La partenza il giorno 11 agosto da Cervignano, insieme al suo compagno di vita, e questa volta anche di avventura, Amedeo. Lui a bordo della Jeep Willys che ha restaurato e con cui percorre le rotte centroasiatiche da oltre quattro anni come storico avventuriero, lei, Francesca D'Alonzo, in sella alla sua Yamaha Tènéré700 Spirit, alla prima esperienza di viaggio su due ruote.

Cos’era quindi che mi spingeva a intraprendere il giro del mondo su un aggeggio a due cilindri, tenuto conto che sarei andato incontro alla sicura disapprovazione dei miei e che non ero del tutto convinto che la moto fosse la migliore amica dell'uomo?

Johann Conrad Fischer (1773–1854), pioneer at the time of the Industrial Revolution and founder of GF, travelled far and wide. He covered more than 30'000 kilometres from his journeyman's hike at the age of 19 to his last trip to the World's Fair in London 60 years later. Fischer cultivated a network with scientists, entrepreneurs and personalities throughout Europe.

In fact, I wasn’t even sure why I was doing this trip, other than as a distraction from the heartbreak of being dumped by Alex, the guy I thought was going to be the love of my life. That, and a yearning for some adventure and unpredictability in my life after three years spent in stuffy classrooms studying for an architecture degree, had brought me to this place.

Beard, E. (2018) Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World. Michael O’Mara Books Ltd.

So the thought of me, a seventeen-year-old girl who’d ventured only as far as the south coast, now riding around the world on her own? Ridiculous. I wondered if it was the fact that I was female. My friends weren’t chauvinists, but 1970s biker culture was quite primitive.

Beard, E. (2018) Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World. Michael O’Mara Books Ltd.