I’d had to break up my trip into three parts mainly for the sake of managing my diabetes effectively, but in all honesty, it was also an opportunity to reset psychologically; the opportunity to see my loved ones and friends again helped to give my mind a break from rid...

The last month has been hard going. Desert heat, a spectrum of road qualities, mechanical breakdowns, and saddle sores have all played their part as I've traversed Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan over the past few weeks; but the experience has been an incredible...

Since leaving Istanbul I’ve done just over a thousand more miles through Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, winding up in the capital of Baku (a city still so enraptured by the Champions League final that I’ve had to start pretending I support Liverpool again). As I had...

This won’t be a day-by-day travelogue. That would not only be far too difficult for me but far too boring for anyone who’s got the stomach to read this nonsense. Here’s hoping that some of it is in the mildest bit entertaining, or will at least someday remind a senile...

The Cave

The fierceness of the midday sun wanes into a balmy afternoon haze as I lock my bike at the foot of the escarpment. Picking my way among the gritstone boulders as I near the top of the ridge, my pannier straps gently cutting into each side of my neck, I steady...

 Coming to a halt. Lipcani, Moldova

I met Joke and Björn resting in the shade of some large umbrellas as I pulled into the forecourt of the petrol station in Sighetu Martei, Romania. For the fourth day in a row since starting from Chișinău, Moldova, I had clocked over 9...

I rode from Madaba, the City of Mosaics, and home to a large Christian population, down to the Jordan River, dropping hundreds of feet in a glorious ride only momentarily rendered more perilous by being chased by a pack of ten to fifteen dogs at a checkpoint halfway do...

I can’t remember where I saw Petra first, but whether it was a glossy full-page spread or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the images of a city carven in stone captured my tiny child mind, and I told myself that someday I would see that city with my own eyes. Whilst...

Note to self: the term ‘fall’ here refers to both a waterfall and a potential fall to the death if attempting to traverse carrying a large, unwieldy bicycle. Hindsight, they say, is a beautiful thing, but I can’t concur.

Two things I find endlessly fascinating and beaut...

Intro

A two-week trip in ‘The Holy Land’ wasn’t in my sights until I realised just how inexpensive the flights were between Tel Aviv and Luton, the jewel in London’s crown of airports. A few months of planning later, and still the closer I came to flying out, the more n...