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May 2009 THE NEWS FROM JUPITER UK Dates Hundreds of thousands failed to come to my performance at CW Motorcycles in Dorchester last Thursday and I'm sorry for them, because the 150 or so who did had a very good time, and we raised a decent amount of money for soldiers coming back hurt from Afghanistan. Another 150 or so came to the Touratech place in Wales on Saturday where I provided the same breath-taking entertainment. I enjoyed myself immensely, and I think it's safe to say that most of the others did too. Tonight I'll be doing the same thing at the Subscription rooms in Stroud. If you catch this in time you can phone 01453 760900 Finally, there will be one more chance. June 19 to 21 The HorizonsUnlimited meeting at Lumb Farm, Derby Road, Marehay, Ripley. If you don't know about them, go here Running around My splendid lemon-yellow transcontinental taxi - the F650 I keep parked in Duisburg, which takes me all over Europe I've been back on my old F650 for six weeks and I want to say again how happy I am with the old girl. I brought her out of her dusty retreat after two years, brightened her up with a new battery, and sailed off down the autobahn to Stuttgart to celebrate my 78th birthday. The next day we went further south to Bavaria where I spent the night as the guest of that rare phenomenon, a modest, generous and pleasant multi-millionaire. Roland deserves a big blog all of his own, but he's a remarkable engineer who built up a tremendous business on his own and then fell in love with the Wild West, which is where I met him of course. I shall have to come back to him another time. The next stop was going to be Montpellier, in the south-west of France, where I have old friends, but from Munich it's a long ride, through Switzerland, so I stopped the first night in Voiron, in the French mountains of Isere. I'm glad I did, because it's close to the Carthusian monastery of Grande Chartreuse who make what is probably the most delicious liqueur ever sipped in this vale of tears. If you've never tasted green chartreuse, rush out now and repair the omission. You will thank me. With the bike running as comfortably as a diesel taxi I arrived, a happy man, in Montpellier where old friends gave me a rapturous welcome. When you've just had a birthday you really need your friends. I hung around for a few days, until Angel and Teresa from Spain turned up on their 1200 RT and we set off for Madrid. MORE

Thirty-five bikers joined me on the final lap, and escorted me back to my starting point in Dorchester, which I left two and a half years earlier. So, how does it feel? Well, I can hardly believe it's over. I have ridden 54,000 miles on this BMW, and at least 5000 more miles on two other bikes.

I've been through 48 different countries, survived two bone-breaking accidents, fallen in love again, and seen what astonishing changes have taken place in the world since I was there last


My first ride around the world ended in 1977. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be setting off on that same journey 24 years later.

Then I was already 46 years old. To do it at the age of 70 would have seemed impossible, but that is just what I've been doing.

This new adventure began in January of 2001. It took me the length of Africa, around the Americas, through New Zealand and Australia, and across Asia to Europe.

Why follow the same route that I took before? Because after 25 years I was still haunted by the memories of exotic places and wonderful people I might never see again, but most of all because it was a rare opportunity to see, close up, how the world has changed in a quarter of a century.

What I did not count on, of course, was how much the world would change while I was on the road.

As you follow my journey you will find out what nine-eleven looked like from Brazil, and you will get a different slant on how the new waves of war and terrorism affect the world.

All in all, it has been a stunning experience: always intriguing, not always comfortable, but charged with all manner of insights that have given me, I think, a privileged view of where we are all heading.

For three years I recorded my adventure, in pictures and words, on my web site. Now I have put the whole thing on a CD, and expanded it with a good deal of extra material.

Following it on the web undoubtedly gave it the virtue of immediacy but it is so much easier to read and enjoy on a CD. You will find a wealth of detail that you would have missed.

I think I can safely say that nothing as comprehensive as this has ever been attempted before.

Here are a few sample pages to whet your appetite:

From Colombia | From Egypt | From Kenya From Sudan | From Australia | From Bali
Travel the World with Jupiter, Again! To find out a lot more about the route I took, or about the bike I chose and the equipment I took with me, or how the idea of this adventure evolved, please click on this picture.

Read the Books : Buy the CD : View the film

Here at last is part three of the Jupiter trilogy. Above, the hard back edition published in England in 2007 by Little, Brown. This is available now from the author for $35, plus shipping and handling. Please send an email to tsimon@mcn.org so that we can tell you what it will cost to get a signed, dedicated copy sent to you.

Also out now in the USA is the soft-cover edition of Dreaming of Jupiter, in the stores priced at $24.95. We've changed the cover, for the fun of it really. It is in the same format as Jupiter's Travels and Riding High, but it also includes 16 pages of color. You can get it from your favourite book shop, but it will also be available directly from the author, signed and dedicated. Just send an email.

Finally, the film, now available as a DVD. Ted writes: "Normally I would have rejected the idea of filming the journey, because the process is too intrusive, but Manfred Waffender has been a friend for twenty years and I knew he would be sensitive to the spirit of the adventure. This beautiful film covers six episodes of the first leg through Africa. The theme is Memory. It is not like any 'biker movie' you may have seen." You can get it directly from Manfred by following this link. Click here

First of all there was Jupiter's Travels	Then came Riding High	Jupiter Returns on CD (auch auf Deutsch)	Gypsy is back!
For 25 years this book has been a favourite for travellers of all kinds, but in the world of motorcycle travel it has been a true phenomenon. This illustrated edition is available at book shops in the USA for $24.95. You can also buy a copy directly from the author, signed and dedicated to you. Click on the cover for more.	The Jupiter journey lasted four years. There were far too many stories for just one book. Riding High tells the rest of the story, and also why it was so difficult, afterwards, to come home. Click on the cover for more. When you've read Jupiter's Travels you'll want to follow it up with Riding High. $16.95 in the USA, also available directly from the author.	Ted Simon repeated the journey, 25 years later (see above). The web site he maintained throughout that 3-year journey is here, on this CD. There are 350 pages, plus close to a thousand pictures which you will never see in print. It works just like a web site, except that on your own computer you can move around at lightning speed. Enjoy it for itself, or as a brilliant accompaniment to the third Jupiter book, Dreaming of Jupiter, which is now available in hard back. Click on the disc for more. Only from Ted Simon, in English and German.	We have found a small stock of unsold copies, so we can offer them again, for $25 plus shipping and handling. This is the startling, hilarious and sometimes painful account of Ted's 1,500 mile tramp through Eastern Europe, looking for the influences that shaped his early life, and finding poignant traces of his lost father. Click on the cover picture for more about this much-admired memoir.

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