I’ve thought long and hard about why I feel the need to entomb my thoughts and pictures between some book board. Over the next few posts I’ll be talking about some of this thought process and why, at a time when photographs seem more disposable than ever, I think I’ve got something important to say with them. In the world of trans-continental bicycle travel my ride was not particularly significant. Many thousands of people have […]
I can barely believe it, but it’s been over three years since I finished my bike ride. Long enough for my life to have taken many twists and turns and for it to be becoming increasingly difficult to remember those loose-footed days on the road. All the while this blog has been neglected, but as I’ve got a bit more time on my hands at the moment I’d like to conclude things properly. So I’m […]
15 months of cycling, people, places, cultures, encounters, indescribable highs, soul destroying lows, feelings of boredom, love, frustration and passion all compressed into a single moment. When I look down through my scratched sunglasses, held together with more superglue than anything else, the tarmac slips past at that familiar pace and I could be anywhere; cycling off into Turkey on those first confusing days, bewildered in a big empty Central Asian desert, having a small […]
Cycle, breathe, listen, look about, think a little, then stop, get off, have a snack, maybe a chat, get back on and repeat. It’s the life rhythm which engulfs anyone who travels for long distances on a bicycle. It’s a gloriously simple, wonderfully self-indulgent and a purely escapist way to live. For the most part we do nothing of any great significance, but as my travels begin to near their end I think more and […]
Continuing on from the last post here’s the next episode from Laos. Daniel and I waved goodbye to Stephane in Vientiane where he crossed over to Thailand chasing a deadline in Java. We renewed our visas and then continued along the scenic route snaking this and way that and enjoying taking the time to cherry pick some of the best roads in the country. Even if they do take us out of our way and […]
Vietnam heaves with 88 million, Thailand bustles with 66 million and in the middle lies Laos with just 6.5 million people to lay claim to a country similar in size to the UK. It’s quiet, relaxed and there’s space to breathe – the perfect antidote to China. For the last month I’ve been tying together a seemingly endless string of dirt roads to cross this forgotten little corner of south east Asia. It’s a secretive […]
A year ago today all of this began. The plane touched down in Istanbul, I put my bike together in Taksim Square, checked in with some Couchsurfers and a couple of days later began cycling. 19,000km down the road I’m in Laos with a head full of memories, a very worn bicycle and a stomach bug to go with. So since I’ve got some time to kill and no better internet connection than some flakey […]
With China now a memory and with some dirt firmly embedded in my tyres I can comfortably say that it feels good to be back on dirt roads. China ended as abruptly as it began. Once across into Laos the motivation to continue the sort of rampant cycling that brought me rapidly south evaporated in the midday heat. And now that I’m in a place where travel is not restricted to a date stamp in […]
Let’s try that again shall we? Sorry for everyone who read the first version of this post, slow internet caused half of it to go missing in the wires. Hopefully this one arrives with you all in one piece. Enjoy. All those months ago when I was making preparations to leave Alastair Humphreys sent me his mappazine “There Are Other Rivers” which documents his walk across India. Full of nervous anticipation I enjoyed browsing through […]
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been winding my way down from frigid Lanzhou to jungly Chengdu. As I’ve dropped south I’ve been slowly leaving the bitter north behind me. Water has begun flowing in its liquid form once again, snow has disappeared from the fields, tent pegs no longer freeze in the ground, toes and fingers stay warm all day long and night time shivers are becoming a distant memory. But before I […]