The first question that I am asked when people find out that I am planning this cycle is to ask which countries will I visit? I am now only a few months away from the start of this amazing journey, and although I have mapped out a provisional route there are many factors which will dictate whether I actually cycle this route. Read on and all will become clear…
When you start planning a journey like this, deciding upon the actual route is probably the most daunting task, as you effectively have to say no to more amazing places than you actually choose.
My starting point in the planning process was to look at other peoples’ journeys to try to work out the amount of distance that I could realistically cover in 12 months. Having looked at other peoples’ adventures, it seemed that there are two differing schools of thought when it comes to deciding on a route – the ‘purists’ whose aim is to cover the whole world, visiting as many countries as possible or the ‘cherry pickers’ who are more concerned with accessing ‘destination’ rides and may use alternative transport methods to get to the start of each route.
As the world is such a huge space, and my time is limited, I was of the mind to just ‘cherry pick’ 5 or 6 amazing destination rides. After a lot of thought as to the reasons why I was undertaking this ride, I decided that with this approach I would miss out on what I call the ‘monotonous days’ aspect of any long cycle. I am not a masochist, but days when there is not really anything to see and the scenery is best described as uninspiring are, I think, integral parts of any long distance cycle. These days, for me, are what cycling is about as they add to the anticipation and enjoyment when you finally arrive at the place that you have cycled for the last 10 days to reach.
With this in mind, I have decided that each continent that I cover will solely be by pedal power. Though as I write this I need to remind myself that there is a often a huge difference between the romantic notions of the cycle that exists in your head and the reality on the ground as another juggernaut flies past leaving you cursing in its wake, or you are in Malaysia cycling past millions of Palm Oil trees for the 9th day in a row.
I prefer to keep with the romantic notions and so with this decision made it was time to look at a cycle route that I could cover in the time frame that I had available. I have decided that I want to enjoy my cycle and not just to race through each country in pursuit of covering as much of the world as possible in the 12 months that I have. I have set myself a schedule of covering between 100 and 120 km per day with 3 days in the saddle and then having 1 day off to really see and enjoy the places that I am travelling through.
I think that this schedule will give me enough flexibility to be able to stop when needed but to keep moving forwards at a good pace. This schedule means that I have the potential to cover around 30000 km!!!! Now this seems to me to be a very, very long way but the thought of all the adventures that I will have along the way are what inspires me to set out on this journey.
The map below is a provisional outline of the route that I have decided to follow as I leave my wife behind and set out from my home in Ho Chi Minh City on the 4th of July 2016. This route will see me traverse 4 continents and should see me return to my starting point 12 months later. If you have read through the Getting Fit section of this website you will see that the best laid plans have a habit of changing.
When I set out on this journey, I really only have two main goals – firstly, that I manage to complete the cycle without the need to use my medical insurance policy, and secondly, that when I read my blog back, once the journey is over, my memories will match the excitement that I feel as I finally finish committing in writing the planned route that I have been working on in my head.
Please click on each of the maps below, or use the tabs at the top of the page, to see interactive maps and a more detailed overview of the route that I plan to cycle through each continent :
Leg 1 – South East Asia
Route through Vietnam. Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia
Leg 2 – Oceania
Route through South Island, New Zealand
Leg 3 – South America
Route through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and Brazil
Leg 4 – Europe
Route through England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria
Leg 5 – Middle East
Route through Turkey, Iran and United Arab Emirates
Leg 6 – Back to Asia
Route through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
Thank you for taking the time to scroll down this far to finish reading this page. If, once you have clicked on the links above and taken a closer look at my route, you find that I am cycling past where you live, then please feel free to join me on this journey for a couple of days. However, if you can’t join me then a meal, a garden to pitch my tent or even a bed for the night would be amazing.
If you have any comments, tips or recommendations for places that I must visit on my cycle I would love to hear from you – please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can, or alternatively click here to email me direct!
Finally, I intend to record my journey via blog posts, so if you would like to follow my journey as I cycle around the world please add your email address to the form at the bottom of this page to receive automatic updates.