Nottingham clergyman sets off on 7,000 Sahara trek via motorbike

A motorbike mad clergyman from Nottingham will set out on a 7,000 mile trek across the Sahara this January. The Revd Dr Howard Worsley, Director of Education for the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham, will embark on the epic journey as part of a three month ‘sabbatical’ from his post overseeing education, schools and work with children and young people across the county.

He said: “I am travelling because I love to do so, especially when the rest of life is so busy. Mauritania has been the focus of my prayerful interest since 1980…it is one of the world’s poorest and least accessible countries. I have a sense that being alone will enable me to meet with God on the edges of the world.”

Howard will be making the trek on a BMW GS 650 Dakar bike, especially designed for the desert with high ground clearance, slim front wheel, high exhausts and an enlarged fuel tank – with a range of about 500 miles across sand.

The biggest dangers in the trip will be finding fuel and water and ensuring accurate map reading. Howard explained: “At times the route is simply soft sand and at other times washboard (rutted tracks). When I come to places where there is no petrol or water for 5-600 miles, I will wait for other traffic to accompany me.” The longest stretch without fuel or water is from Daklha to Nouadhibou and on to Nouakchott. From Dakhla a convoy needs to conduct travellers due to dangers of minefields and the possibilities of getting lost.

Howard will leave for the trip on New Year’s day ( 1st January 2007), travelling across Europe and into North Africa via Gibraltar. He plans to travel through Morocco and into Mauritania. In preparation for the trip Howard has practised riding a motorbike in desert terrain in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. He is already a seasoned outdoor enthusiast, regularly camping out in the wild and taking part in cycling and canoeing expeditions.

He has the encouragement of his family for the trip, including his wife Ruth (an inner-city vicar) and their three sons. He has also received sponsorship from Pidocks (BMW) Motorcycle dealers and the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham. The trip is expected to take up to three months.

Howard is convinced he must embark on the trip, despite the dangers, he said: “I believe that I will be by God in the desert…as was the case for desert fathers in the early church. It is when you are stripped away of your status, your normal identity, your comforts, that you begin to encounter what is real. I need to embrace God again in a deep way, in a way I once did as a child.”

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