World Proposed Route

America, Europe and the Middle East are now done and dusted but the rest of the journey, though investigated, still hinges on ever shifting political climates and visa rules in various places.

A huge bonus of this trip is that my daughter, Eliza, hopes to join for short stretches and might even bring her boyfriend – lucky chap, I’m sure hiking across the Nullarbor Plain with his girlfriend’s vagabond dad will be No 1 on his romantic To Do Lists.

Visas can be tricky. The fact my passport and CV are still ripe with mentions of the Tex-Mex border, Lebanon, the Calais Jungle, Beijing and Serbia, and a few other teaching destinations, raised eyebrows when trying to secure my American visa.

The route will at times be remote and challenging but all going well, doable. As explained, the plan is to walk at least 16,300 miles in total. Occasional flights/boats will have to be taken to cross oceans and to start new continents but the lion’s share will be walked unsupported, though friends and family will join for short stretches. I will have a GPS and a live map to monitor my position and supply updates via my website and social media, FB and Instagram (but not bloody Twitter).

This is all very different to my bike ride between England and Australia over 20 years ago when I would have to track down pay phones en route. I used no mobile or GPS then, not even email; different, perhaps more innocent times. Back in the mid-1990s I was able to easily cycle through Syria (the loveliest of people, constantly offering tea), Lebanon, Pakistan and Iran. Alas, now much trickier, but as one route closes, others always open up…

The rest of the route, which may well need to be tweaked or altered radically, is through Asia (focusing on India and Indonesia), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and South America, with a top up in walk mileage in Africa if necessary.