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This work is also available as DVD and Book and DVD package. Des Molloy and Dick Huurdeman look like the sort of guys who should be sedately steering a sleigh in a Santa parade, not riding old single-banger British bikes half way across the world through some of the most difficult and remote terrain imaginable. Des' son Steve joined this intrepid pair as cameraman and general factotum for the highs and lows of an incident-packed three-month trek from Beijing to Arnhem on 'Penelope', a 1965 Yorkshire-made 650cc Panther, and 'Dutch Courage', a 1954 Norton 600. The route took them across the Northern-most of the Old Silk Roads over the roof of the world through China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the burning deserts in Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany and finally to Arnhem in Holland. The journey was as traumatic as it was inspiring! Was this idiocy or odyssey? Decide for yourself as you read Des Molloy's account of their adventures and misadventures.
Synopsis
This work is also available as DVD and Book and DVD package. Des Molloy and Dick Huurdeman look like the sort of guys who should be sedately steering a sleigh in a Santa parade, not riding old single-banger British bikes half way across the world through some of the most difficult and remote terrain imaginable. Des' son Steve joined this intrepid pair as cameraman and general factotum for the highs and lows of an incident-packed three-month trek from Beijing to Arnhem on 'Penelope', a 1965 Yorkshire-made 650cc Panther, and 'Dutch Courage', a 1954 Norton 600. The route took them across the Northern-most of the Old Silk Roads over the roof of the world through China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the burning deserts in Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany and finally to Arnhem in Holland. The journey was as traumatic as it was inspiring! Was this idiocy or odyssey? Decide for yourself as you read Des Molloy's account of their adventures and misadventures.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I attended a dvd presentation of this journey recently and for those who have seen "The Long Way Round" with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, it represents a sobering and fascinating alternative version of how this journey could be achieved on ancient, low tech (actually, make that NO tech) machinery. With no sponsorship, no modern support vehicles (just a gutsy son in a hired 4x4 and a home video camera), no satellite phones, no celebrity status, nothing more than pure guts and bloody-mindedness. Des writes very well and describes himself as an ordinary bloke from NZ but with his best mate Dick the Flying Dutchman and their veteran British bikes, they were far from ordinary, They were Kings of the Road and pure inspiration for the present-day generation, rapidly getting lost in high technology and health and safety. We'll miss their sort when they're gone. Get the DVD or try to meet Des as he tours, before he's too old to walk! ....and while you're at it, think on the previous sentence as a sort of personal mantra for your own life - do it now, because life is all about the journey and unless I learn otherwise, there ain't no second go at it!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I normally love motorcycle adventure tales, so was looking forward to reading this one. It's about two old duffers who set out on one last big adventure, riding old British motorbikes from Beijing to Holland. At least, that was the plan (and it sounds strange, but only to UK readers, because these guys are based in New Zealand and the route makes a lot more sense when you look at the globe from their perspective!).
The older riders are accompanied by one of their sons, who filmed the trip, did most of the organising en route and provided much-needed muscle and support at times. The journey took in some incredible landscapes and tricky terrain, through China, Russia, Pakistan and so on, and I'm awed at how determined the riders were. Both guys were of retirement age, and they rode through rivers, snowdrifts, extreme heat and miles of red tape to get close to achieving their aims.
As a book which gives you the nitty-gritty on a long distance ride, with plenty of info about what not to do, and how to plan, this is really useful.
However, unlike many travel-by-bike books it doesn't come close to capturing the essence of the journey. The author is a technical writer by trade, so the text is in clear, comprehensible English.
There's just not a lot of soul to it. The whole purpose of a motorcycle journey, for me, is the romance of the road and how it affects the participants; what they learn from their travels and how their personal journey develops.
Instead I became a little restless with the constant references to 'pretty young things' and how their dress differed in each region, and with the author's seeming quest for celebrity. Maybe I interpreted it wrongly, but he appeared more bothered about how the trip would come across to the public than he was interested in the journey for itself.
After saying that, I did very much enjoy the information about the bikes (a Norton and Panther single), and really do admire the riders' committment towards reaching their goals (despite some simply ghastly medical moments).
In a similar vein, I enjoyed Two Wheels To Adventure by Danny Liska rather more, likewise Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels and Good Vibratiosn by Tom Cunliffe. They do far more than relate the nuts-and-bolts of the trip, which is pretty much what you get with The Last Hurrah.
The older riders are accompanied by one of their sons, who filmed the trip, did most of the organising en route and provided much-needed muscle and support at times. The journey took in some incredible landscapes and tricky terrain, through China, Russia, Pakistan and so on, and I'm awed at how determined the riders were. Both guys were of retirement age, and they rode through rivers, snowdrifts, extreme heat and miles of red tape to get close to achieving their aims.
As a book which gives you the nitty-gritty on a long distance ride, with plenty of info about what not to do, and how to plan, this is really useful.
However, unlike many travel-by-bike books it doesn't come close to capturing the essence of the journey. The author is a technical writer by trade, so the text is in clear, comprehensible English.
There's just not a lot of soul to it. The whole purpose of a motorcycle journey, for me, is the romance of the road and how it affects the participants; what they learn from their travels and how their personal journey develops.
Instead I became a little restless with the constant references to 'pretty young things' and how their dress differed in each region, and with the author's seeming quest for celebrity. Maybe I interpreted it wrongly, but he appeared more bothered about how the trip would come across to the public than he was interested in the journey for itself.
After saying that, I did very much enjoy the information about the bikes (a Norton and Panther single), and really do admire the riders' committment towards reaching their goals (despite some simply ghastly medical moments).
In a similar vein, I enjoyed Two Wheels To Adventure by Danny Liska rather more, likewise Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels and Good Vibratiosn by Tom Cunliffe. They do far more than relate the nuts-and-bolts of the trip, which is pretty much what you get with The Last Hurrah.
Format:DVD
Tis film and book are just brileant you feel for the two of them if it were possibal these two men could not be better friends great read and a great film
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