A MAN from Helensburgh who had a life-changing operation to make his nose "normal" has found the confidence to fulfil his motorcycle dreams.

Ian Arthur had "transformational" surgery two years ago to treat his rhinophyma, a condition that had left him with a "disfiguring nasal deformity".

The former Royal Navy sailor and professional photographer said the condition had made him a recluse because he was "too embarrassed to go out".

However, after the surgery at Glasgow's Ever Clinic, the 65-year-old said he was granted a "new lease of life" and promised himself that he would not waste a minute of it.

Since then, he has embarked on a series of motorcycle adventures in some of the most exotic and dangerous places on earth.

Ian's adventures can be followed on his One Man One Bike blog at www.omob.uk.

Ian has embarked on a journey across the world on his motorbike (Image: Ian Arthur) He has travelled through the deserts, plains, plateaus, and mountains of West Africa, and through the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

He is now planning a trip to the Middle East.

Ian said: "When I travelled on my bike previously, I had a full-face visor because I was so embarrassed by my nose.

"Now, I travel with it up. I do not feel inhibited in any way.

"I can lead a normal life and I am full of confidence.

"It’s amazing, looking back, how something so simple can be so debilitating in terms of self-esteem."

His first big trip after the operation was on his Suzuki V-Strom DL1000 deep into the deserts, plains, plateaus, and mountains of West Africa.

He took a ferry from Ireland to Bilbao, and cruised down through Spain until he took a tumble in the Sierra Nevada mountains and broke his left ankle.

A Spanish hospital put the break in a cast, but wouldn’t let him go until he took a taxi to safe accommodation.

He promised to do so, but "nipped round the corner" and cut the cast off.

Ian added: "Then I biked on to get the ferry from Algeciras to Morocco."

He underwent surgery two years ago to treat his rhinophyma (Image: Ian Arthur) There, he drove through the mountains that separate the coastal country from the desert and into the empty country of Western Sahara and Mauritania.

He said: "There’s not much there but lots of sand, and petrol is scarce, so I had to carry extra supplies.

"I ran through into Senegal and spent Christmas in The Gambia.

"I was going to go on through Guinea-Bissau to the Ivory Coast, but there was a coup in Sierra Leone and they blew up the only petrol refinery, so it was getting difficult.

"And the police were getting twitchy, so I retraced my steps and came home."

In Senegal, he broke his other ankle and had to ask a local chief’s permission to pitch his tent in the tribe’s village.

He rested there for 10 days, enjoying the hospitality of the locals, whom he presented with gifts of whisky on his departure.

"Africans love whisky, I’ve found," he said.

Now he is revving up his motorcycle – he says it sounds like "a Lancaster bomber on its final run" – for a foray this year into the Middle East which, in so many places, is still convulsed by war and rebellion.

He said: "I plan to go over to Norway, then see my son in Stockholm, in Sweden, before taking the ferry to Lithuania and driving down through Poland and Hungary towards Turkey.

Ian plans to go to the Middle East for his next adventure (Image: Ian Arthur) "I want to get to the far south-eastern corner of the country to cross into Iraq, then travel through Saudi Arabia before heading back up home through Jordan."

Ian said he owes his love of adventure to the decision to go to the Ever Clinic for treatment for his condition.

He said: "It put life in perspective for me. Before the procedure, I felt like a freak.

"I was hiding myself away and my world was shrinking to the four walls of my house.

"Now I’m back out in the world and ready to savour everything it has to offer."