About the Trip

What’s this all about then?

Just after 10am on 27 July 2008 I embarked from Trafalgar Square, London, on an epic adventure most people only ever dream of – or have nightmares about!

The mission I had set myself was to cycle around the world on a Brompton folding bike and raise money for the charity Camfed. The plan was continuously evolving, but I wanted to cycle at least 40,000km (the circumference of the Earth) traversing all five major continents. I cycled through South East England, France, Switzerland, over the Grand St Bernard Pass into Italy, then from Brindisi in the Southern tip of Italy I took a ferry to Greece, and on to Turkey and Istanbul.

Unfortunately I was held up for a long time in Istanbul (two months!) trying to get visas to continue through Iran and Pakistan to India. Eventually a number of factors made me decide to end the trip early. The experience of that first trip was amazing, and I learnt a lot about cycle touring.

Although I have no definite plans for the second attempt, it is always in the back of my mind that I would like to try again some day.

Here’s a very basic overview of the route on my first attempt: