TWO people, four years, 64 countries, 100,000 miles – and one motorbike. This is the incredible journey of two doctors from Lytchett Matravers, now retold in a new book.

Author Pat Garrod together with his wife Vanessa Lewis – whom he proposed to and married en route – travelled around the globe on a massive BMW motorbike named The Bear.

Fully laden – complete with a fuel tank capable of taking them 650 miles between fill-ups – it weighed in at almost a quarter of a ton.

Now, some eight years on, Bearback – the story of their adventures together – is hitting he shelves.

The meandering line etching its way across a map of the world on the first pages makes clear the scale of the journey, which took in Europe, Africa, south, central and north America, Australia and Asia and the Middle East.

On the way they were robbed, shot at and escaped several potentially disastrous falls and accidents.

But it is the kindness they received, even in the most far-flung places, that they remember best.

Strangers help source replacement parts for their bikes. In remote villages children would run up to them and offer them water. They were invited into homes to break bread with families.

“Our overall impression was of how fantastic humanity and people were. They always wanted to help,” said Pat.

The journey was a long-held dream, especially for Pat, and the couple saved for 10 years to afford it.

Their wanderlust has also seen them ride around Africa four times.

Pat explained the attraction: “You can travel 650 miles, you have a week’s worth of food, as much water as you can carry – it’s freedom on a scale that’s difficult to get across when you’re sitting back here – it’s totally different freedom.”

“When you’re out on the road your number one priority is water, number two is fuel really – life is a lot simpler,” added Vanessa.

“The challenge is a huge part of it,” said Pat. “That’s what kept us going because there are bad times. There’s times you wish you were home with your mates having a beer – but there was nothing going to stop us, apart from a really bad accident, from completing this journey all the way round the world.”

He added: “As much as I love seeing different cultures and people – for me it’s the geography, the places. The Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina, or being in the Namib Desert in Namibia – it’s incredible. It’s the kind of loneliness – the empty skies, the vast horizons – and us just camping out in the middle of it.”

What next for this adventuring pair of GPs?

“We’ve seen more than most – but you can never see it all”, said Pat. “There will definitely be more trips.”

Bearback: The World Overland is being launched at a book signing at Waterstones, Poole, on Thursday December 16 from 4pm to 9pm and at Waterstones, Dorchester, on Wednesday December 15 from 11am to 2pm.