The pandemic forced me to move home with my parents and take a job in a nearby hospital. I began to realise my addiction to adventure and travel had come at the cost of friendships and community and financial security. I’d been too busy seeing the world and making memories to notice all the little […]
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Swapping Pedals for Sails – Sailing the Indian Ocean
I’m bobbing in the middle of the Indian Ocean on board Leia B, an 11-metre sailing catamaran. When we crest the top of a wave I can see all the way to the horizon, 6 miles away, where the Earth’s curvature drags it from view. There is no land on the horizon. Except for a […]
How Much Does it Cost to Cycle Around the World?
During my 2.5 year adventure cycling around the world, I tracked every single penny, rupee, lira and dong that I spent; I’ve added everything together, and can reveal how much it costs to cycle around the world. I set off after University, doubting whether the limited money I’d saved would last until Australia. But I […]
Cycling Across Australia 1: Did I bite off too much?
As the plane had descended into Darwin, I had gazed south. Beyond the grey smudge of city, I could see a huge distance – perhaps 40 or 50 kilometres – of nothingness, which stretched right up to the horizon. I pictured this vastness extending over that horizon, then the horizon after that and, indeed, for […]
Miracle in North India
There’s a theory called the six degrees of separation. If you took all your friends and acquaintances, and then all their friends and acquaintances, and then all their friends and acquaintances, and so on six times, you would know everyone in the whole world. That’s how tiny and connected our world is! Amazing huh? Well, […]
Cycling Southern India – Kanyakumari to Mumbai
I pedalled from mainland India’s southernmost point, Kanyakumari with no plan except to head north. Understandable, two weeks earlier I had been expecting to be in China by now. The past week I had contacted a handful of Indian friends and friends of friends asking where the most beautiful, ‘must-see’ places were. When they mentioned […]
High Altitude Cycling on the Pamir Plateau: Alichur to Osh
My memories of cycling from Alichur to Osh are hazy. This section forms the ‘Pamir Plateau’; the road flattens out slightly but hovers around the 4,000 metre mark, except for the handful of times it climbs even higher, eventually peaking at 4,655 metres on the lung-bursting Ak-Baital pass, notorious amongst cyclists. Having ascended to the […]
Qalai-Khumb to Khorog: A stone’s throw from Afghanistan
Reaching Qalai-Khumb had been an exciting moment for two reasons; firstly, I had joined up with the main road again, and I couldn’t wait for the road to be paved once again. Secondly, I saw my first glimpse of the River Panj, which I would cycle beside for the next 500km. The significance of this […]
Dushanbe to Qalai-Khumb: The Pamir Highway begins!
From Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, there are two ways to get to the Pamirs. Most of the traffic takes the newer, southern road which, although slightly longer is well-paved and significantly flatter. The older northern route is now little used by traffic being virtually entirely off-road, complete with river crossings and a mountain pass of 3,250 […]