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The Guardian Newspaper in England is the first National paper to have supported my journey.

A year on the road (August 26th 2002)

Roundtheworldbybike
2005-11-18 11:33:04

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The Guardian Newspaper in England is the first National paper to have supported my journey.
Many thanks to the Guardian for their support and to all of you who have helped get me through this first epic year....

A year ago today I was at home in Yorkshire toying nervously with my breakfast, a neat packed lunch made by Dad ("to see you on your way") beside me, with the awful realisation slowly dawning on me that this time I really had bitten off more than I could chew. Today I am in Botswana, sitting in the shade of a tree, mop-haired, barefoot and tearing hungrily at a papaya, the juices pouring down my face and onto my filthy, torn shirt and trousers. And in between? I cycled. 11,000 miles and 24 countries lie between now and then.

Newly graduated from university, I set off to cycle solo around the world to raise funds for Hope and Homes for Children: a three-year project that involves cycling the length of the planet's three major landmasses, crossing five continents and more than 50 countries. While my friends were being paid vast salaries at glamorous-sounding London companies, I turned away from the conventional life - and from my girlfriend. Many times over this last year I have wondered: what have I done?

It has been a tough year. Day after day of cycling, in which I have seen and learned more than I imagined possible, faced more challenges than I dreamed of, and cried more than most babies. I've cycled across deserts and mountain ranges and up the length of the world's longest river. I've slept in five-star hotels, Bedouin tents, road workers camps, Maasai villages and a sewage pipe, not to mention countless nights in my tent beneath the stars, watching the constellations slowly change as I cycled into the southern hemisphere.

The cycling itself has been a blend of fatigue, boredom and disgruntlement: slogging across hundreds of dull kilometres, interspersed with occasional lactic acid spasms ...