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Ted Simon, what a guy. Having read Jupiter’s Travels, one of the inspirations for Long Way Round, a while ago I was eager to grab Dreaming Of Jupiter albeit a few years after it had first come out. Indeed I had never even heard of the original book until Charley and Ewan mentioned it while featuring Ted in Ulan Bator. Round the world on a Triumph in the 70’s for the original book, the follow up is a second take on the world on a BMW at the turn of the millennium and all without a flashy entourage…

I had picked the original Jupiter’s Travels book up after a recommendation from a Norton riding friend and didn’t put it down until I had finished it. I was struggling with Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance at the time, that could be another post…!

In the modern world of the BMW GS1200 with all the trimmings, camera crews and satellite ‘phones it all seems so easy to conquer the world. Almost every corner of the globe has been trodden now and true wilderness and adventure is hard to find. Ted had none of this in October 1973 when he left to conquer 63,000 miles and 45 countries over 44 months. In January 2001, with German engineering instead of British, he did it again. The subject of the second book, Dreaming Of Jupiter. This time 59,000 miles through 47 countries over 29 months.

If you like motorbikes or travel, or even both you can’t fail to be disappointed.

I won’t harp on. Buy the books. Visit the Website. Dream the dream. Ted also announces his upcoming location at various venues throughout the world on his website so keep a close eye out and there are opportunities to order signed books and his DVD of Dreaming Of Jupiter also.

‘The future is not what it used to be’

One of the most magical and mysterious types of cloud is starting to appear across the UK, and may be seen over the coming weeks. Noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds hover on the edge of space, about 80km above the surface of the Earth in the mesosphere. They are the highest of clouds and can be observed in northern latitudes on summer nights.

In such latitudes, beyond 45 degrees North, for about 1 month before and after the summer solstice, the clouds are illuminated by the Sun owing to their height in the atmosphere while the observer on the surface of the Earth is in darkness. Around midnight and looking west, noctilucent clouds have a characteristic bluish silver-white colour.

It is puzzling that in theory these clouds should not exist, the mesosphere is extremely dry and with so little moisture it would seem implausible that these clouds could even form. Often muted is the increase in methane pollution in the upper atmosphere leading to the increased frequency of this phenonmenon. Some would have you believe they are a thermometer for climate change.