Itchy Boots - The Female Solo Rider

- Originally Written by SUNIL JOSHAN

Noraly Schoenmaker ( Pc: Andrew Walkinshaw)

On a sunny day, an invisible conversation was happening like “Hello..you …young lady..” a voice from ground i.e. The Earth and then Normally settled on her bike while adjusting her gloves she replied with a smile by looking at the ground “It’s you..great..yeah..tell me blue brother” and then earth questioned “You seem to be well prepared..to explore me ..right?” and she kept the key, the engine got turned on and replied “yes..blue brother…Basanti (her bike) is always ready...Let’s start our relationship”…she adjusted her helmet, gripped her handlebars, and moved on.

Ladakh, INDIA

Before starting her solo trip around the world and hitting the roads on her bike, this 30 yrs old young lady, even traveled around the world for 2 years, again worked for another 5 years at Holland and when she earned enough money after that she decided to fulfill her dream i.e. full time travel around the world on a motorbike. Yes, it was all started then itself by quitting her job and selling her valuable stuff. Later, she moved to India, before starting her first world expedition, spent a certain period of time in India, during which she explored places like Ladakh, Jammu, and the Himalayas with the help of a rented Royal Enfield Himalayan bike for 3 weeks, covering 3000 km.

After a purchasing white color Royal Enfield “The Himalayan" in India, she had waited for certain period to get all those formalities to be done like vehicle registration papers, license certificates and it’s inevitable to mention that during the process of getting a mandatory document called “ Carnet de passage” for her motorcycle in India, where she faced an unforgettable worst experience with a useless immoral person who said to be some official authority but actually not even a human, who filled his pockets with a stack of money as a bribe..”It has happened really” and along with modifying the bike with necessary alterations that fit with her baggage, camera setup, two fuel cans, etc. but during that period she even went through certain practical lessons at local mechanic shops in Delhi on a daily basis to learn about DIY skills of bike repairing, replacing punctured tyres, etc that could help her in case of any emergency during the solo trip.

Around the second half of November 2018, with her own new modified Himalayan bike named “Basanti”, on day 1 she started her first solo world trip from Delhi to Mathura… Let's Go. While exploring different places and hitting all sorts of roads with her bike, she definitely would love to show you some beautiful views, adorable sceneries through her HD cameras, Drone equipment, GoPro camera setups, and those images would absolutely bind you. Believe Me, even I had felt.

Let’s move with Itchy Boots
Through South-east Asian countries, Middle-east countries and other: (SEASON 1)

On her way, a holy cow

As part of the travel expedition of season-1, she started her solo ride from India and covered certain local places that even includes attending special places like prominent Buddhist sites in the world “Mahabodhi temple” and precious “Ganga Aarti” in holy Varanasi also. And by leaving the heavily polluted Delhi, then her Basanti traveled to the areas of hill station Darjeeling, Sikkim, and enjoyed the essence of fresh air filled mountains “Really awesome place” she felt. While reaching her last ride in India, she got enjoyed, explored, and experienced with some beautiful tea estates, some dusty Nagaland roadways on the border, some edgy crack roads, some kind people, etc.

After saying goodbye to Indian roads, she traveled to the areas of Myanmar, Thailand where she met with giant elephants on roads and crossed into Malaysia there itself she completed her 10,000km solo trip with her Basanti and she gave genuine reviews on her youtube channel too. After exploring some Malaysian tourist spots, she crated her bike in cargo and traveled to Oman via plane. Again she started hitting those roads that were alongside deserted island and later she entered into Iran. As part of her solo travel, she used to meet with new people every day and even she likes that kind of interaction with locals and those people were kind to her. As we think that, when we are in a new place it might be unsafe to travel alone or sometimes we might suggest ourselves that we should not move with strangers …actually these are valid to a certain extent but everyone is human like you and the only thing we should do is to greet them with a pure-hearted smile which is Noraly Schoenmaker used to do at everyone.

As her followers, we do like her positive smile very much.

While traveling through Iran, she had felt it as “The hottest place on earth” and even she got helped by Iranian locals when her Basanti got broke down while riding a steep hill area. After getting minor repairs, again she conveyed her sincere thanks to those assisted locals and continued her solo ride. And after crossing UAE, Abu Dhabi, Dubai she entered into Turkmenistan where accommodated at a place which was nearer to “The Gateway of Hell” which is still renowned wonder that’s famous it's perpetual burning with fire since 1971 and a solid reason behind that too and when she saw that during the time, said “It’s just awesome..I didn’t saw this kind of wonder in my whole life” ….Yes, she’s absolutely right.

"Gateway of Hell" - a beautiful night view.

And her Basanti’s wheels traveled over historical monuments of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan where her eyes got mesmerized with the views of beautiful white mountains, and at the same time, she rode her bike at High altitude along with muddy tough roads. While traveling alongside the Afghanistan border, she came across beautiful mountains combined with sunny weather and crossed Wakhan valley too.

On the way to Afghanistan, Greeting the kids who were playing.

And after entering Kyrgyzstan, her roadway filled with snow and at one local shop and tasted some local food items “of course, she didn’t like it and denied it with a smile” but she made some beautiful memories after interacting with those local kids and did some photoshoot for them.

Pasting her "Itchy Boots" sticker at the Petrol station.

Here, we can learn that in order to avoid that lonely feeling while having a solo trip, we should bring some funny space in her ride by interacting with kids and casual conversation with locals …”That’s’ an interesting therapy for riders”.

For another few days, her Basanti came across Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria. While riding these countries, she much enjoyed those roads of Georgia, warmly welcomed by the kindness of people from Armenian and she got overwhelmed by their hospitality and she got a chance to meet with other riders unexpectedly but enjoyed their company too.

This solo rider Noraly, from past 6 to 7 months she was traveling over various places with her bike Basanti and till now i.e. August 2019, even though she was doing this out of her passion but I think at some point of time she might definitely have thought of missing her family and other cousins. But, she did her solo trip with a piece of excitement on every single day that we could see on her travel videos where we can notice that she’s making a positive & comfortable conversation with people at restaurants, hostels, petrol stations and sometimes with officials at border checking points even security personnel were greeting her back with respect and saying Hello to people on her way.

By the end of this season, she had completed her 36000 km bike ride with Basanti and you can see her review also on her youtube channel. We can observe that she was very clear about her daily road trip that we can see while showing her route map and definitely every day won’t be the same with respect to weather, roads and border crossing formalities but she used to enjoy everything that we can see mainly in her videos.

Through countries covering in between Patagonia and Alaska:

(SEASON 2)

Again during October 2019 beginning, she started her solo riding adventure that covers from Patagonia to Alaska. And for this time, she bought another new bike of the same brand Himalayan, named it Dhanno, and it was completely customized and had a killer look in its black color. (new image to add). With her crated bike Dhanno reached the UK via a ship and from there again she crated her Dhanno with an expert and took the flight to the cosmopolitan capital city called Buenos Aires (capital of Argentina).

On her own, Replacing her bike's back tyre when it got punctured.

After entering into Argentina, on the first day actually, she felt “Wow what a day“and of course that includes while riding on some routes, her Dhanno faced a few muddy roads which were too slippery ‘coz of that even Dhanno got down unexpectedly but “Noraly laughed for that moment”. As we read that Noraly had gone through some bike-related repairing lessons and now those were really well appreciated when she replaced her punctured back tyre of Dhanno…”Ýes.. she did that on her own” of course it took more than 2 hrs to do it but she did that without any disappointment/frustration even though she left alone in her surroundings without anyone on her way.

.” You can witness in her video” and as part of her riding, she had some exciting time at Pigeon Mountain & she captured a few drone shots of Ruta Provincial that you can find below.

Gate with 12 dead foxes tied to it (Jaramillo, Argentina)

While traveling, she always ensures her fuel that’s why where it’s possible then she would like to look after her main vehicle’s fuel tank along with her two fuel cans attached to both sides of Dhanno’s front side.“You should be aware of this kind of arrangement while riding for long trips”

Filling to extra fuel cans of her bike

When she entered Chile, as part of her travel expedition she visited Torres del Paine national park which was encompassed with beautiful mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. Later, on her next stop, she might have felt that to view those nearby mountains while riding a horse that’s why she picked up a horse along with another person and enjoyed it in Patagonia. And here’s best unique memory was happened to her that she rode her Dhanno on an active volcano..”Yes, it’s True..even she enjoyed that incredible view” that Llaima volcano, which was completely filled with ash, was located in Conguillio National Park in Chile and that volcano is nearer to Laguna Verde (a salt lake in Chile).

Document verification with the security person

Being a woman, she was posed with one similar question “Are you riding alone ?..” she replied back with a warm smile “ Yes…”.She used to listen to these kinds of questions almost every day from locals and sometimes from security/documents verification personnel at the border crossing.

And we could find many reasons to “How she could interact with new people/locals without any doubt by being alone..Belief matters here” Or “Almost everyone is so good at her..How could this could be possible” at these questions, I can say that “God looking after everything” even though she was traveling alone in completely new places but when somebody is in need of any help that could do then she’s stopping her Dhanno and responding “Do you need any help ?”…Yes all these things were getting reflected back in her way as goodness and kindness.

Offering help to locals on her way.

While riding from El Penon to the place “Campo de Piedra pomez” in Argentina, almost her journey was little tough since they were completely corrugated roads and she reached “Cono de Arita” (large salt flat of the Andes in north-western Argentina) but she managed to pull out of them with her Dhanno..” might be an Inbuilt Power of Himalayan” even many people including locals and other riders got impressed with the apparent style of RE- The Himalayan, even I do like that. As part of her expedition, she explored the area around “San Pedro de Atacama” in Chile and those pools in Atacama desert are so salty that’s why your body can float easily.

Later, she entered into Bolivia where she captured some best drone shots of beautiful white places and felt thrilled while riding at a high altitude of 4600 meters via “Ruta de las Lagunas”…you know what she lost actually at this altitude 'because of poor navigation network caused due to bad weather but the jaw-dropping experience of eye-catching view of the surrounded area.

At salt roads

Later she rode her Dhanno to the place “Potosi” in Bolivia –the road is paved well. And she went on speechless and surprised by the reality that people who do work in mines are really risking their daily life with unbearable working conditions.

Meeting other riders on her way

This is what she realized when managed to visit the silver mines in Potosi and the mine “Carcacoles” is at 4400 meters altitude and came to know that workers work for 8-10 hrs on daily basis but she felt inside of mine as atrocious, of course, she stayed inside for 2 hrs only. When she traveled to Maragua, she enjoyed the exciting view of “Maragua Valley”.

Now, she visited the place of a tiny village called La Higuera in the jungle of Bolivia, where the well renowned revolutionary Mr. Che Guevera was executed i.e. shot him at a school by US army-backed Bolivian forces. While speaking with a local elder lady, she showed Che Guevera clothes when he died..They were still hanging in the same school which turned into a small museum now.

Having Lunch in Maragua

A quote was written on a statue in Bolivia:
“Tu ejemplo alumbra un Nuevo Amanecer“ in Spanish
but it's meaning in English “Your Example illuminates new dawn".
This is True...

Everywhere, Che Guevera in Bolivia

In Bolivia - a place where Che Guevera got executed.

In the middle of March 2019, every country was in midst of coronavirus awareness and planning to close their borders to combat that unexpected COVID-19 outbreak, so Noraly decided to Bolivia at the earliest and she moved to Peru where she had intentionally go through a COVID-19 checkup at the border.

In Peru, she accommodated for few days, then she visited an island called Taquile (situated on lake Titicaca in Peru) but since the situation becomes worse in Peru & around the world which was uncertain and then she decided to leave her Dhanno in a safe place in Peru itself and moved to her native place via a flight with relentless and most awaited efforts of her country’s embassy in Peru.

She reached her home & stayed safe now.

Again an invisible interesting conversation:

“Hello…Noraly …come out buddy once” called by her forever companion ..then Noraly stood at her open window and replied “who’s this..calling me buddy”..her companion replied in an amicable manner “Hey... I am your blue brother..” then Noraly chilled with a light smile and answered “Tell me, man..You know that I had stopped my journey..I am staying at home ...of course everyone”…her companion replied “Yeah..that’s okay buddy...even I am healing now since every human is stopped their selfish works..anyhow..we will meet after lockdown then I will be looking even more beautiful with pure air, healthy environment..ok bye..”..Noraly kept in her thoughts for few seconds & said, “Okay..relax Blue brother”...She closed her window.

Till now we traveled with Itchy Boots, Noraly is really amazing in involving people like me who are damn passionate about solo long riding and we often see the real beauty of our bike not when it is newly purchased but we do feel happy when it really became rough with dusty filled bags, rugged tyres that look like a wild horse.

Dhanno - looks stylish with mud & dirt.

Every video of Itchy boots would start with her smile and end with some collected memories and in between, you will witness her unique way of traveling, capturing beautiful drone shots, practical experience of border crossing, etc. in her youtube channel “Itchy Boots”.

Please do appreciate her work by visiting her website www.itchyboots.com where you can even access to know about “Gear & Equipment information” and “Modifications of her Motorbike” and you can purchase related stuff.

I am writing this content only out of my interest, conveying sincere thanks for entertaining all her followers with exciting stuff and forever supporting her solo riding.

Credit for pictures: Ms. Noraly Schoenmaker (Itchy Boots).

Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook: Itchy Boots.