WHEN a one-armed Congolese policeman forced Lois Pryce on to -a train to Brazzaville filled with 40 soldiers, she realised her one-woman motorcycle adventure through Africa might be taking a turn for the worse.

Amazingly this 30-something, feisty, flame-haired babe survived and has written about her motorcycling experiences in Red Tape And White Knuckles, published by Century.

In this fast-paced travelogue she brings the African landscape to life. However, tackling this adventure solo, armed with a baffling array of visas, schoolgirl French and a Portuguese phrasebook means you need balls. And, Lois isn’t exactly a girlie girl. Her dream bike is a Vintage 1978 XC500, “cos I love tinkering with old bikes”.

Her favourite item to carry around is a Leatherman, “great for fixing the boat and the bikes, opening bottles and it’s practical too – there’s mini scissors and file for doing nails!”

Lois set off on her journey in October 2006, leaving her cosy houseboat moored in Uxbridge to ride to Africa on her “unbreakable” Yamaha 250 Trail Bike. Her only comfort, as she left for the unknown, was her husband’s wise words: “You’re never really ready to do a trip like this until you’ve done it.” Her supportive husband is Austin Vince; best known for his long distance adventure motorcycle expeditions (twice round the world) and as one of the consultants for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s Long Way Round trip from London to New York.

The spirit of adventure has always been with Lois. As soon as she passed her cycling test she felt the UK’s roads weren’t for her and headed for the USA – Easy Rider style – from Alaska to South America, writing about her experiences in her first book Lois On The Loose.

“I’ve met some amazing people since taking to the road,” enthuses Lois. “From complete loons to brilliant people. All sorts of nationalities. Not just the locals but other motorcyclists. It never ceases to amaze me about the generosity of strangers. There’s never been any point where I’ve been scared for my personal safety. Except in the Congo Basin.”

Lois visibly shudders as she recounts her tale. “The Congo was the one place that I’ve been in the world where I could say you couldn’t connect on a human level. The way they treat each other. The way they interact. They’ve gone beyond a certain level of civilisation. It’s a place that’s unbelievably rich in resources, but it’s been terribly squandered. And that’s the culture; people just do each other over. You can see it in their eyes. They are just totally dehumanised.

“I had to get the train to Brazzaville because the road was full of blood-thirsty rebels. The policeman relieved me of 70,000 francs and forced me onto a train full of drunk and stoned Congolese soldiers all armed with Klashnikovs and wearing bullet belts. “Nothing ever prepares you for that,” Lois says. “That was the scariest thing that happened in my whole life. I was properly, properly terrified.

“I mean, you can prepare your bike and all your kit; and you can have all your vaccinations and take your malaria tablets. These things you can control but human nature – that’s out of your hands.”

From a riding point of view Africa was tough too. “My American trip was 20,000 miles and Africa was half that, but 10 times harder. When I started in Tunisia and finished in South Africa, there were good tarmac roads, but in between, it’s sand, rocks, mud... madness.

“The highlight of my trip has to be crossing the Sahara. It is just an incredible, exhilarating experience to ride hundreds of miles across nothing but the dessert. Then you come across some giant sand dune the size of a house and you’re just riding up and down it.

“The Sahara is not just sand, there are mountains and gravelly plains and rocky bits. I found a place where it’s all marble; pink, blue, purple... amazing hues. I took a little bit of pink marble back home.”

Lois has just finished filming a DVD for Horizons Unlimited. “They wanted to make one about lone women riding. So they asked me to present and direct it. It’s packed with plenty of action, entertainment and hot tips from adventurous female motorcyclists including Dakar racer Patsy Quick and Elspeth Beard, the first British woman to ride around the world. It’s due out in early 2009. And it’s not just for the ladies though, there's loads of great stuff on it for the boys including lots of hot chicks on bikes – what more could you want?

She adds: “I’m totally into encouraging women on to bikes. It’s a fantastic way to travel. I mean compared to a car or a bus you’re right out in the elements.

“In some ways it’s bad and you get rained on or you get sand in your eyes. But in other ways you can smell, feel, taste everything. You see a butterfly flying around and then it will brush your face as it flutters by. Amazing.

“My only problem was at check-points. When men with guns come up to you; you can’t hide away in a car, you are totally open to anything. Sometimes you’re cursing that aspect of it but really it’s a great way to travel because you’re right out there, right in the middle of everything.

“Next summer, Austin and I are going to ride to India,” she says. “It will be interesting going to a lot of Muslim countries including Iran and Pakistan. He wants to go to Afghanistan as well. It’ll be pretty scary... I think I might have to wear a burkha under my helmet.”