Honda CG125 riding duo from the UK reach South Africa on round the world tour

A daring pair of motorcycle travellers have completed the first significant leg of their planned round the world trip, riding two Honda CG125s from the UK to South Africa via Africa’s west coast.

After leaving their UK home in December of last year, Tom Gould and Lauren Board, then aged 31 and 27 respectively, embarked upon what would become a six-month, 16,757-mile journey down the continent through 22 countries.

“The bikes are the stars, they are so resilient though we’ve snapped the luggage racks a few times and the grab rails they mount too,” Gould told MCN from South Africa. “I also have a Yamaha rear wheel now after the hub casting broke where the sprocket mounts.

“It lasted 800km with my haphazard zip tie repair though!” he continued. “They are definitely showing the additional miles and need some TLC to be ready for the next stage.”

Taking to social media, the pair wrote: “We have crossed deserts, mountain ranges, ridden through tropical storms, snow, sand, mud, gravel and everything in between.

“Right now, we are taking time to rest, we’ll rebuild the bikes to be world conquering, before setting off to head up the East of Africa, and continue this journey around the world.”

According to Tom, the plan is now to explore South Africa for a couple of months, before heading up the east of Africa to Kenya. From there, they’ll ship the bikes to India and continue on their adventure. They’d also like to ride from South America to North America, too.

Lauren added: “When we left for the trip I expected it to be less safe and feel more difficult, however the challenges weren’t the safety. It was more finding good quality food without questionable origin as well as water and accommodation.”

You can keep up to date with the adventure and support their travels by following ilike_motorbikes and sunset_seeker11 on Instagram. The Honda CG125 also stars in our recently updated buying guide to the best 125cc motorbikes.