AFTER a life spent under water, the submarine officer wanted to see the world from a different perspective.

So Sam Newbound sold his house in Daisy Hill for £68,000, grabbed a couple of motorbikes and told his wife, Monica, they were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime.

The 40-year-old had been in the Royal Navy for 24 years and said he was looking for "greater inspiration".

The couple now plan to visit 110 countries on a mammoth motorbike scramble across the globe.

In fact, their £40,000 trip has been the result of two years of dreaming and 14 months of planning.

And once they have completed their journey -- for which they have set no timetable -- they will have broken two world records.

They hope to become the first couple to ride a motorbike for more than 60,000 miles.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Czech-born Monica is set to break the record for visiting the most countries by a woman on a motorbike -- the current record is 109.

During their epic journey, they will have travelled from Europe to the east coast of Asia, from coast-to-coast in America, from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina, from South Africa to North Africa, round the Arctic Circle and back again.

"It's going to be some journey," Sam said. "We are just going to keep going until we break the world records.

"The beauty of the trip is that we can't be homesick because we don't have a home now.

"Once we have completed the journey, we will look at all of the places we have been to and decide where we want to settle."

Monica was given a bike by German giants BMW and the pair have been sponsored by other major companies.

The have a back-up plan of alternative routes to cover problems such as bad weather or political flare-ups.

Money raised from the trip will go to Booth Hall Children's Hospital in Manchester.