adventure riding into everyone’s chart-topper on their Bucket List hit parade, plenty have headed down the patha time while you live out your fantasy can be impossible to accomplish, especially if you have a family and responsibilities.
