“Ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things.”

That’s the mission statement on the website of James Whittle and Tom Caulfield, two motorcycle novices who gave themselves just four weeks to pass their tests from scratch and ride from the UK to the Sahara. The English friends are no strangers to breaking down barriers. Two years ago they left the Canary Islands off Spain in a rowing boat. Just over 50 days, 5,000km and a mid-Atlantic hurricane later, they reached Barbados… and the Tempest Two was born.

“A little bit crazy”

Fired by a new thirst for adventure and a different perspective on life, their next mission impossible began earlier this year and involved a Tiger 800 XRT and XCx and the end goal of riding through Spain to end at a festival in Morocco’s Sahara Desert.

One small hitch, though. Neither had even sat on a motorcycle. And the festival was in four weeks’ time.

Adventures as novices with unreasonably short deadlines is a recurring theme for the pair, whose newest motorcycle mission was “to ride 5,000km in a little over two weeks on a mode of transport completely new to us, in places we have never visited, on fully loaded bikes we had never ridden. First off, we needed to pass our motorbike test in a nine-day window.”

“It might seem a little bit crazy, but the concept worked when we crossed the Atlantic and again when we kayaked through the Swedish archipelago to the summit of Mont Blanc last year,” says James.

“By throwing ourselves at a challenge and backing ourselves, we’ve found we can achieve things many thought impossible.”

“A steep learning curve is a memorable one”

Tom: “We shocked our instructor but he accepted the challenge and we took a direct access course, followed swiftly by the two-module test. The pressure was on, knowing that if we didn’t pass, the trip wouldn’t be possible.

“This kind of pressure makes us perform because things typically find a way of taking as long as you give them, so nine days was our target. The urgency forced the issue and meant we delivered. A steep learning curve is a memorable one.”

“Triumph likes a challenge”

James: “Triumph likes a challenge and supported us with the loan of a road-focused XRT and the XCx, with its upgraded suspension and chassis for a smoother ride off-road. The Tigers were the perfect ride for us, although they seemed large, heavy and slightly daunting to two complete novices.

We were blown away by the incredible ease of handling and superb responsiveness, even when fully loaded.

After a dawn ferry to Bilbao, the friends landed wide-eyed in the heart of Basque Country in northern Spain, where they would discover if the mission they dreamed of was just a pipedream.

“A shock for two rookies”

Tom: “Bilbao was crazy and full of scooters; a bit of a shock for two rookies. Over lunch we planned the next legs of the trip. See, we hadn’t even had time for that. We then headed for the heart of the Rioja wine-making region, Logroño. The road up and over the Cantabria mountain was stunning.

“This trip was always going to be about the people we met on the road. Owners of tapas bars and vineyards welcomed us, so we learned everything about barrelling and bottling. Then we made our way south, via Soria, to what looked like a scene from Game of Thrones in Nuévalos.

“The road we took, the SO-150, was without doubt one of the best we encountered. We spent two hours winding through stunning scenery, towering canyons and derelict villages. We had our first real introduction to high-wind riding and it knocked our confidence slightly, but it kept us on our toes. It seemed ‘if you don’t need to ride in high winds, then don’t’ was the advice we often got.”