Motorcycling through Africa is a fraught business at the best of times as anyone who saw Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor in the TV series Long Way Down will know.

But for Spencer Conway, 42, that was the easy way to do things, with a support vehicle and a film crew.

On November 1 he sets off alone from his home in Biddenden, Kent, to travel more than twice as far, 40,000 kilometres (25,000miles), to the Cape of South Africa via the East Coast and back via the West Coast.

“I first got the idea about ten years ago when I read The Motorcycle Diaries about Che Guevera’s trip through South America, but then my children were too young to leave,” says Conway, who has worked as a teacher of English, a diving instructor and on building projects.

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“I grew up in Africa and have always travelled, so eventually I decided I had to do it just for the challenge. I wanted to do something that went a bit further than Long Way Down. I don’t think anyone’s tried a circumnavigation before. So it’s just me, the bike (Yamaha have provided him with a Tenere developed for the Paris-Dakar rally) a camera, a laptop and a tent.”

Conway will carry essential spares with him and along the route plans to raise £28,000 for Save The Children – that’s £1,000 for every country he plans to visit.

“It seemed appropriate, somehow. I’ve got two girls and I love Africa. I’m going to see some of their projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania along the way.” He has managed to raise more than £12,000 in advance through his website www.africa-bike-adventure.com where he will be posting a diary at least once a week.

He will also be stopping off to visit his brother Simon who lives in Swaziland and has been offered an occasional night at a lodge by the travel company Karell’s African Dream Vacations.

A crew from Diesel Films, making a documentary for the Discovery Channel, will rendezvous with him occasionally. But most of the time – and the trip could take up to a year – it’ll just be a case of camping at the roadside.

“I’m used to adventures, but I’m a bit worried about places like Angola where there are still a lot of landmines lying around,” he says. The main advice is “Never leave the road” although he’s aware there are plenty of places where the road is difficult to find.

The preparation alone has taken a year, sourcing equipment, gathering sponsorship, planning the route and grappling with the bureaucracy. Of the 28 African countries Conway intends to ride through, 18 required visas.

His second stop, Libya, is something of a test. Lone travellers are discouraged, so although he has a visa (dependent on a personal invitation) and has had all necessary documents translated into Arabic, the ministry of tourism has now said he must be escorted along his route to the Egyptian border.

“I don’t think they’ll send a motorbike. They’ll probably follow in a car and check my progress at certain points. I don’t want to spend a lot of time riding with other people. I’m quite a loner really and it is supposed to be a solo trip,” Conway says.

There are other places where simply for the sake of safety an escort may be more welcome.

The town of Moyale on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya has long been a disputed area and there are reports that tourists have been kidnapped on the Kenyan side.

“I’ve been put in touch with a contact who runs a logging company there and he’s going to meet me at the border and convoy me through the danger area,” says Conway.

There are areas where similar problems exist but where such arrangements can’t be made in advance. “There’s always a danger of banditry in the highlands of Ethiopia, but that’s just something you have to live with.

"I’m really not looking forward to the Democratic Republic of Congo on the way back. It’s a dodgy place to travel, but I have to cross it, though I think I may only need to be there for one day,” he says.

“But I don’t want to dwell too much on the negative and violent aspects of the place. I did live in Africa for 20 years and all my experience tells me that most of the people will be friendly and hospitable.”

His partner Cathi and daughters Faya, 12, and Jez, 14, will follow his progress through the website and his parents, Mike and Wendy Conway, in Biddenden will be the main point of contact.

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