Jill Halfpenny has won Strictly Come Dancing, starred in Eastenders, Coronation Street and the stage musical Legally Blonde, and now she’s got an exciting new role as motorcyclist, riding her Moto Guzzi Griso V7 Classic.
“I was already a scooter rider,” said the Olivier-award winning actress. “I found it such a useful way to get through the city traffic and so much cheaper. My boyfriend rides bikes and I’d always fancied giving it a go but wasn’t really sure how to go about it. I think as a girl getting into biking can be a bit intimidating.”
But Halfpenny took up the Get On Africa challenge, and joined four other celebrities to spend a week in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa, working with charity Riders for Health to deliver antiretroviral drugs. After doing both on and off-road training, she joined England cricket hero Darren Gough, TV presenter Gethin Jones and Coronation Street stars Shobna Gulati and Oliver Mellor on the expedition, which fuelled her passion to continue riding when back in the UK.
“As soon as I tried riding a geared bike I knew that riding a motorbike was something I wanted to do long term. Going to Lesotho was a once in a lifetime experience, but one of best things to come out of it is becoming a fully-fledged biker. There are few feelings which beat the thrill of being out on a bike and on top of that it’s so much more practical in a city than a car or public transport.”
We can’t offer you an audition for Eastenders or Corrie, or a place on Strictly Come Dancing, but we can offer you a Free Motorcycle Ride like the one Jill Halfpenny did. Just enter your details on the left, and we’ll link you up with a motorcycle training centre near you. They’ll lend you the helmet and safety kit, and have you rolling before you can say, “I liked her in Waterloo Road.”
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