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38 years
ago I had a great adventure ...
on an unusual bicycle.
I cycled 10,000 miles (16,000 km) across deserts, over mountain
ranges, through intense heat, snow and dust storms ... from
England to Australia. I was cycling around the world alone.
The story of my epic ride appeared in newspapers, magazines
and on television ... then, as I ate breakfast in an outback
cafe in Australia, my bicycle was cut loose from it's lock
and stolen.
I never saw it again.
I was devastated. 30 years later, quite by chance (or was
it fate?), I traced a Moulton Marathon on the Internet.
It was in Japan.
My dream of completing the journey was rekindled. In June
2002 I continued the ride .
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ENGLAND
TO AUSTRALIA
I was a keen competitive and recreational cyclist for many
years before deciding to ride around the world.
ACROSS EUROPE
I set off from Wiltshire on 5 June 1970 after 9 months of
planning. It rained for the first four days of the trip and
I remember having mixed feelings about the journey ahead when
I was cold and wet. I cycled through France to Southern Germany
and up the Gross Glockner Pass in the Austrian Alps - celebrating
my 21st birthday alone in the snow at 2,500 metres with a
piece of cake and an orange juice! I met my friend, Cycling
journalist Peter Knottley, in Villach, Austria. The back roads
of Yugoslavia were rocky tracks and through Bulgaria the Police
asked us to walk as cycling was forbidden on major highways!
We cycled together as far as Istanbul where Peter returned
to England by the 'Orient Express'.
BEYOND ISTANBUL
I continued along the Black Sea coast through Turkey and had
a few problems with children who loved throwing rocks at passing
cyclists. On a lonely stretch of road in Iran a tribesman
appeared on a horse. He wanted to ride my bicycle while I
sat on his horse. He wobbled down the road and fell off! I
became sick with dysentery after drinking contaminated water
but continued across Iran, Afghanistan and over the Khyber
Pass through Pakistan into India. At this time I had been
5 months on the road and was enjoying the ride. I was no longer
a lone rider - at times there were up to 50 other cyclists
following me in India; continually asking questions about
the journey. From Calcutta I travelled by plane to Rangoon
and Bangkok as there was no access by road through Burma.
THE TROPICS
I cycled through Thailand, often sleeping in Buddhist temples.
I spent one of my 'days off' rowing a dugout canoe around
the islands. The route followed the coast of Malaya down to
Singapore where I camped on Changi Beach - a place I lived
when I was a child.
AUSTRALIA
I sailed to Perth six months after leaving home, arriving
in Western Australia during a hot Summer. It took 5 days to
cycle to Kalgoorlie where I ran out of funds and found work
in a gold mine. It was here I had the cruel misfortune to
have my bicycle stolen. It was chained to a pole whilst I
was eating breakfast in a café - and never seen again.
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