It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I’m joined by Chris Allsop, affectionately known as the “Biker Granddad”, who at the age of 75 has set off on an extraordinary motorcycle adventure across Europe aboard his BMW F800GT.

Chris shares what inspired him to get back on the road after a period when family health challenges had limited his opportunities to travel. With his freedom restored, he decided it was time for another adventure, setting his sights on the Carpathian Mountains, Moldova and some of the less travelled corners of Europe.

We talk about why Chris chose the BMW F800GT for the journey, balancing long-distance comfort with the agility needed for twisting mountain roads. He also explains what makes travelling by motorcycle so different from driving, from feeling more connected to the landscape to the trust required in both yourself and your machine when tackling unfamiliar roads.

Along the way, we explore the different attitudes towards motorcycles across Europe, the camaraderie between riders and why motorcycling is certainly not reserved for the young. At 75, Chris remains determined to explore new places, meet new people and collect experiences rather than possessions.

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I'd like to introduce the backseat driver, a fine young fellow who currently is in one of my favorite parts of the world, deepest Austrian, Chris Olsop, better known as the biker granddad, who for various reasons has decided it's time to hop on board his BMW F800GT and go many, many miles touring Europe.

So, Chris from Austria, welcome to the backseat driver young man.

Thank you very much.

Very happy to be here and still in one piece.

Still in one piece.

Yes, I did ride a bike once over.

I was never a biker.

I was somebody who rode a bike and I discovered that I was better suited to four wheels than two.

It's my inane sense of balance, or lack of it, on two wheels.

I could never really get to grips with our bike.

Balanced.

However, what brought all this on?

Why does a 75 year old suddenly decide it's time to hop a bike and head out across Europe?

Well, to start at the halfway point, I gave up a good job in the city to go traveling 16 years ago.

And I managed to go traveling quite a lot.

Well, I paid a very great deal up until about two and a half years ago, and then health problems in the family confined me to base for those two and a half.

Yeah, and as soon as those had come work worked through to their inevitable tragic conclusion, I was suddenly free again.

And first thing I did was to get a ticket to the Channel Tunnel and.

And start heading towards.

Well, I could.

There's only one country in Europe I haven't been to, Moldova.

You're right, nor have I.

So if you get there, you've done something I haven't.

Well, there's a country, Moldova, and there's a disputed territory, Transnistria, and I wanted to get to them both.

Yeah, and I could go through the Carpathian Mountains and I have a couple of Romanian friends who are both bikers who have recommended three legendary mountain roads which are very famous with bikers.

The only problem with that is in the summer, every bloody biker in Europe, it's got to be a bit busy.

I think, like I said before we went on air, I used to spend a lot of time driving around Europe and doing the mountain passes.

Well, became well before it became very fashionable.

The only problem is now it's like the M25 up certain Austrian passes and European passes, they're all out in their Lamborghinis getting in everybody's way.

So I think I have what you might call the golden time of doing it.

Although I do intend going driving up some more again, preferably out of season.

But I mean, there is something magical about these fantastic European roads, isn't there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the difference is, I mean, I drive a car as well.

I mean, most, most bike.

Almost all bikers do.

Yeah.

But with a, with a, on a motorbike, you know, you're much closer to everything.

You're much closer to nature.

You've got the wind.

Well, if you've got the air left wind, theoretically in your hair, although obviously wearing a helmet.

But that's, it's, it's, it's a great feeling.

There's a sense of, of flying that you get with a motorbike that you don't get with, with a car.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, is there a history in your things like this or are you the first one?

Are you the first biker or is it a family of bikers?

No, my brother and I were both keen bikers, but he had an accident in his, in his 30s and he stopped riding and never, never rode again.

But I carried on.

I mean, most of my riding was done from my home in West London into the city of London.

Yeah.

And so until I retired, I'd rarely gone above 40 miles an hour.

I had to have some intensive training with the Metropolitan Police, do training days for born again bikers.

Right.

And I do one every year.

Yeah.

It's called Bike Safe.

It's a fantastic service.

Yeah.

And they basically follow you.

You follow them.

They follow you for a whole day.

They give you a debrief, they tell you what you're doing wrong, what you're doing right and how you can have more fun, really have more fun and do it more safely.

Because if you're not safe, you're not having any fun.

It's nerve wracking.

Bikes are very, very scary, but they're, well, they're seriously dangerous.

But they are just absolutely fantastic.

As a kid, I mean, I do look at bikers and some of the big bikes and the touring bikes and think how enjoyable it looks.

But as I said, bikes and I were never destined to be good friends.

It's a little bit like my grandfather was exceedingly Keith on horn riding and he put me on the back of a horse and the only thing horses ever did was try and get rid of me.

So four Wheels and I are good friends, the rest aren't, but they looks a very exhilarating thing.

The only thing I will say is when I've been on things like the Gross Lochner and the Stelvio, I've always said to drive a car up these passes and these Big mountain climbs.

There is an art to doing it.

And looking at bikers, I've seen a lot of bikers who I get the feeling are new to it.

And on the Stelvio and its incredible tight hairpins, the number of them that fall off, I mean, I conclude you've had to teach yourself or learn how to ride these roads.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I have a very strong sense of self preservation.

They look like a serious risk taker.

And on what level I am, but, you know, I'm so far out of touchwood.

Touchwood I've seen if I've never gotten to trouble on the hairpins.

But that day might come because we were saying earlier, you know, as you get older, your reactions slow down and your sense of balance deteriorates as well.

Yeah.

So I'm not the skier I used to be.

And a lot of people might say I'm not the biker I used to be.

Yeah.

As regards skiing, the nearest I ever got to it was drinking gluvine and germ nurdles in ski huts.

I've never.

Once again, it's something I've always looked at and thought maybe I should have a go at that.

But at 65, I decided it's probably not the ideal thing for me to suddenly try and learn.

Yeah, well, I'm still skiing, but it's not, it's not what it was.

It's because from being a means of enjoying the speed and acceleration of careering down a mountain, it's become a way of getting from one cozy bar to another.

So, I mean, the BMW F800GT, was it a bike you had?

Was it one that you, you thought about and went out and.

Did you check a few bikes out before you went for that one?

I, I took advice, as I generally do, because I have a very humble view of my own expertise on a lot of matters.

And so I was telling you about the police training days.

So I was admiring my instructor's bike and saying, this is the bike I want.

We will really eat up miles I can go and travel long distances.

And he said, Doug, he said, you know, this, this is a fantastic piece of kit on the motorway.

It's rock solid.

If you're riding on clear roads, as we usually are, doing royal escort duty and stuff like that.

Yeah, it's, it's perfect.

But if you, if you're going to commute in London, if you're going to, if you're going to ride on country Twisty country roads.

If you want to have fun, get yourself a mid range sports bike.

Yeah.

And then, and we talked some more and he said look, look at this one, this F800GT.

So you're an old geezer, you want a big heavy bike but you want something that's going to be, you know, solid and reassuring motorway.

Yeah.

But which also is going to be fun in the curves.

So he said this is the ideal bike.

So I bought it.

And I've still got the same bike, I'm still in love with it.

Still a fantastic piece of kit.

The One thing about BMWs is they are rock solid build quality as a rule, aren't they?

Yes.

And where you are in Europe for a lot of the time, if you have a problem, I noticed on your Instagram page you did have a slight problem.

You will have little problem getting things sorted it out with BMWs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well in Europe you're right, but in Africa, I've done a lot of riding in Africa.

You want something as basic and simple as you possibly can.

I mean a very good friend who's an international motorcycle guide who I met and when I was thinking of giving up riding persuaded me to continue.

An Iranian lady, she's an absolute legend.

She, she persuaded me to, to carry on.

But she said in Africa, two things I can tell you.

One, light is right because on the African roads, if you're on a big heavy adventure bike, everybody assumes you need a tenere or a Africa.

Twin adventure bikes to the make of the job.

Yeah.

Now on African roads you're going to trash the suspension, the clutch, chain, the transmission, the brakes, everything's going to get trashed and your, you're not going to be able to find anybody can fix it and you're not going to be able to get the path.

And as I went down through Africa two and a half years ago, I saw that all the time.

These big sophisticated western bikes parked up by the side of the road waiting for parts, waiting for somebody who knew how to diagnose problems with them.

And I was on a little Chinese125, just kept going.

I didn't have a problem that if I had had problems, every kid on the street can fix those bikes because that's what they all ride.

Well, I mean I have driven in Africa, I've not spent a lot time there, but I have been there and the tarmac roads aren't good, but a lot of the roads, it's like Compressed dirt and it's like a washboard effect.

So it's guaranteed to.

I mean, they will shake big four wheel drives to pieces.

So I should imagine it's even worse for a motorbike.

Yes.

And the worst roads, the ones that had been tarmac'd and then the tarmac's broken up.

Yeah.

So you're not just driving on dust and mud.

Every now and then you hit the broken edge of a slab of tarmac and it, you know, obviously shakes your fillings.

Yeah.

And God knows what it would do to a heavy motorbike.

But a little bike, you know, you skip over it.

Yeah.

And I conclude by saying that besides the fact you've chosen what is a very suitable bike for European riding?

How much thought do you have to give to the tyres?

Because, I mean, for the sports car that I use, that I was going to start using again for touring Europe, I have looked into the tyres and I have a particular model of Michelin that I favour.

A lot of people don't give fork to tyres and I've always said if you've no tyres, you've no contact with the road.

Not a bike.

A bike, even if it's got big tyres on it, there is only a small amount of it in contact with the road.

So did you study your tyres?

Strange question, I know, but no.

I started because I have to be first.

I know absolutely nothing about tyres.

So they had Metzler racing tires on.

That's what it was provided with the bike when I first got it and I'd never had them before and it seemed absolutely fine.

I talked to my police instructor about it and he said, well, you know, they have a very, very sort of minimal tread pattern.

Yeah.

Not knobbly tires.

They're very smooth, rounded tires that are designed with a.

With a sort of curve on them so that they're easy to.

And lean back up again.

Yeah.

Because that's the one thing a multibike tire isn't designed to be flat on the road.

The tread is like a virtual full semicircle, isn't it?

Exactly.

And that's what I got.

I mean, for off road and for African roads.

I mean, on the little bike I had, it was different because I wasn't driving fast and taking curves at speed.

I wanted something that would bounce over the broken tarmac and that sort of thing.

So I had knobbly tyres on that, you know, off road tyres.

But that's as much as I know about tyres.

These are fine for tarmac roads.

The ones that got the Messlers and knoblies, fine for Africa.

And the other thing is for European passes, the big alpine passes.

And it's not something people give thought to, but there's a particular forward information film on YouTube which, if they watch, could cause them cause for thought and cause for concern.

It's to upgrade the brake pads and upgrade the brake fluid.

Have you done any of that?

No, no, no.

I've just taken the bike as it comes.

I just, I trust the bike.

I've done 20,000 miles on it, which doesn't sound a lot when you compare it with mileage wheel doing cars, but on most bike that's quite a lot.

And I've learned just that I trust the bike.

I mean, I absolutely trust it.

It's rock solid and I trust myself.

And that's not something that happens automatically every time.

After the winter you get back on a bike if you have this anxiety about your own ability, your own skills, and also whether the bike.

It takes a while for the bike to start reassuring you, but it knows what it's doing and it does.

I mean, again, police the strike to told me he said that don't worry about leaning too far on the bike.

Don't worry about what you should be doing.

Just let the bike take the lead.

Because even if you fall off, that bike's going to stay upright and it's going to take every curve it wants to and it's not going to tip over it because it wheels have a kind of gyroscopic effect.

So, no, I trust the bike.

I mean, I'm no expert and I wouldn't on mechanical matters and I wouldn't presume to think I know better than the people who confronted the bike in the first place.

I just accept it as it is.

But for European roads, I absolutely love it.

I mean, that's the one thing.

If you can trust the bike, or in my instance, trust the car, it adds to the pleasure because you're not thinking, what if maybe and looking at gauges and looking at warning lights, because ultimately you know they're not going to come on.

The car will do exactly what you want it to.

It's up to you to make the car or for you to work with the car.

In your case, work with the bike, which will bring you endless pleasure and enjoyment and it will convince you, yes, you did buy the right bike.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

So when you do these trips, how much planning do you do?

Well, that's another thing I've learned.

You can drive yourself mad with planning and you're never going to find an answer to every problem that you can imagine arising.

So eventually, again with my big Africa trip and again with this one, I just tore up all my planning and said I'm just going to have to get on with it, get on the bike, get out there and if something, if I have a problem, trust myself to be able to deal with it.

And so far that's worked.

I did a bit of work on visas in Africa, but obviously here there's not an issue with visas.

The only visa issue I might encounter is through Moldova.

Keep an eye on things.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get in there, but I've been on biker forums and people have said, well, it just depends.

Sometimes you get in, sometimes you don't.

Yeah.

So I'm just going to turn up at the border, do a lot of smiling and I mean, I think I look pretty harmless.

I think that's.

So Boris and Olaf will look at one another and say, what's this?

I don't think this geriatric is going to be a problem to us.

The only thing is wave a few western cigarettes about.

They generally like those.

Ah, yes, that's a thought.

So I conclude back to Africa.

Since a lot of the African countries don't get on with each other, I conclude that's where the visa problems will come.

That can be a problem.

Yeah.

The borders are not easy, but almost always in Africa, if you have a problem, somebody will solve it for you for not very much money.

Yeah.

So as long as you're open minded and you're prepared to deal with fixers at the borders and you're prepared to buy a beer for the custom, the immigration officials and thank them profusely for what they do to keep the borders safe.

Just swatter them and give them the price of a beer.

Really?

And they're on your side.

I mean, the thing I learned about Africa is the people are 99 and more percent of them are decent, kind, hospitable, generous people.

But as a European tourist, you're obviously going to attract the less than 1% who are not like that.

So people give a very false impression of Africa.

People are generally good and generally helpful and the immigration officials have not so much corrupt, they're terrified of doing something wrong because they've got a public sector job, relatively comfortable position, they're paid absolute peanuts.

But you know that they're sort of secure to an extent.

And they're scared of their bosses.

Yeah.

So, you know, you just have to take that into account.

They're not being difficult.

Try and help them find solutions.

Yeah.

That's the one thing I noticed that everybody says it's corruption and bribery.

I think they realize that if they are nice and helpful, a little bit of something will head their way which will make their life a lot easier.

And at times you can give one of them.

I know whether it's still the same, I don't know.

But they used to like dollies.

American money for you and I to slip them $10 is nothing to them.

It's probably a month's wages.

Yes, yes, yes.

But.

And I used to think at the time, you know, you tip a waiter in a restaurant for being helpful and giving you a pleasant time.

Yeah.

So not.

Why not have an immigration official if he's, you know, if he's.

He's not being awkward, you know, he's trying to.

Trying to work with you to find solutions to things which he, you know, he could.

He could dig his heels in and say, I'm sorry, this is more than my job's worth.

I'm.

Go away.

Yeah.

You know, go back.

So, no, I don't mind being, you know, a little bit generous, but the generosity I got back from African people was.

Was humbling.

Yeah.

Uncle Noble 125.

The.

The oil that contributes to the cooling.

Oh, yeah.

And it breaks down.

And in African countries, the African climate, it breaks down very quickly.

So I was having to change my oil every.

About every thousand miles.

Yeah.

And.

And I promise you, 50% of the time, I'd stop by a little tin hut by the side of the road where a guy was doing oil changes and repairing punctures and that sort of stuff, and his basic, basic bike maintenance.

And, and, and at the end, I'd say, how much, how much do I owe you?

50% Of them said, no, look, I won't take any money from you.

This is my contribution to your project.

And these are people with nothing.

And the people with the least to give are the most generous, it seems to me.

Yeah, I know when I was there and people said, no, we don't want anything, as you said.

I used to virtually insist or I'd open the back of the car.

And the one thing I noticed, kids love cans of Coke and Mars boys.

I conclude they must be either a rarity or very expensive out there, but they just loved cans of Coke and Moyes boys.

And I always made sure I had Quite a lot in coolies and they loved it to bits.

And the guy who'd done it for nothing in around indirectly I was giving him something but not to him.

And it brought a smile to their face as well.

Yeah, well done.

But I conclude in Europe all the traveling about, I mean do you use.

Well there's various like sat nav systems now that are out there.

Do you use any of those?

Do you still use a good old fashioned map?

I always found the Michelin road atlases were fantastic.

Yeah, well I, I here I'm using Google navigation because it's it, it's just easy and it's universal and it works and you don't need a sophisticated kit for it.

You just have it on your phone.

Yeah.

In Africa I use something called Maps.

It used to be Maps for me Stop me where you.

It's now Maps dot me where you download maps to your phone.

Yeah.

And.

And then it can work without an Internet connection because that's always a worry.

And you cross the border and suddenly the SIM card you had for the previous country no longer works.

Yeah.

And it takes you a coup.

Find somewhere where you can buy a SIM card.

Yeah.

So with the phones what do you do?

Do you have like a disposable phone or a pay as you go and just keep changing the cars?

Did you just buy a dis.

A new disposable phone?

I've just got the phone.

I use the phone I use at home and it's on a contract with O2.

Are the only people who allow you complete roaming in Europe.

Yeah.

And then when I get, when I get to the few countries so Bosnia, Serbia, Moa.

Where O2's roaming doesn't apply.

Yeah.

Then.

Then you can buy a people in these ed Sims.

Yeah.

So there's, there's a, there's a called easy sim and you just say which country you're going to tells you how much data you can, you, you can have for how much money.

Yeah.

And you, you decide which one you want.

You just download these into your phone.

I mean it's, it's.

I'm not good at technology but I've never had a problem with it.

Yeah.

I'm gonna say I'm the same people get.

Have you got the app for this app for that?

No, I haven't and I don.

So Africa we've discussed the potential problems.

What are the problems in Europe and beyond?

Because as time's going on there's various problems seem to occur in Europe.

I mean how do.

What have you encountered and how have you got around them?

Well, I am fortunate to have an Irish passport because my mother was.

Although she was, she was born before Irish independence.

She was born on the island of Ireland.

Rhyme.

That's enough for me to qualify for Irish nationality.

Even though born in England.

I spent all my life in England.

My father was English and that has made life easier.

I mean, at the Channel Tunnel there were big queues, I was just waved through and I arrived in France an hour and a half ahead of my schedule because I didn't have problems.

So ostensibly on your travels, you're an Irishman.

It is something I've heard about before, is that a friend of mine is jewel.

But what are the problems at the Channel Tunnel these days?

I don't know because I've only heard that from friends who were going away at Easter that they were sitting in queues for four hours to get through.

Yeah, I know there's a couple of teething tracer.

I think things have got worse before they get better because I think they're trying to make the process smoother and simpler.

But the new systems they're putting in place, nobody's familiar with them and all the bugs aren't out of them yet and they're.

That's what the problem is.

And I think it will become easier for Brits too long.

I mean, it's one of those things I cannot.

Well, they always say we're making it easier and immediately red flags in my mind.

No, you're not.

You'll be making it more complicated.

But as to why they're doing this, I honestly do not know because such like as you and I going to Europe, invariably, yes.

It could be for business, it could be for pleasure, but we're not doing anything untoward while we're there.

It's just let us in and two or three weeks later we'll go home again.

But they seem hell bent on making life very complicated.

Flying these days is getting worse and worse and I'm no fan of flying.

That's why I like to drive.

If I'm going to Europe, I prefer to drive because you get to see things.

And you'll have noticed this yourself, unless you're going a long distance and you want to get there quickly.

Stay off the autobahns, stay off the Paills, use the little roads, see the old towns.

That's exactly what I did today.

I instructed Google Maps to avoid tolls.

And of course in Austria you have to have a vignette to use the motorways.

It's technically a toll road, so it avoided all the motorways.

And I came through some beautiful country roads today, through pine trees and up and down hills and other twists and so on.

It took me about, I reckon, about an hour and 20 minutes longer than if I'd used the motorways.

But y.

You know, coming down from England, through France, through Germany and through the first part of Austria and also through Belgium and Luxembourg, I was absolutely bored senseless with the motorways.

I mean, they're just, you know, most motorbikes are supposed to be fun.

They're for driving on twisty country roads.

Yes, that's what's fun.

Sitting on the motorway, you know, with a Porsche up your backside, you know, just sort of, you know, trying to urge you forward.

Because on motorbike you'd be careful to leave quite a decent stopping distance without you in the car in front.

No, that's.

That's an affront to a German in a big powerful car, you've got to close up on the car in front or if not, he's going to overtake you on the inside, invade your stopping space.

So be operating space.

Do be careful.

I have two Sport.

I have two sports cars.

One of them's a 911.

Another thing I have learned from, from my belief training days is never let yourself lose your temper.

Yeah.

You know, if, however stupid somebody is, just count to 10 over into the inside lane and wait until your.

Your anger subsides before you.

Before you get back into.

Properly into gear.

Yeah, so.

So that's a discipline I forced on myself because I, like most old men, I'm pretty irascible.

I think one of the problems is a lot of the time for bikers or with bikers, you get the guys on the sports bikes who want to go like a complete idiot all over.

And I think that's possibly where decent bikers get.

Get a bad reputation.

And they're nothing to do it because many bikers who are touring, like yourself, the journey is part of the pleasure.

They're not bothered about doing 150 miles an hour.

Exactly.

And they're not bothered about trying to impress people.

They're living their lives for themselves, not for an audience.

Yeah.

And that's important.

And you see these young tearaways and yes, they let outside down.

You know, people assume that bikers are all young tearaways.

In fact, if you come up and when you set up the lights, look at the biker park next to you, chances are he's going to be certainly over 50, because under 50, the insurance companies are making it pretty clear to, by the way, they calculate their premiums, that they don't want young riders.

Yeah.

So motorcycling is pretty much an old man's game.

White pair and white hair and bald tights.

When people take their helmets.

I know I once read something, and I've seen it elsewhere, that there are a lot of older people coming back to biking.

Yeah.

Why?

Well, I know in London.

Why?

Because if I go out of my car in London, nine times out of 10, I join the back of a queue of traffic.

I don't know if it's going to be ten minutes or two hours.

Yeah.

But.

So the car is a liability.

Whereas my motorbike, I can just glide up the outside, which is, you know, filtering is permitted.

Yeah.

In England it's completely legal.

In Germany it's not, you know, I have to sit in the traffic.

But I've asked other bikers, you know, why am I sitting?

You know, why do I have to sit when there's a clear bit of road, I can just go up the outside and pull out the lights up front.

And they say, well, it just depends.

Most policemen these days, if you're.

If you're responsible, if you look serious and responsible, we'll let you do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But technically you shouldn't.

So.

So are there.

Are there any other independence, the freedom.

That the bikes give you, that car?

Are there any other rules and regs in Europe that don't apply to England or are different to biking in England?

Oh, that's a good question.

Yeah.

Turning right at the lights, which would be the equivalent of us turning.

Turning right at the.

At the lights.

Yeah.

You can do that on.

In some countries, you can do that on a stop sign, but I wouldn't know which ones they are.

I just follow the curls front.

And on some of them, even when you've got a green light, you still have to give way to pedestrians when you're turning off the main road, because pedestrian walking in a straight line is actually another road user.

You're cutting across them, so you've got a green light, which doesn't say you are in the road to turn right.

And country would be turning left.

Says you are free to do it, but you've got to still watch out for other roads.

Right.

Little wrinkles like that.

I know in Italy, especially in the cities, Milan especially, if you want to turn right or left at a set of traffic lights, you pull into a side road, the traffic lights before, and run down the outside of the main road.

And it's from that lane you turn left or right.

You don't turn left or right from what you call.

Might call the main carriageway.

And that's a very, very.

Until somebody tells you.

You wonder why you can never manage to turn right or left until somebody says no.

You go into that one, the traffic lights before, and then you can do what you want to do.

Well, I suppose it's like in France.

You look for the sign that tells you the car merging from the right has priority over you.

You have got to give way to the car pulling out of the side street.

Yep.

Priority.

Yeah.

Priority is the priority to the right.

Yeah.

There's no markings that the guy coming from the right.

Stop.

Priority of you.

And there is a little sign somewhere on one of the, on one of the light posts that will tell you this.

You've just got to know what you're looking for.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is there anything else like that you found in Europe?

No, not really.

I mean, I think if you, if you just, you know, relatively humble and don't assume that, you know that everything's the same wherever you go.

Watch what other people are doing and don't throw your weight around.

You know, don't insist on Hong Kong your priority.

Yeah.

Riding bikes again.

You know, this is something drummed into all the way through training with bikes.

You're so vulnerable.

Yes.

That you're constantly on the alert for what other people might do and whether they're allowed to do it or not.

You're still watching for people pulling you out of side roads because you hit them, they gotta, you know, damage a couple of body panels.

You're going to break your neck.

You know, you're always, always cautious if you're sensible.

Yeah.

You know.

Do you find the Europeans have a different attitude to bikers?

Good question.

I think, I think there's an assumption in England that.

That bikers are young and poor.

Yeah.

Which is exactly the exact opposite of the.

Of the reality.

But I think in, in, in.

Certainly in Germany, it's so much more of a hobbit be.

Yeah.

For, for normal people that, that people do.

You know, everybody got a brother or a husband or a father who rides motorbikes on the.

In the summer at least.

Yeah.

And we, we don't have the climate for motorbikes.

But Europe apart from now, I mean, the one thing I have noticed when I've been in Germany and Austria.

Excuse me, the Germans do have a liking for the big BMWs, the big Harleys, the Indians and the other thing that they seem to like are the trikes which seem memory serves, are like Honda Gold Wing based.

Yes.

Yeah.

I don't understand that really, because, you know, it seems to me it's the worst of both worlds.

You know, you can't filter, you can't.

If you can't cut your way through, you know, get round queues in it.

Yeah.

And yet you're sort of.

You're still vulnerable, you're still exposed to the west better.

You know, those are the things, the prices you pay for being maneuverable and being able to have this sense of flying.

You wouldn't get that on a three wheeler.

No.

And you were saying earlier on about Africa, do you do this for apart from your sheer personal pleasure, do you do it for any reason?

Do you do it for charitable calls or anything like that?

And what's your family's view on all this?

No, I mean, my, My wife founded and runs a small charity and I've tried to.

My last big Africa trip, I tried to.

A lot of people were following me.

Yeah.

I tried to encourage them to make a contribution to charity, but they, they didn't, you know, I mean, that's, it's.

It's very hard to get an English, English person to part with their money.

The trouble is these days we haven't got much to bite with.

Well, that's true, yeah.

I mean, the thing is, you know, when, when all these, this Internet stuff came in, you know, everybody was asking for charitable sponsorship things and to start with, it was a bit of a novelty.

And you say, yeah, I'll give you 25 quid if you write John Grace to ends end or whatever, you know, I'll so on.

But now people are just deluged.

Requests for charity.

Yeah.

And the other thing that deluged with is requests for.

To give reviews of every damn thing you do.

Everything you buy, everywhere you go, every restaurant you go to.

Yeah.

Every shop you go to, everything you buy online, you know, how did we, how did we do?

Please, you know we value your opinion.

Yeah.

So in that case, you'll have to photograph your breakfast, dinner and tea and everything else, won't you?

You do see a lot of the youngsters with their phones and every, every, everything is documented and photographed.

And some of them now have got to the stage, they will contact a hotel as such like and say, I'm such a body, I'm a famous influencer.

I conclude if I come and stay, you won't charge me.

And they take great offense when they get told, no, you'll be being charged.

Yes.

So what, what's the charity that your wife runs?

It's called Refugees.

We welcome Hounslow.

Yeah.

So we live in Chiswick in West London.

And that's in the London borough of Hounslow.

Yeah, And Hounslow.

A lot of this, particularly from Syria and Afghanistan.

Yeah, there are.

And the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker is a refugee has kind of been invited by the, by the British authorities to resettle in the uk.

Yeah.

Which is the case with a lot of the Afghans who worked with the British services.

Yeah.

Whose lives obviously are at risk because they regard it as collaborators or that they have skills that we want and use.

These aren't the people who row across the Channel.

These are people on resettlement programs who.

Most other countries are quite supportive of them in terms of getting language skills and trying to integrate them into society.

But we're not very good at them, that.

So basically what my wife does, she just, you know, supports them with friendship and advice and it's all volunteers, nobody's paid.

It's all.

Yeah, it's all.

It's all just people giving their time for nothing.

And, you know, a lot of people chip in and the Home Office chips in, the Metropolitan Police chip in because they want these people to integrate.

And of course, language skills are important as well.

Yeah.

And just knowing how these work in England, these people come from totally different societies.

They, they have different assumptions so that they can settle and that their kids will become useful citizens rather than radicalized because they feel that they're not welcome.

Yeah.

So it's welcoming these people and it's turning them into people who are proud to be British rather than people who are going to make trouble because they feel they're treated badly.

Yeah.

That's the one thing I've always noticed about countries like Germany and Austria.

At times it tends to be discouraged in this country, but they are intensely proud of their country and of their, their heritage, aren't they?

I mean, you'll see like the Austrian flags and in Germany, the regional flags fly everywhere, don't they?

Where in this country it's frowned upon.

Yes, yes, that's true.

And you know, our flags have been hijacked by.

By people with extreme views.

Yeah.

And St. George's flag is.

I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable even on St. George's Day, putting a flag outside their house in case people assume that they're a member of some extreme right wing organization.

It's a shame, really.

Now, when do you anticipate Getting back from your current travel?

Well, it's open ended but I do want to meet up with my wife and my two daughters and their families in Croatia, way back.

So they're going to be there at the beginning of August.

So over the next, not much more than two weeks, I want to ride the legendary roads in the Gardenian mountains of Romania.

I want to go to Moldova, just spend a couple of nights there.

I want to try to get into Transnistria and see if I can spend the night there.

And then I'll feel I've achieved something and then I'll just go straight back across through Hungary and Bosnia into Croatia and spend a week with them.

But then once they've gone home, then I'm a free agent.

I can just take my time coming back from.

I'll just gradually work my way back.

I might go and see a friend in Paris, I might spend a week in a language school in Italy because I used to speak Italian very well and I've lost that.

So while I'm here for mobile, well and I've got nothing to go home for, you know, nothing to drag me home.

Yeah, yeah.

Apart from the, you know, the comforts of home.

But you might have seen my theory.

I've been talking about, you know, eternal youth and longevity.

Every day you, every day you spend at home, you get a day older.

Yeah.

Every day you spend going to new places, meeting new people, doing new things, the clock stops for that day.

Yeah.

Every day, every day that you go to new places, meet new people, do new things, on a motorbike you get a day younger.

Yeah.

By the time you get to the end of a day, do you find you creak off it?

Do you find it harder to get off it or anything like that?

Do you get off and think, oh, thank God for that?

Well, there are two things working.

I mean, when you're 75, you sort of physically, you do get a bit creaky and you get things sort of start to out a bit.

And being in a sort of cramped position all day has its downside.

But when I get off the bike, I do a lot of walking.

I try to walk six miles a day, but once I'm off the bike and I'm walking and also the exhilaration you get from riding a bike, if you enjoy riding a motorbike bike, that exhilaration stays with you.

Like, you know, when you've been to a party and you've been doing karaoke and you've been dancing on the tables and you've Been.

You're pumped up.

Yeah.

So the, you know, and that you don't notice the aches and pains so much when you.

When you've got that.

When you're pumped up, what comes next?

When you eventually get back home, I got the feeling that you'll be itchy to do something else.

Well, actually, this is a bit of a compromise, this trip, because, you know, having dealt with the issues that have kept me at home for all those from those two and a half years and being free again, two big.

And inspired by the Iranian lady that I mentioned, this international motorcycle guy, been an inspiration to me, I wanted to ride to Shanghai.

Oh, yeah.

But the only feasible route, really, is through Russia.

And so that abounds at the moment.

And then the other one is.

It's Sri Lanka.

Yeah.

But that means going through Iran and you probably know a couple of elderly bikers who were arrested there and they're just being held as bug ships.

Yeah.

So Nasser, the Iranian motorcycle guide, at Being Iranian, up until about 18 months ago, she was saying, don't worry about Iran, everybody will tell you how dangerous it is.

But I'll get you a minder to meet you at the Turkish border, stay with you all the way to the Pakistan border and he'll keep you out of trouble.

He'll be someone who's got pulled string and so on.

You won't have problems.

But 18 months ago, she phoned me up and said, just forget it.

Yeah, it's a no.

No.

Yeah.

So.

So by the time those countries open up, I'm going to be probably going to be 18.

I do hope I will, but.

So you might be doing.

You might still be doing it, but it could well be a mobility scooter instead.

Now, if anybody wants to follow you, your Instagram picture page is begrandad and you have a website which is allthews.poloysteps.com yes, yes.

Polar Steps is a sort of public website.

Anybody can post on it.

Yeah.

It's also an app.

So it's an app or a website and all you have to do is go onto the app or go onto the website and look up my name, Christopher Alsop2LS1P.

And it'll show you some of the stuff I've done.

And your Instagram page, you were saying?

You're quite new to this, aren't you?

Oh, I haven't got.

I haven't got a clue.

It's all total mystery to me.

My son started doing this on Tuesday.

Yeah, Last Tuesday.

It's now Monday.

So it's been going for six days.

I can't make head or tail of it.

So he's kind of like my agent.

He tells me what he wants from me, I provide it.

He posts it on Instagram for me.

And then, and then I try to interpret what's going on, but technology is not my strong suit.

I'm, you know, he's 30 years younger than me, five years younger than me.

Me.

And he, he understands this stuff.

But my, My grandchildren, some of whom are, you know, another 25 years younger than him.

Yeah.

Understand it even better.

I mean, they just, they completely fearless.

They'll just sit down with the, with the phone or the computer and figure things out.

After five minutes, I'm throwing the phone.

Well, you can blame him for this because I saw you, you popped up on my feed this morning.

I thought, that looks a.

Interesting.

So I sent a tentative message, little expecting that five hours later we'd be conducting a WhatsApp video call and we'd be recording your backseat driver interview.

So I conclude your son will be happy at the end result.

Currently.

Well, he said, I mean, I don't know.

He says it's been fantastically well supported and received.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know.

This isn't whether this is normal or good or what, but he tells me it's very, very good.

Yeah.

So I suppose I should be pleased that, you know, I didn't do this trip to get attention.

These young tearaway bikers, I often feel like stopping them in the street, you know, and saying, you know, I'll give you a bit of advice that I was once given.

Live your life for yourself, not for an audience.

Yeah.

You know, you drive around making a whole load of noise, getting in people's way.

You let us down.

You make yourself look like an idiot.

No, disempower.

And, yeah, so I, you know, I.

It's.

It's not really part of my nature to live my life for an audience, but, you know, if people are interested, well, then, you know, it's flattering.

But I don't know why.

I'm just a silly old, silly old so and so taking stupid risks.

But, but that's one thing that I do feel quite strongly.

People when they're young take risks.

Yeah.

When they've got so much to lose, they've got their whole life ahead of them and they could end up in a wheelchair or work us by doing stupid things.

What have I got to lose?

I'm 75, you know, I mean, you know, you look, you know, you look at what the future holds.

It's not, it's not terribly, terribly encouraging.

And I'd rather, I'd rather go out.

Well, somebody said on the, on the Instagram thing, I'd rather, you know, rather die on my feet or in my case, on my, on my motorbike than live on my backside or on my knees.

You know, I just stood.

You.

You get one life that, you know, you got to do stuff with and when you retired, you've got an opportunity that other people don't have and to fritter it away.

Watching TV and playing golf and all the things that my friends and contemporaries.

I just don't get it.

They're now.

The guys who did take risks are now extremely risk averse.

Yeah, but what, you know what, why should they be risk averse?

What have they got to lose?

Yeah.

Because it could end to borrow.

When you, you know, when you're behind age.

I am.

Yeah.

So, you know, you wake up with, you know, some, some, some symptoms.

You go to the doctor and she.

He says, well, sorry, sorry, your toast, you know.

Yeah, but it's too late.

On that note, Chris Alsop, it's been a pleasure chatting with you.

That's encouraging.

L. Well, put it.

Let's put it this way.

I met a friend of mine on Saturday who wants to come on the show and he commented, we better be quick.

I said, why?

He said, I have two years of the left.

All right?

So you think you say.

Which exactly sums up exactly what you've just said.

Yeah.

So you never know.

And between 60 and 70, they call it sniper's alley, don't they?

You've managed to, you've managed to pop out the other end.

But once again, Chris, also.

Hey, can I just say one more thing because you.

One of the first questions you, you asked, I didn't really fully get around to fully answering.

You're saying, what's a history of most mice in my family?

I got into motorbikes at the age of 16 and immediately absolutely loved them.

And my father was terrified.

He'd never ridden a motorbike.

He didn't want anything to do with them.

He said to me, look, if you give up all this motorbike nonsense, I will buy your car.

He had a deal.

J2MG Midget.

Yeah.

Beautiful little car.

Paid £75 for it.

It.

Three years later I sold it for £75 and I thought, I've had a result.

I've had three years free motoring.

Yeah.

If I had that car today in.

In decent condition, it'd be 50,000 quid.

Oh, I'm the rest.

And the rest.

I've done the same.

I once sold the jag for the £900 I paid for it and thought I was on a winner.

They're now fetching about 65 to 70,000.

Once again, Chris Alsop, enjoy the rest of your journey.

I can the most.

My journey or my journey through what remains of my life?

Well, both.

Both.

I hope you get to Croatia on time.

I've been to Croatia.

It's a beautiful country.

And enjoy your ride back via Paris, one of my favorite cities.