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Novice adventure rider Will Fennell took on the infamous French Line and the Corner country with fellow riders from the SA BMW GS Riders group.When rain called an early end to proceedings he and his riding mates didn’t hesitate to head back out and finish the ride as soon as the opportunity was there.

- Will Fennell

I was about two-thirds of the way up a seemingly innocuous dune when suddenly I lost  momentum, dug the front in and abandoned ship. The bike was laid over facing diagonally across the dune with the seat downhill and there was no chance of picking it up where it lay. The silver belly of the skidplate lay glistening in the afternoon sun and sweat began to bead from my every pore. I contemplated what it might mean for the rest of the group if the dunes of the infamous French Line had finally begun to get the better of me.

First step

My journey to the Simpson started 12 months earlier on the 2016 BMW Safari Enduro from Streaky Bay to Broken Hill.

I was an absolute novice on a bike then, but with a lot of encouragement from others on the ride I made it to Broken Hill in one piece. More importantly though, the BMW event gave me the opportunity to meet a group of fellow GS riders from South Australia: Brett Allison,Stephen ‘Harry’ Harris, Steve Trestrail and James Powell. After the Enduro we started the ‘SA BMW GS Riders’ Facebook group and less than a year later found ourselves on the adventure of a lifetime, crossing the Simpson Desert.

The crew