Three Wheeling Through Africa was published in 1936. A pair of adventurous American pals goad each other in to a journey across Africa by motorcycle. The route they take is from Nigeria to Eritrea, a trans-continental route that was trail blazed just two years earlier by four wheels. The friends are Charles Wilson and Francis Flood; it is Wilson who penned the book. Their journey is possibly the first coast to coast east west crossing of Africa by motorcycle.
The bikes Wilson and Flood chose for the trip are a pair of Triumph SD combinations, machines that they regularly had to push and manhandle along the route.
What marks Three-Wheeling through Africa apart is an openness and humour rare for a book of its era. The narrator most certainly doesn't take himself too seriously and the book is much the better for it. Although you will see it advertised for high prices it was printed in several editions and is not a particularly rare book so trawl the second hand book shops and seek this one out.
I recently came across this title, sought out a copy, and was just as impressed as you with Wilson's tale. Great humor, compassion, and a depth of ingenuity and dedication that puts modern-day 'adventure riders' like Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman to shame. Hell, I feel like a gumby around these guys, and I've been riding my rigid Harley down mud sloughs, goat paths and gravel roads for forty-four years!
ReplyDeleteNOTE: Wilson also wrote articles for National Geographic (January 1934) and Popular Mechanics (three issues in 1936) with a load of photos that did not appear in the book. I intend to make both the Nat Geo and PM articles available as PDFs through my blog at shovelshop.net
Great stuff. Thanks for introducing me to your blog. Looking forward to seeing the Nat Geo and PM articles.
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