News from Jupiter
From My Notebooks In 1973: How It All Started
September 21, 2025
The journey began in confusion. At the time I had no place of my own in London and was staying in Putney with friends, John, Graham and Diane, who had to put up with my chaotic preparations. In my room I had the three fibre-glass boxes that were attached to the bike and spent endless hours assembling, and sorting and often discarding the eclectic assortment […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Turkey
September 14, 2025
With this excerpt I’m only days away from the end of a four-year journey, approaching the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, still in the company of Ted Holst and Mina on their BMW. Still Monday June 6th At Mersin a fertiliser factory is producing the worst smoke pollution I’ve ever seen. A pall of salmon smoke completely obscures the road and the country around. Trying […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Iran and Turkey
August 10, 2025
Leaving Iran. Wednesday, June 1st To border, meeting Ted and Mina by roadside. Then the endless snake of lorries lined on road – maybe a kilometre – waiting to be processed at border. They watched with non-committal eyes. Balkan drivers in shorts and short-sleeved shirts and sandals. Mostly Bulgarians. They pioneered the route – according to Ted. But what do they carry? The Iran […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Leaving Afghanistan
August 3, 2025
It is noticeable that I was much more concerned with the condition of the bike, now, than by what was going on around me. A chronic problem with the Tiger 100 was the tendency of the rocker caps or pushrod covers– often called “hot cross buns” because of the grooves on top – to come unscrewed and loose oil. Loctite was supposed to be the […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Afghanistan
July 27, 2025
As seen from Europe, in those days (maybe still today) Afghanistan seemed a very distant country, but for me then in Kabul, France seemed just around the corner. Having to cross Iran and Turkey and the Balkans to get there seemed to offer no problem at all – how different my attitude from when I started in North Africa. The exigencies of travel didn’t bother […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Pakistan and the Khyber Pass
July 20, 2025
Still with the brothers at Jhellum Bridge. May 8th The breakfast ceremony is a continuation of yesterday. Parathas, French toast. Hamid ever watchful, suggests that paratha leaves a burning sensation in the stomach. Too much food? I take two family portraits. The hookah is out of place – the wrong kind for Pathans. A Punjabi policeman insinuates himself with it. My mistake. Hamid is […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Leaving India
July 13, 2025
At last all the parts are together. I’ve said goodbye to Carol, expecting to be with her again in Europe, and I’m ready to leave Delhi for the border. From Delhi, May 5th Sprocket, chain and tyres on. Try to flog old parts, in vain. In State Bank involved in dubious transaction with Frenchman, who wants to double his cheques by losing them. I […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Losing My Composure In Delhi
July 6, 2025
The election is over. Indira Ghandi has gone. The Emergency and its regulations are over and profiteering is back in fashion. Meanwhile I’m in Delhi, waiting for news from London, waiting for parts (including a new sprocket without which I can’t hope to get home). Anyone who has travelled a longtime through dodgy parts of the world will know the demands made on patience. Usually […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: The Road to Delhi
June 29, 2025
After witnessing that horrific tragedy of the girls under the cartwheels, I go back to my hotel. April 10th, Agra At Shiraz Hotel the chickens hang by their necks like small people under a neon tube over a little stage decorated with pink tinsel. Fish, chops, sausages, all smeared in the same pinkish paste, laid out below chickens. Sikhs with rosebud mouths mix beer […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: To Agra and the Taj Mahal
June 22, 2025
I’ve left the East Coast and started my journey back to Delhi. It’s April and already very hot. At first I found it was only bearable to ride some parts by night, a risky enterprise. April, Jabalpur There was a sprinkling of rain last night. Now, after Seoni, a full scale thunderstorm at dusk. And with the dirt shoulders of road wet more […]