Simon Gandolfi has travelled widely and lived in diverse countries including Ethiopia and Cuba
and is trilingual in English, French and Spanish. He is both a professional ghost writer and the
author of eight works of fiction. His fiction has been translated into 14 languages. He came to
motorcycle travel and travel writing late in life.
Aged 73, he rode a Brazilian manufactured Honda 125 cargo from Veracruz, Mexico, to Tierra
del Fuego, 26,000 kilometres. Old Man on a Bike (Harper Collins),
Aged 75, he rode north on the same Honda from Tierra del Fuego to New York, 42,000
kilometres. Old Men Can't Wait (Arcadia)
Aged 77, he toured India for six months on an Indian manufactured Honda 125, 16,000
kilometres and is one of the very few foreign riders to have crossed the Sela Pass (4000 metres)
in Arunachal Pradesh
Aged 80, he switched to an Indian manufactured TVS Phoenix 125 for a further six month tour of
India, 14,000 kilometres and set a record as the oldest solo biker to have ridden the high passes
on the Manali Leh Srinigar road (Tanglang La is the highest at 5,328 meters). See Octogenarian's
Himalayan Adventure - YouTube
Simon Gandolfi writes travel articles for The Guardian and contributes to magazines as diverse
as The Lady and Motorcycle News. We won't hold the latter against him!
His first work of fiction in fifteen years, Thank God for Empty Churches, is now available on
Kindle. Read and enjoy....
I first toured India in the 60s. My vehicle was Volkswagen’s update of their wartime K?
belwagen. I returned to India after a lapse of forty years. My vehicle was a Honda 125 Stunner
collected from Honda's factory outside Delhi. The Stunner carried me for 17,000 trouble-free
kilometres. Crossing the Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh was the final hurrah.
The account of these two circumnavigations of the subcontinent is almost complete. My chosen
title:
I WAS A GOLD SMUGGLER
(amongst other things)
No doubt my publisher will prefer AN OLD MAN'S INDIAN ODYSSEY
The following is an extract from the later journey. Please enjoy...