In January 2016 I sat down and wrote a retrospective blog on my first year cycling. It felt surreal to be celebrating 365 days in the saddle after an uneasy start to the year but by then I was back in China with a new visa and a plan extending roughly across the next 9 … More Two Years On The Bicycle: Another Retrospective (16/01/16-16/01/17)
It somehow felt like the Australian adventure was already over as I pedalled out of Adelaide. Melbourne was still 500 miles away but the hard part was over now, surely. There were no more long stretches without water, no more outback heat, plenty of towns en-route and apparently there would be less flies along the … More Australia Part 6: The Great Ocean Road (Adelaide to Melbourne 20/12/16-31/12/16)
The road south of Marree was the same old: an unsealed dirt road through flat boring desert. There were still no trees for shade and the sun was as menacing as ever. There were still long stretches between signs of human life but I knew the mountains weren’t far off now… That evening I saw … More Australia Part 5: End of The Outback and into The Flinders (Marree to Adelaide 09/12/16-19/12/16)
December had arrived in the desert, bringing with it a crescendo in the temperature. I loaded 25L of water onto my bicycle and wobbled onto the dirt Oodnadatta track both nervous and excited about the lonely stretch ahead. Occasionally a few trees would cluster around a dried up creek but aside from those respites there … More Australia Part 4: The Oodnadatta Track (Marla to Marree 01/12/16-09/12/16)
From Kings Canyon I turned south. After the morning hike it was a late start to the day so I decided to ride on into the night. I knew I’d reach a rest area a couple hours after dark and I fancied covering some extra distance out of the awful sun. The last hour of … More Australia Part 3: Uluru and The Aboriginal Heart (Kings Canyon to Marla 20/11/16-30/11/16)
When people ask me how far I cycle a day out here I usually shrug and say “around 100km but it depends on so much – the terrain, road condition and wind”. I don’t think people ever take the wind part seriously when I say that. Let me explain how much I am ‘at mercy’ … More Australia Part 2: Summer in The Red Centre (Tenant Creek to Kings Canyon 08/11/16-19/11/16)
When I left London on my bicycle 22 months ago the mission was simple: cycle to Australia. Actually it was never that important a goal. To play an old cliche – it was ‘about the journey, not the destination’. The reason I’d picked Oz as my final stop was because it was the furthest away … More Australia Part 1: End of The Dream and Start of a New One (Darwin to Tenant Creek 19/10/16-07/11/16)
The rains had arrived. Viqueque was a muddy mess when I rolled through town. The main drag was flooded in big brown puddles. This was not good: dirt roads are no fun in the wet and there were river crossings up ahead. It was also a bad sign because Timor’s wet season arrives at the … More Timor-Leste Part 2: East of East East (Viqueque to Dili 08/10/17-19/10/17)
On the way to the border I opened my book and read the last few pages on Timor Leste’s recent history. It would be the first new country to me since Myanmar and I knew absolutely nothing about the place. If you’re as clueless as I was, here’s a super quick summary: The Portuguese arrived in … More Timor-Leste Part 1: The Asian Lap of Honour (Indonesia to Viqueque 27/09/16-07/10/16)
I was at the harbour in Larantuka at 7am. 11 hours later we finally docked in Kupang, just as the last of the sun was slipping below the horizon. Like every ferry crossing in Indonesia, the journey involved a plenty of faff and stalling but was accompanied by stunning views across the straits. It was … More Indonesia Part 7: Last Stop of The Archipelago (West Timor 21/09/16-27/09/16)
JKB's Bike Ride 