- Description: Gabriel Dufner was an American long-distance motorcyclist active in the late 1920s and 1930s. Between 1928 and 1930 he completed a circumnavigation of the world on an Indian Scout sidecar outfit, accompanied by his dog "Polly" - considered probably the first canine to circumnavigate the globe by motorcycle. The sidecar was fitted with a propeller-driven generator to recharge the motorcycle battery. His route went from Germany through the Balkans, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and India, returning to Germany, covering approximately 60,000 km (37,000 miles). He is believed to have completed three circumnavigations of the globe by motorcycle in total, reportedly perishing in the Sahara Desert during his final journey
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: USA
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://overlandmag.com/resources/history-2/history-up-to-1920s/
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: The Dayton Herald, June 17, 1930.
- Description: Bertram Hall Cathrick (born 27 April 1901, County Durham, England) was a senior BSA salesman and experienced motorcyclist who had won the Scottish Six Day Trial. John Castley (born in Staffordshire, educated at Whitgift, Croydon) was a sub-editor of The Motor Cycle. On 30 August 1926 they departed London, each riding a BSA Model G 986 cc V-twin with a box sidecar, on a world tour organised jointly by BSA, the Foreign Office and the British Trade Commission to promote British motorcycle exports. Their route covered 25 countries across six continents in approximately 33,000 km (21,000 miles): England, western and southern Europe, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt - believed to be the first time motor vehicles had covered the distance from London to Cairo - then India by sea, Burma, Malaysia, Java, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, South America, South Africa and back to England. They were the first to cross the Sinai Desert with sidecars, and the first to cross the Andes from Valparaiso to Mendoza by motor vehicle. They returned to BSA headquarters in Birmingham in March 1928, escorted into London by forty motorcyclists. Castley's monthly dispatches to The Motor Cycle ran to 117 pages over two years. BSA subsequently produced a "World Tour" replica model sold until 1934
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://www.bsaoc.co.nz/stories/the-worlds-greatest-motorcycle-tour-part-1
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Castley, J.P. Reports published monthly in The Motor Cycle, 19 August 1926 - 29 November 1928. "Round the World on Sidecars." Motor Sport Magazine, December 1926. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/december-1926/22/round-the-world-on-sidecars/
- Description: Chris Ratay and Erin Doherty-Ratay are American long-distance motorcyclists from New York City. In 1999 they quit their jobs, sold their Manhattan apartment and departed on what they planned as a one-year round-the-world trip. Starting on 20 May 1999 from Casablanca, Morocco, they rode eastward through 50 countries across six continents on a BMW F650 and a BMW R100PD, each on their own motorcycle. The journey lasted 1,539 days - just over four years - and ended in August 2003. They covered 163,062 km (101,322 miles), beating the existing Guinness World Record for the longest distance ridden by a couple on two motorcycles by 70,800 km (44,000 miles). Total expenditure was approximately $110,000. The most dangerous moment came in Malaysia in July 2000 when Erin was hit by a truck and thrown 30 metres along the road, escaping with minor injuries. The couple appeared on NBC News and in the 2012 documentary Achievable Dream. Erin Ratay is also a subject of the 2013 PBS documentary Driven to Ride
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: USA
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: http://www.ultimatejourney.com
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17517346
- Description: In 1927, while sailing along the African coast, Wilson talked Flood into crossing the continent by motorcycle - despite Flood having never ridden one before. They purchased two 5 hp single-cylinder Triumph motorcycles with sidecars and departed from Lagos, Nigeria, heading north toward the southern edge of the Sahara and then east through French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Eritrea, reaching the Red Sea after five months. The route covered approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) with no maps, no roads and no manufacturer support. This is considered the first - or among the first - motor vehicle crossings of Africa by motorcycle. Along the way they suffered mechanical failures repaired with improvised materials including Wilson's false front teeth melted down to insulate a magneto, fractured bones, appendicitis and the constant threat of dehydration. Their photographs were later published in National Geographic and used in an MIT anthropology course in the 21st century. The journey was encouraged by Lowell Thomas and published in 1936 as Three-Wheeling Through Africa
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: USA
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Africa
- Internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Wheeling_Through_Africa
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55614904
- Inscriptions-Iscrizioni-Inscriptions: Flood-Wilson Trans-African Motorcycle Expedition
- Description: Svend Oluf Heiberg was a Danish silviculturist. His friend Aksel Svane later became Governor of South Greenland and a lawyer. Between 1924 and 1925 the two set off from Denmark on a round-the-world motorcycle journey, with the stated purpose of studying forest reserves abroad. They departed on a 1922 Harley-Davidson JD with a sidecar, which they abandoned in Anatolia, Turkey. Their route covered Europe, Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), India (by sea), Ceylon, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and the United States (San Francisco to New York), returning to Europe by sea
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Denmark, Danimarca, Danemark
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://www.berndtesch.de
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7652116
- Description: Jeffrey Polnaja is an Indonesian adventurer, motorcyclist and author - the first Indonesian to complete a solo motorcycle circumnavigation of the world. Inspired by his son's question after the September 11, 2001 attacks about why there was so much conflict in the world, he sold his company and on 23 April 2006 departed Jakarta on a BMW R1150GS Adventure named "Maesa Adventure" on his "Ride for Peace" mission. The journey spanned Asia, North Africa, Europe, Siberia, North America, Central and South America, and Australia, covering 99 countries across all continents, with 97 reached via continuous overland travel. The journey lasted until September 2015, covering approximately 420,000 km. During the trip his motorcycle was stolen in Amsterdam, he was hit by a truck and hospitalised - doctors initially said he would never walk again - and was shot at in conflict zones. His second motorcycle was named "Silver Line"
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Indonesia
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://jeffrey-polnaja.com
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19692047
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Polnaja, Jeffrey; Khalida, Laura. Wind Rider. Jakarta: Qanita, 2011.
- Description: Stanley Glanfield was an English motorcyclist, speedway promoter and engineer from Coventry. Between July 1927 and early 1928 - sources differ on the exact departure date - he completed a solo round-the-world journey on a 499 cc 3.5 hp Rudge-Whitworth single-cylinder motorcycle, covering 29,000 km (18,000 miles) across 16 countries and four continents: Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. A lightweight sidecar was built and fitted in Vienna after the frame broke under stress. He crossed the Syrian Desert, rode through India, Burma and Australia, and improvised bridges from railway sleepers for river crossings. At one point he rode 320 km (200 miles) in severe pain after running over his own foot. During the trip he was imprisoned, threatened with kidnap and contracted malaria. On his return to England he promoted the opening of Coventry Speedway at Brandon on 29 September 1928. His motorcycle is on permanent display at the Coventry Transport Museum
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://www.transport-museum.com/visiting/stanley-glanfields-rudge.aspx
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Boddy, W. "Round The World On A Rudge - an epic journey of 1928." Motorcycle Sport, August 1972. http://www.berndtesch.de/English/Continents/WorldAround/WorldAroundMotorcycle1901-1950.html
- Description: Charles Kenilworth Shepherd served as a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force officer in World War I, reaching the rank of Captain. In June 1919, aged 23, he arrived in New York and purchased a Henderson Model Z-2 four-cylinder motorcycle, which he named "Lizzie". Eleven days later he headed west on a solo transcontinental crossing of the United States. He covered approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) in just over two months, reaching San Francisco in August 1919. The route traversed roads that were little more than unpaved tracks; he used railway lines for river crossings and rebuilt the engine twice along the way. On arrival in San Francisco he sold "Lizzie" on the street and returned to England. In 1922 he published Across America by Motor-Cycle, a travelogue that has become a classic of motorcycle literature
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: USA
- Internet: https://acrossamericabymotorcycle.com
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Shepherd, C.K. Across America by Motor-Cycle. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1922.
- Description: Peggy Iris Thomas was a British motorcyclist and writer from Liverpool. In 1950 she purchased a BSA D1 Bantam 125 cc which she named "Oppy". In spring 1951 she sailed to Canada and began a solo motorcycle journey through Canada, the United States and Mexico, accompanied by her Airedale dog Matelot, who rode in a box fitted to the carrier. Starting with only $60 in her pocket, she covered 22,530 km (14,000 miles) over two years, working along the way as an office worker, apple picker and factory labourer to fund the trip. Her route included Nova Scotia, the Canadian Rockies, the Pacific coast, Mexico and the eastern seaboard up to New York. She is described as "the queen of long-distance Bantamites" by Peter Henshaw in The BSA Bantam Bible. She recounted her journey in Gasoline Gypsy, published in the United States in 1953 and in the UK in 1954 as A Ride in the Sun
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: Gasoline Gypsy
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: UK, Inglese, Anglais
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: -
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Motorbike, Motocicletta, Moto
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Americas, Americhe, Amérique
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Thomas, Peggy Iris. Gasoline Gypsy; A Ride in the Sun. London: Travel Book Club, 1954.
| Precursori, Forerunners, Précurseurs |
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| Viaggi stravaganti, Weird travels, Voyages insolites |
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| Globetrotter contemporanei, Contemporary globetrotters, Globetrotteurs contemporains |
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| Personaggi fittizi, Fictional character, Personnages de fiction |
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About us
Museum of Travel and Tourism is a virtual museum dedicated to travel and tourism, founded in 2016. It began as a research platform focused on the biographies of women and men travelers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and has gradually expanded to include contemporary journeys.
Impressum
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Source citation "Museum of Travel and Tourism, museumoftravel.org"
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