Round the world raleigh
From being shot at by members of a Mexican drug cartel to being arrested on suspicion of spying, Rathconnell native Maurice Raleigh has certainly had an eventful time since deciding to do a round a world trip on his trusty Suzuki motorbike.
Currently based in Australia, where he works in the mining industry, mechanic Maurice has driven through 40 countries on four continents since leaving Sydney in November 2013.
In the process he has racked up more than 100,000 miles on his bike’s odometer, gone through 11 back tyres and eight front ones, and visited some of the world’s most wondrous sights including the Pyramids, the Grand Canyon, Machu Picchu, Mount Kilimanjaro, Victoria Falls and the Eiffel Tower.
“It’s always something I wanted to do. Motorcycles have always been a big part of my life and I love travelling so I just put the two together and I just set off,” Maurice told the Westmeath Examiner.
“I didn’t plan most of it. I planned a little bit of South America but I had a rough itinerary and just went with whatever happened in between.”
After leaving Sydney, Maurice’s first destination was New Zealand (one month) and from there he went to South America. Over the course of an action packed year he travelled the length of the Americas from Ushuaia in southern Argentina right up to Dead Horse, the most northern part of Alaska accessible by road.
While South America is his favourite of the four continents he visited (“It’s got everything. The people are warm and it’s got the climate, the scenery”), the seven months he spent there included one or two “hairy” episodes, including being arrested on suspicion of espionage in Columbia, close to the Ecuadorian border.
“There was a big cathedral in the town and I was taking photos. I didn’t notice the military in the area and I got arrested for taking the photos.
“I got banged up for a few hours but when they realised I was a tourist and not a spy, they threw me out. When you say you got arrested in Columbia people say: 'What! You got arrested in Columbia and you’re still here.’ They expect to never see you again.”
It says something that the hours in a Colombian jail cell were not Maurice’s most frightening experience on his journey. That honour goes to the day when he inadvertently came upon a drug gang up to no good while lost in the south west of Mexico.
“I was asking locals for directions and had done a few river crossings. I then met about 10 blokes with guns riding dirt bikes and quad bikes. When I passed them a gunshot went off so I caned it up the road into the mountains. I ended up having to hide in the mountains that night in my tent. It was the only time I was afraid on the trip.”
The year-long and highly eventful Americas leg of the trip ended in Toronto and Maurice shipped his bike (by air) to South Africa. From Capetown he travelled north and six months later ended up in Cairo. From there it was a short journey across Sinai to Israel, where the border crossing took eight long hours. “I got X-rayed and everything I had got X-rayed.”
Leaving Israel, Maurice took a freight boat to Greece and then worked his way up southern Europe and into France, where he got a ferry to Cork. After more than 18 months traversing the globe, mother nature didn’t let him down for his journey from Cork to Mullingar.
“The wettest day of the whole trip was coming home to Mullingar,” he laughed. “It bucketed down.”
Reflecting on his trip of lifetime, which is “three quarters” done – he still has the six-month return leg to Australia to go – Maurice says that while many people would baulk at the idea of travelling alone on a motorbike through South America and especially Africa, the experience has restored his faith in human nature.
He’s also looking forward to last leg of his round the world odyssey. Beginning early next month, it will take him through northern Europe before tackling Russia and plains of Siberia.
From Vladivostok he intends to get a ferry to South Korea or Japan and then it’s back to his adopted home of Australia, where his journey began two years previously.
In his eyes, travelling solo is the only way to go.
“It’s better on your own because people approach you more. When you are in a group they don’t really approach you. I got a lot of free beds. If I wasn’t put up, I was certainly offered. When people see the bike, they know there is a story behind it and are curious.
“Ninety nine percent of people want to help you out and they want to get to know you. It’s definitely a good world out there.”