Background:
 

Drama, action, passion, disaster, and the pure adrenaline buzz of overlanding are all here in Sam Manicom’s third adventure motorcycle travel book.

Sam originally intended to spend a year riding the length of Africa but this evolved into an eight year, 200,000 mile journey around the world. He’d been riding a bike for just three months when he started!

His books Into Africa (A great adventure and a really enjoyable read – Johnnie Walker) and Under Asian Skies (a unique and wonderful adventure – Ted Simon) covered his first four years of phenomenal travelling experiences and now Distant Suns takes you on a three year voyage of discovery through Southern Africa, South and Central America. This time Sam rides and shares the adventures with someone special, the brave and indefatigable Birgit.

The themes of the story are, adventure (of course), the two continents with their stunning roads and cultures, the amazing people you meet, the strangeness and fun of suddenly travelling with someone else, and Birgit coming to terms with touring on her bike - she rode her first dirt road, in Africa, in the dark! Not planned, but life.

She survives the madness of the traffic in such cities as Nairobi and Dar es Salam, only to have a major accident in the Transkei hills in southern Africa. She rescues Sam from a potential complete disaster when she realises that his bike is about to blow up, and he’s not noticed! They meet and get conned by an Argentinean ‘Nazi’ and by fluke of fortune they end up travelling across the southern Atlantic by luxury cruise liner instead of a tramp steamer. So the adventure rolls up to and through the magnificent Andes.

‘Sam’s richly evocative writing opens up a world where people travel their own fragile, unsupported paths and his acute and quirky observations transport you to their universe. His descriptions illuminate the darker times like shafts of sunlight, and suck you right into the scene.’ 

Distant Suns will grab you, enthral you, shock you, make you laugh, and spit you out as a convert to the dream of overlanding by motorcycle.

Excerpts:

‘We found an old and derelict ACA (Argentine Motoring Organisation) petrol station. It was all closed down but it looked as if someone was living there and there was be plenty of space to stick our tent up without getting in anyone’s way. Birgit went and knocked on the door. Moments later a man who looked just like a shrivelled old mountain goat stuck his head out. He had a long, thin face which was topped by long straggly white hair, and his chin sported a perfect goatee beard. His voice didn’t match his face though – it was deep and humorous.  “Si, of course you can camp here – choose your spot and make yourself welcome.” The cost? “Nada, you are very welcome.” When Birgit asked if it was safe to drink the water from the water tank on wheels outside his cabin, he replied with twinkling eyes, “Of course it’s safe to drink. After all, the worst that will happen is that you’ll die!”

"But the dirt road in front of us disappeared into the dangerously dark shadows under the trees. There was just enough light left in the sky to be able to see that within a few metres, the gravel changed into patches of soft sand and rutted potholes. The cicadas were in full song in a warm slightly dank air that was scented with just hint of tangy sea breeze. Beneath me, my bike engine ticked over calmly as it waited patiently to be told what to do next."

"The air is so full of scents that it’s worth taking the time to just sit and breathe it in. Spices, roasting goat meat, maize cobs cooking on braziers, baking bread, the sea, fresh fish, roasting red-skinned peanuts, and coconut oil all mingle with the heavy scents of petrol and diesel engines in an atmosphere that’s also filled with full-on African city noises."