AN EARBY businessman is gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip crossing South Asia on a motorbike.

Simon Law, 44, a director of Holiday Cottages Group, will fly out to Bangkok later this month to start a 3,000-mile trip through Thailand, Myanamar, Laos, and Cambodia, in memory of his mother.

Simon will be joined on the trip by his brother-in-law Chris Morris, 38, with the aim of raising as much money as possible for the hospice which nursed Simon’s mother, Beryl, during her final days battling cancer.

The pair will be using off-road motorbikes and be stopping at boarding houses, and hostels. They also hope local residents will put them up for some nights during the six-week trip.

Simon said: “A year ago at Christmas, my mother died after a heinous year of suffering liver cancer with associated complications from brain tumours. Throughout this very tough last bed-ridden year of her life, Ma never failed to be loving and positive, and about 20 weekends were spent commuting 300 miles helping out before she died.

“This inspired me to be proactive about living my own life absolutely to the full and doing something meaningful for the charitable nursing hospice she died at.”

The trip will take the pair off the beaten track, through arid plains, over mountain ranges, along mud tracks and highways, through jungle- like terrain, forest tracks, on a boat down the Mekong river, and through countless remote villages, as well as huge cities such as Bangkok.

They hope to raise £15,000 for both Severn Hospice, in Shrewsbury, and Christel House, a charity dedicated to breaking the cycle of child poverty around the world.

Simon, who lives in Harrogate, said: “I have never done anything like this before. I have been riding motorbikes since 1989, but never in terrains as challenging as the ones we will be facing.

“We have a rough idea of where we will be going, but have not planned the route in detail, so we could visit where we fancied. It makes it all the more exciting.

“We have bought two Aprilia 650cc Trailies and accessorised them, had multiple vaccinations, booked flights and have had to get the equivalent of a passport for our bikes.”

Anyone who would like to support Simon can donate at justgiving.com/asianwayround2