We are going around the world!!!

[millikino]

Hey guys,

Next Monday on 4th May my girlfriend and I are going to begin our round the world cycle ride. We can't believe it has come around so quickly and were still buying bits to take with us!!

This is going to be our first long term cycle adventure, our longest trip prior to this was a 7 day trip from Munich to Vienna down the Danube. This will be very different. We plan to cycle from England to Istanbul, then on wards to Azerbaijan then over the Himalayas into China and then down through SE Asia and into Australia. From Australia we will cycle from Darwin to Adelaide then into New Zealand before flying into Chile and work our way back from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Central America, Mexico and finally the US. We will end our ride in Reading, Pennsylvania.

What a ride. If you want to follow our adventures we have made a blog and it would be great to get some feedback/comments/sponsorship from some like minded cyclists.

Our blog address is http://www.reading2reading.com

Thanks
Tim & Fin

[boblo]

Sounds ace. Envious. Don't forget to pack some apostrophes.

[Psamathe]

Good luck. Sounds like fun.

And, to get in there before everybody else does, have a good Star Wars Day (as in "May the Force Be With You" -> "May the 4th Be With You").

Ian

[theDaveB]

Subscribed via RSS, good luck.

Dave

[Rabbit]

Good luck guys and have a great time. What an adventure!

[thayer19]

Best of luck guys, a very interesting twist as well in terms of the reading to reading thing. Out of interest have you guys got a year or even a month in mind in which you'll finish or you just going to see how it goes?

[Heltor Chasca]

And as you are starting your adventure on a full moon, you will have the luck of La Luna [emoji286]...b

[Farawayvisions]

Have a wonderful time you two.

[iviehoff]

Next Monday on 4th May my girlfriend and I are going to begin our round the world cycle ride. We can't believe it has come around so quickly and were still buying bits to take with us!!

This is going to be our first long term cycle adventure, our longest trip prior to this was a 7 day trip from Munich to Vienna down the Danube. This will be very different. We plan to cycle from England to Istanbul, then on wards to Azerbaijan then over the Himalayas into China and then down through SE Asia and into Australia. From Australia we will cycle from Darwin to Adelaide then into New Zealand before flying into Chile and work our way back from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Central America, Mexico and finally the US. We will end our ride in Reading, Pennsylvania.

If you mean cross the Tien Shan/Pamirs into China, mostly likely from Kyrgyzstan, you probably can make it before winter makes that too horrible, but you'll have to keep an eye on the calendar, because it is likely going to be autumn and very cold up on the Irkeshtam pass, where you have to take a taxi for 120km between the border and the customs house - it isn't expensive. But you are going and suffer a lot of terrible heat on the way as you'll be somewhere very hot during the summer. See https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/ ... -solutions? But it is not possible to cross the Himalayas into China as an independent cyclist, strictu sensu. You can, as an inclusive tour client, cross the Nepal-China border, but the conditions surrounding that make it too difficult to make use of that as part of a longer cycle trajectory - because you have to leave China as an inclusive tour client and re-enter as an independent tourist. In general, all independent travel in Tibet is forbidden and that is thoroughly enforced these days - sneaking through as people did until about 10 years ago is no longer possible. And as for the Karakorum route, the Pakistanis were preventing foreign cycle tourists going that way at last report, due to internal insecurity. Ironically just as the India-Myanmar-Thailand route has become passable to cyclists, Iran has become impassable to British cyclists, so that doesn't help you, since I don't expect you'd want to cycle through Afghanistan.

More broadly you may have to be careful about seasons in other places too. Northern and central Australia really isn't best in the southern summer, though I expect it is doable if you insist. The far south of South America really has to be done in the southern summer, though if you aren't going to go any or much further south than Santiago in Chile, then in principle there is more or less all-year cycling available heading north, even if some seasons aren't exactly optimal for it. I expect you can time those if you are careful about it and not going too fast. Again depending upon the season, you'll probably have a nicer time if you cross the Andes and go up through NW Argentina into Bolivia, the main road up north through Chile and Peru is rather tedious. Though if all you are interested in is counting off the miles, then it is much quicker and easier up the Pacific coast. Your choice. In central America, you should probably minimise your exposure to Honduras which is terribly insecure; you'll have to be careful in the bordering countries too.

[millikino]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the comments and positive feedback, we are very much looking forward to starting our journey next week. The first mile starts with a single spin!
We have not really set a finish date yet but our intention is to take 2-2.5 years out to complete the journey. Although we won't be going all that fast, we aim to stop when tired and visit sites if they interest us. If the journey takes longer then that is no bad thing

Thank you Iviehoff for your detailed feedback and interestingly we were reading the same post on the thorn tree last night. We are aware that we are going to experience different weather systems and I guess it can't be helped when you go around the world. We will however cycle through the north side of Turkey so we can swim/rest to cool down if we need to. We are less prepared for cold weather however and will buy supplies/coats before it gets too cold!

From what I have read the Irkeshtam pass is open all year round and this is our planned route. We have an agent who is going to supply us with booking information for our visa (flight/hotel res)and we are hoping this will assist with our visa. It will be cold but very interesting and we are really looking to cross the divide here. It is currently possible since a man called Mark Wallis cycled this not too long ago. www.wallisonwheels.net

We are prepared for Australia having lived there for 18 months but thank you for your concern in regard to central american, this region is very unstable and we will play it by ear if things are dangerous we will not go through them. Finola's dad would never forgive me!!

We look forward to starting and the adventures are just beginning. Woohoo. I

Thanks
Tim & Fin

[Psamathe]

Hi Guys,
... central american, this region is very unstable and we will play it by ear if things are dangerous we will not go through them. Finola's dad would never forgive me!! ...

I have always found Central America a bit "weird" with regards to safety (taking about backpacking rather than cycling). It was an incident in Central America with my girlfriend at the time that made me switch to making such travels alone - nothing she did but after the incident I felt that it was not acceptable for me to take others to such risks (it happened in Guatemala going through an region with a lot of guerrilla activity). That said, it also gave me far more confidence (experience where you cannot call your 5* insurance company to get you out of it and what happens next depends on you making the right decisions and how you behave/react).

I suspect the difficult aspect you will have is that, as I understand it, Central America is not a big cycle travel region and most travellers experiences will be based on backpacking - which probably sees a very different set of risks.

I do think assessing safety is always a very difficult thing. One or two bad incidents get widely reported whilst the many thousands who travel without incident go unreported. And with the broad range of travel experience people have, there will always be a few who "set themselves up as targets" (e.g. out after excessive partying in the wrong area alone late at night asking everybody where the nearest ATM is ...). It can be difficult sometimes to remember that the vast majority of people in most places are looking for the same as everybody else and would never dream of doing anything but helping somebody keen to experience their country.

I'm sure you will have a fabulous time.

Ian

[jamesgilbert]

Good luck! And don't forget to start slowly, some people really rush through Europe on this kind of journey, when in fact it's the ideal time to get used to everything in a familiar environment, not too far from home.

[iviehoff]

One or two bad incidents get widely reported whilst the many thousands who travel without incident go unreported.

This is an issue, certainly, and also I agree that the issues affecting backpackers are different from those affecting cyclists.

But it is also true that there are also places where the bandits have found they can make a living because the idiots who didn't do the research keep on coming along, while at the same time it is quiet enough that they are not interfered with in their depredations. For example, in Peru, there are a couple of stretches of the main coast road where, at least for many years and for all I know it is still true, a high proportion of foreign cycle tourists got held up if they hadn't researched that there is persistent banditry in those locations. Exposing yourself to such incidents of consistent and repeated banditry, where there is information on it, and there usually is, is unnecessary and foolish. At the same time, knowledge of it can persist long after the police eventually cleared it up. And in Colombia in particular there is an issue that folk memory of previously dangerous areas means that cyclists do get warnings about not heading there from the locals, even though it is no longer so bad.

The problem in Honduras is that banditry in general, across the whole in the broad centre of the country and up to the Guatemalan border, is just generally common these days - the country has the highest murder rate in the world, as bad as Colombia used to be when the FARC and other militias operated in extensive regions of that country. There are still issues in Colombia, but over a much reduced geographic area. As someone familiar with Nicaragua said to me the other day, even Nicaraguans are frightened to go to Honduras these days. If it was as simple as "avoid the road via Copán to the Guatemalan border near Chiquimula" - which was probably enough to say in earlier times before things got worse - that would be so much easier. In, say, Guatemala, there are such simpler pieces of advice on where not to go, what not to do, if you research it.

[Psamathe]

One or two bad incidents get widely reported whilst the many thousands who travel without incident go unreported.

This is an issue, certainly, and also I agree that the issues affecting backpackers are different from those affecting cyclists.

But it is also true that there are also places where the bandits have found they can make a living because the idiots who didn't do the research keep on coming along, while at the same time it is quiet enough that they are not interfered with in their depredations....

I think is also made harder for travellers because government guidance for overseas travel has become so what I think of as "Cry wolf". They warn about places on scant or unreliable information because if anything should happen then at least they had a warning out. They readily issue travel warnings for developing countries where you are far safer there than in many parts of many cities in the USA. Nobody criticises the FCO when they don't travel somewhere (or don't leave their 1st class hotel) because of FCO warnings and they get home without incident, but travel somewhere, have a fabulous time, gain lots of marvellous experiences and get express kidnapped and ... why hadn't the FCO warned about such dangers (even though they happen in loads of places incl. the US).

Ian

[paullferguson]

Hi Tim & Fin,

I've just set off for a similar sounding ride, although going via Italy in Europe but may bump into you along the way. Will keep an eye on your blog.

Cheers to the other inputs above, useful to me also.

Maybe see you on the road.
Paul