Hello. I’m a London-based writer and author of three books about my solo motorcycle adventures in Iran, Africa and the Americas. In 2003, following a career in the music industry, I quit my office job at the BBC to ride a dirtbike from Alaska to Argentina. When I got home I wrote my first book… and never went back to the day job…
My love of exploration had begun long before that. Aged 13, along with three school friends, I bicycled around Cornwall for a week – with no grown-ups. This was back in the ‘80s when it was kinda normal for parents to let their daughters go off roaming around the countryside unescorted. Travelling without any particular destination in mind, we camped in fields and farmers’ barns along the way, and it was this freewheeling, improvised approach that informed my future solo adventures.
My other great passion is music and as an obsessive, record-collecting teen, my sole ambition was to be involved in the business. I moved to London to work at the Virgin Megastore, and ended up with a position at the BBC’s record label. It was a top job, on paper, but it wasn’t my world. I’d come from grubby second-hand record shops and indie labels with office hours based on the severity of our hangovers. The pivotal moment came when BBC Music scored a gold record – with the Bob the Builder single. As the champagne corks popped, I knew I had to get out… I’d recently passed my motorcycle test, and with my 30th birthday looming, I quit the office, bought an old Yamaha XT225, and set off on my ride from Alaska to Argentina. Upon returning home, I wrote my book about this journey, Lois on the Loose, which was published throughout the world, and set me off on a new career as an author and travel writer.
After my Americas trip I was itching for more adventure, so in 2006 I embarked on the ultimate motorcycle ride - from London to Cape Town, via the Sahara, Congo and Angola, this time on a Yamaha TTR250. This was the most challenging, and often gruelling, experience of my life. But hell, I was young and up for it! It resulted in my second book, Red Tape & White Knuckles and was reviewed and excerpted in the New York Times.
My latest book is Revolutionary Ride, which tells the story of my most enchanting and mind-altering journey to date - a 3000-mile, solo motorcycle ride around Iran. The book was shortlisted for the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award, and named a Book of the Year by National Geographic Traveller Magazine, describing it as ‘a joyful, moving and stereotype-busting tale’. Iran and the Iranian people have a special place in my heart and if you subscribe to this Substack, you will find out why…
As well as my books, I write about places, people and culture for various publications in the UK and USA, including the Guardian, Observer, Times and make programmes for BBC Radio. With my husband, adventure film-maker, Austin Vince, I co-founded The Adventure Travel Film Festival which ran for ten years in the U.K. and Australia.
My home-life, like my journeys is lo-fi, gadget-free and all about the good stuff – people, words, music, maps, and the great outdoors. So when I’m not writing or roaming, I can be found messing about on our barge on the River Thames, immersed in a book, or pickin’ the banjo in my bluegrass band.
The purpose of this Substack is to share my adventures, at home and away, plus books and music I love, and to shine a light on other people doing cool stuff and making good things happen. Join me for the ride. It’ll be fun.