I’m having a bit of a thoughtful, gratitude moment – a long moment at that.

I’m having a bit of a thoughtful, gratitude moment – a long moment at that. The last time I had this series of thoughts, as in depth as this, I was sitting on a hillside in Portugal.

It starts with this. ‘Every adventure I’ve had in life, has been one that’s involved good people.’ And, ‘Too often we think our ‘Thank you’s’ but forget or never get round to saying them.

It’s baking hot in my little office area under the eaves of a Victoria house, and I rather like it. My ‘African’ upbringing perhaps It’s a case of moving more gently and drinking loads.

Trickles of sweat? No worries, they are past sensations from toasty lands brought to life.

The heat hasn’t slowed my brain down though – far from it.

Actually that hillside is very much in my mind, as are these thoughts…

Much of my desk time is spent on arranging presentations and events, and dealing with book and t-shirt orders. Promo work too (The hardest thing I do) Helping new authors a bit. Nattering on FB with friends as well – I meet loads of fascinating people and FB is my way of trying to keep in touch.

It’s been a busy morning for sure, but I’ve kept on thinking about friends who have made my books and t-shirts possible.

Writing a book isn’t easy, and I’m quite a slow writer, but when it all comes together it’s incredibly satisfying. I think of a book as being a way of sharing. Not everyone can travel, yet, some doubt if they can, and others are really happy just to read about the world and the adventures that are possible on two wheels.

I wonder how many of you guys reading this fit into one of those categories. If you’ve bought and read my books, thank you very much! I hope you’ve enjoyed.

I’m thinking too about the people behind the scenes who have been such a huge influence on my life and have made my books possible.

Some of you know that it took me two years to write my first book ‘Into Africa’. Part of that was because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but was following instinct. The other part was because Birgit and I were renovating a semi-derelict house during the daytime.

Oh, and I’d never used a computer before! Too busy riding.

A mantra in my life is that, ‘If you never try, you never find out if you can’. It works wonderfully as a code for living. This thought was just as much in my mind at this time, as it was the last gnarly dirt road I’d faced.

The first thank you is to Peter Henshaw, who was the editor of ‘Motorcycle Sport and Leisure’ magazine at the time. MSL had taken some articles from me while we were on the road. Sharing…
But also earning enough money to buy more rolls of film!

I learnt from the editing Peter did with my articles. At the end of the trip Peter told me that he was getting letters and emails from readers saying they liked my articles and wanting to know when my book was coming out. What book? Thank you Peter and all the MSL readers.

Finally, draft 20 of the manuscript finished, and edited by Peter! To my delight he didn’t ask me to change anything radical. But he works some magic with his guidance.

The next thank you is to Chris Scott of Adventure Motorcycle Handbook fame. Top bloke, took a stack of time out to give me really valuable advice. Thank you Chris!!

The next two years were filled with earning a living and learning how to approach publishing houses (The big boys). And then sitting with everything crossed, which got me nowhere.
The sorts of refusal letters I was getting, said words to the effect of, ‘We like your book, but you aren’t a media personality, so we don’t think it’ll sell enough copies.’ Fair comment. I’m just, well, me.

Rethink time? This is where Simon and Georgie McCarthy come in. They were fellow travellers and we’d first met at Horizons Unlimited. They had just self-published their book ‘Sorebums Rattling Around Asia’ . This by the way, is due out soon as a vibrant new edition – can’t wait to see it!

Anyway, they passed over loads of self-pub insight, and the publishing curve began. A very new world! A new adventure. It’s funny. Making a book happen is an adventure. It’s a foreign world full of different language, history and cultures, and an author has to learn how to navigate a way, to deal with the potholes, and the offs, and so on.

Thankfully my brother in Law Chris Woodman knew his way around design and was a huge help with graphics and later on, promo. Thank you Chris!

And Birgit learnt how to make a website! Vital.

All of a sudden, there they were. The first copies! Horribly cocked up by the printers! 🙄That was a bit of a pothole…

But we were so close! New copies in hand and the magazines became interested. There were hardly any books like this in 2005!

Cheers to all magazines in the UK, USA, Canada, mainland Europe, Australia who accepted articles from me over the years!

The three magazines I’ve written the most for over the years are Motorcycle Sport and Leisure, ADVMoto and the ABR Magazine.

The next friend who made a difference was Dave Wyndham, who used to be co-owner of CW Motorcycles in Dorchester. He was a mate of Johnny Walker – the host of BBC Drive time! The next thing I knew, there I was in Johnny’s studio at the BBC. Yet another new adventure, and I still get comments from people who listened in to the show!

This is a long story, so I hope you are sitting comfortably!

To my amazement and delight, readers liked ‘Into Africa’.

And so followed ‘Under Asian Skies’ – Australia to Germany, ‘Distant Suns’ – Southern Africa, South and Central America, and ‘Tortillas to Totems’ Mexico, the USA and Canada.
Peter very kindly edited ‘Under Asian Skies’ and then Paul Blezard stepped in to edit the next two. And a whole team of friends joined in at this stage.

Fil Schiannini with all the wonderful layout work and cover design, and all his work looking after layouts and so on for Amazon.

Mike Fitterling with the e-book conversion work!

Iain Harper building the new website and amazingly being able to teach me how to use it, and also for working so hard to get everything set up on Amazon!

And at one stage the wonderful Elspeth Beard stored thousands of copies of my books in her water tower – thankfully on the lower levels!

And finally, Roger Chatterton who picked me up as potential talent in the Ace Café and guided me through turning my books into Audio books in his Cambridge Studio.

Thank you to all the companies who have invited me to guest book sign with them at shows such as Motorcycle Live at the NEC, The London Motorcycle show, AIMExpo, the MOA National and the Riders Association National. Thank you to Al, Mark, Lu, Linda, Anja, Flip, John and Will for all their help with making things happen in the USA. (Actually, this list should be way longer!)

Thank you to all the dealerships and clubs and associations who have invited me to present with them. You guys have introduced me to some amazing people.

Thank you to all the wonderful podcasts who have invited me to join them for a show and of course, in particular to Adventure Rider Radio.

I really shouldn’t miss out thanking Grant and Susan for creating Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travel. The friends made there, simply wonderful.

Graham Field has been great fun to bounce ideas back and forth with over the last decade or so. Cheers Graham.

My family have been brilliant and so have other friends with their support, guidance, reviews and even mates who have and still are storing pallets of books. Cheers Rachel, Graham and Dave!!
All through this, Birgit has been a phenomenal support! She encouraged and enthused. She was a sounding board. She was a guide through the times when my more oddball ideas started to surface! And if you know her, you’ll ‘see’ the expression she gets when I’m about to do something completely daft! She’s carried endless boxes off books up the five flights to out flat, and back down again! She’s taken holiday time from work to book sign with me. Listened to my presentations and guided. I couldn’t wish for a more wonderful partner and travel companion!

The one line+ (well, I am a writer!😁) summing up to this moment in the cool shade of that tree on the Portuguese hillside?

“Thank you to everyone who has helped my books happen, including all those who have helped that I haven’t listed here. Between us we have been able to share some of the magic that is this world of ours.”

The jigsaw puzzle of people and roles has been quite amazing.

Where would we be without friends and people with enthusiasm for life?

Finally. Really. Thank you to everyone who has bought a paperback, kindle, audiobook or t-shirt. Thank you for your amazing reviews.

Thank you all for being such an amazing part of life! I couldn’t be happier!

Feeling very grateful at this moment 👍👍👍