(Last updated in January 2009)
The story so far… in brief!
On the 17th of June 2007, three young Englishmen departed from their homes in the UK with the collective but vague ambition to travel round the world by bicycle.
The seeds of the idea were born as far back as 2003; a simple desire to learn about the true nature of the world before embracing any other way of life, coupled with a conviction that the bicycle was the optimal way to gain this knowledge. With a willingness to throw themselves at any obstacles that the idea would throw at them, these feelings brought the three together to embark on an expedition that they had named ‘Ride Earth’.
The idea for Tom and Andy at least was to wipe the slate clean, leaving as little as possible behind and literally carrying their lives’ possessions into the unknown, to see what happened, to obtain a better knowledge of what the world actually is, and to steer well clear of the restrictions of fixed itineraries and ‘plans for the future’.
An important aspect of the project was always to share the lessons learnt from the bicycle-travel experience. Carrying cameras and camcorders, a huge part of Ride Earth would be to let the rest of the world in on the group and individual adventures, through online photo albums, a blog on their website, and, in the future, a documentary in conjunction with String Films, a production company based in London.
After many months of practical route research, equipment testing, sponsorship proposals and publicity, the day of departure arrived. Cheered on by friends, family, filmmakers and local villagers, the three departed from Tom’s home in Middleton, Northamptonshire, England. Struggling to adjust to the emotional and physical stresses of this massive change in lifestyle and thinking (none of the three had travelled by bicycle), they spent five days cycling through the country roads of central and eastern England to Harwich, crossing to the Hook of Holland.
From the remarkably warm and sunny days of England, the trio pedalled through the unbelievably wet summer of continental Western Europe. Three weeks following minor roads and cycle routes south from Amsterdam, through the Ardennes of Belgium and the Lorraine, Comte and Jura regions of eastern France brought them to Lake Geneva, where the first of many meetings with WWF conservationists took place. Hot and sunny weather, interrupted by unpredictable summer storms, became the norm as Tom, Andy and Mark abandoned their plans to head for the southern reaches of Spain and instead journeyed east across Switzerland to Austria and the River Danube, taking them to Vienna where a rest with friends was welcomed.
After leaving Vienna, the normal course of events was interrupted by Tom’s knee injury and Mark’s decision to return to England. Now down to two, a further two-week break during balmy August in the Hungarian capital of Budapest was necessary, but thoroughly fulfilling in itself. Recovered and inspired by their meetings during their stay, Tom and Andy continued eastwards through Hungary, accompanied by two new travellers – English girls who had thrown their Inter-railing plans out the window and found old bicycles at a local scrap yard in order to join the pair for the rain and culture-shock of rural Romania, the splendour of the Fagaras mountains and the gruellingly featureless and congested road to Bucharest.
Magalie (the other English girl) left the trip to study back in England, and Tom lost his wallet, containing cash and bank cards. The three continued, as autumn descended along the quiet and now tourist-free Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, into the completely unfamiliar but warmly hospitable Turkey. Maria suffered knee pain and hitch-hiked the remaining distance to vast Istanbul as Tom and Andy continued by bicycle, suffering a major wheel breakage and losing the second bank card but being well-looked-after by local Turks celebrating the end of Ramadan in mid-October. Waiting for a new set of wheels for Andy led to a stay of nearly a month in the history- and culture-soaked yet addictive and expensive city of Istanbul.
Continuing as a pair into December along the quiet but steeply-mountainous north coast of Turkey, in hope of a challenging winter ride through the Caucasus and Central Asia instead of the original route through the Middle East to India, Tom and Andy discovered the shortcomings of their camping equipment in the face of night time temperatures dropping below zero. Rather than trying to find suitably warm sleeping-bags en route, they decided to have some sent from England. In Tbilisi, their stay of two-and-a-half weeks ended despite the non-arrival of the third set of replacement bank cards that were sent from England by Tom’s parents. At this time, a decision to travel alone after 7 months as a pair was made.
Tom waited in Yerevan for the ill-fated sleeping bags, and in the meantime met a girl. Half-way to the Iranian border, he turned his bike round and decided to set up residence in Armenia to wait for Tenny to complete her degree, hoping to continue travelling with her in the summer. Andy also found love in Tbilisi, returning there to live and work with his new girlfriend Fanny.
Months passed, and in September both Tom and Andy hit the road again. Tom, together with Tenny who was new to cycling, travelled together into Iran and to Tehran, where her family lived. At this time, they made the decision to travel overland to England to surprise Tom’s parents and spend Christmas at home. After 16 days of trains, boats and hitch-hiking, they arrived back at the very point from where they had departed 17 months previously.
Andy continued alone through Iran and into Pakistan. Desert conditions and paranoid police escorts took their toll, but he soon arrived in India, and turned south, heading for Mumbai and a rendezvous with Fanny for Christmas.
Tenny returned to Iran and Tom set off for Istanbul to reclaim his bike and begin the next leg of his journey – south to Syria, the Middle East and North East Africa.
Find out where we are now – read Tom’s blog or read Andy’s blog.
