Last Update: 19 February 2022
Just five months after passing her motorcycle test this determined woman rider completed a 4500-mile (7242 km) motorbike trek. This return trip from Scotland to Africa Natasha Moss left on 20 September and arrived home, 9 October. Just 17 years old from Kirkton, Dumfries Scotland – she followed in Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Down tyre tracks in her bid to raise funds for Yorkhill children’s hospital after they helped her baby brother smile for the first time. Now aged three, Brother Lennon was born with a cleft lip and needed surgery to repair the hole in his face when he was just six weeks old.
Natasha battled blistering temperatures and driven on some of Europe’s most gruelling roads on a three-week long trip through 15 countries. Accompanied by her father Stuart, 37, who passed his motorcycle driving test on the same day as his daughter in April.
“When he was born he had a cleft lip, which meant he had a hole in his lip that went nearly all the way up to his nose. The hospital did such an amazing job in closing the hole that you can hardly notice where it used to be. I wanted to do something to thank the hospital for what they did for Lennon – and to help other sick children. This trip seemed like the perfect way of doing that”, expresses Natasha.
She got the idea for the trip after watching Ewan McGregor and pal Charley Boorman bike their way from John O’Groats to Cape Town for the TV documentary The Long Way Down. “I don’t know where my love of motorbikes came from but I was desperate to get my license just as soon as I could. I loved the idea of following the same route to Africa as Ewan McGregor. The biggest hurdle was persuading my mum, as she hates motorbikes, but my dad was able to talk her round after he told her he would get his license too and come with me. Some of the roads we have been on have been pretty hard going and the hot weather made every hour of the trip extra exhausting. We have had an amazing time!”, says Natasha
Natasha plans to split the money she raises between Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, Cash for Kids and Children in Need.
