Should we all be looking forward to gap years post-retirement?
I thought that the best years of life were meant to be your twenties, but not according to Sharyn Tailyour.
With no plan, only two wheels, one set of spare clothes and a toothbrush, 66-year-old Sharyn Tailyour set off with her husband Nigel on an epic 34000 Kilometre motorbike adventure taking them from Argentina to Alaska, even accidentally conquering the most dangerous road in Colombia.
This couple are not your average pensioners.
Sharyn lives in an unusual, wooden stilt house overlooking the beautiful reaches of Chichester Harbour, a stark contrast to her life as a pillion rider on a BMW 1200 GS motorbike travelling the wildest roads of the Americas.
“Tea? Coffee?” Sharyn welcomes me inside, in typical British fashion.
Sitting opposite her in her neat kitchen, it’s hard to believe that this well presented, striking women has travelled all over the world on two wheels with her 69-year-old husband.
The adventures began after the couple attended an event organised by Horizons Unlimited, an organisation that unites world travellers to share their experiences and give advice on overland adventure travel.
“We heard two ladies talk about how they travelled to the Nordkapp which is right at the top of Norway. You get to the Arctic Circle and it still takes another week of riding to get there,” Sharyn tells me.
This was a light bulb moment. “We thought, well we can do that too.” So they followed the two ladies’ tyre tracks and embarked on their first adventure.
Inspired by that trip they then started thinking bigger and rode to the bottom of Morocco, as far south as you can possibly go without a visa. And the adventure has never stopped.
In 2014 they rode across Russia and circumnavigated the globe. Their most recent feat was a journey last year from the east coast of Brazil to the bottom of Argentina and then all the way up to the top of Alaska.
“We had always said we would do the Pan-American highway and we thought, well if we’re going to do it we’d better get on with it because we aren’t getting any younger.”
When I ask her what her friends think about their travels she laughs and says: “They think we’re quite bonkers and some of that’s related to age I suppose. Everybody says oh you’re so brave but to me, it’s not brave at all.”
It’s hard to imagine this graceful woman living out of only a motorbike pannier the size of a shopping basket, camping in extreme weather conditions and staying in youth hostels. “We were about double the average age of most of the inhabitants,” calls out Nigel with a grin while he makes us coffee.
Sharyn’s manner is light-hearted and down-to-earth and she has a warmness to her, which may be why so many people offered to help them on their way.
“I think that we are ingrained to mistrust people which makes us miss out on so many amazing opportunities of seeing exactly how people live. I do think that your survival instinct actually kicks in and you know when something is really not right.”
When discussing the perils of her travels she tells me about the time that they accidentally ended up on the most dangerous road in Colombia which is known as the ‘Trampoline of the Devil’ or ‘Adios Mi Vida’ (Goodbye My Life).“It’s the most bonkers road ever.” The notoriously deadly road with over 100 hairpin bends stretches over 40 miles between Mocoa and San Francisco crossing the Andes and it is rumoured that in 2011 alone it was responsible for over 500 deaths. “It was pretty hideous, muddy, rocky and there were no barriers at the side. It was so narrow and there were waterfalls coming down which were going across the road and it was getting dark. That was a bit spooky.”
Despite going on so many motorbiking adventures, Sharyn has never actually learnt to ride herself. “I should have learnt when I was younger but I’m happy to be the passenger.”
While stereotypically retirees go on a cruise and leave the backpacking to teenagers on gap years, retirement adventures are becoming increasingly popular as travel becomes more accessible to every generation. “It’s easy nowadays with Skype because you can keep in contact with friends and family so it’s not like you’re out of contact for six months which is a whole different ball game.”
As she talks, Sharyn seems to get progressively more animated as she relives her crazy experiences and it is clear to see her desire to explore and live her life to the fullest. “It gives you a whole different perspective. When you come back you hear that people are worried about stuff that you had never even dreamed of worrying about. It’s quite selfish I suppose.”
I wonder what the future will hold for this part-time senior nomad. “I think we will always travel,” she laughs, “but this year is going to be our gap year. Our gap year from adventure.”
They've taken on the Sahara Desert and Chernobyl, now Rotary member Nigel Tailyour and wife Sharyn who completed an amazing 20,000-mile motorbike journey from Argentina to Alaska along the Pan-American Highway.https://t.co/sZykMKsJ9b pic.twitter.com/Cga8bkdsRN
— Rotary GB & Ireland (@RotaryGBI) December 12, 2017
See Sharyn and Nigel’s blog
See Sharyn and Nigel’s video of their adventure:
Dreaming from Nigel Tailyour on Vimeo.
Share this with your travel partner.