Spoke & Stringer Hosts Global Motorcyclist, Jacqui Furneaux
"Look - they're getting out!"
As soon as we pulled the leeches off and deposited them in the toilet (not knowing what else to do with them) they emerged over the rim heading towards us more quickly than I'd imagined a leech could move. Some of the black slug-like creatures were already bloated with our blood, others wanted to be. It was like a horror film.
I'd encountered a leech a couple of years before when backpacking in Laos, and had pulled it off my arm so I knew they weren't dangerous. In fact I knew them to have a long and noble history in medicine, relieving people considered to have an excess of blood. Besides, I'd been brought up to wonder at nature, not to be revolted by it. So our horror film turned to comedy as we laughed at each other and the bloody state we were in.
We weren't on a dangerous mission in deepest Africa but just back from a walk only a kilometre from the road we'd married on the day before, the latest stop during our meandering motorcycle ride round India. It was 24th June 2000, not that the time or the date mattered to me. I had six whole gloriously unplanned months on my visa...
- Hit the Road Jac!, Jacqui Furneaux
Aged almost fifty and looking to break away from the conventional life she knew, former nurse Jacqui Furneaux took escapism to new heights by taking the extraordinary decision to set out on a global adventure.
Whilst on the road in India, Jacqui rediscovered her passion for motorcycling and for her 50th birthday she decided to buy her own 500cc Enfield Bullet motorbike. With a growing addiction for her new life of freedom, over the next seven years Jacqui rode through no less than twenty countries, encountering an explosion of new cultures, scenery and people.
Now living back in the UK, Jacqui's journey of self-discovery has inspired her to put pen to paper to write a book, 'Hit the Road, Jac!'
Jacqui's stories encompass true Ride Culture, an integral part of the Spoke & Stringer philosophy, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to welcome Jacqui and her Enfield motorbike to S&S on Tuesday 24th April for an evening of illustrated stories, street food (included in ticket price!), Q&A and the chance to buy Jacqui's book, 'Hit the Road, Jack'.
If you'd like to hear more of Jacqui's incredible stories, tickets are now available for £6pp via Eventbrite: https://jacquifurneaux_spokeandstringer.eventbrite.co.uk
See you there!
S&S
