Round The World by Bike: Introduction

Round The World by Bike: Introduction
Round the World by Bike
Here are the most common questions people have asked me about the trip. If you have a question that’s not on this page, then please email me – I’ll get back to you next time I find an Internet cafe, and maybe add your question to this page.

Who is this Al Humphreys anyway?
School at Shrewsbury then off to Uni. Edinburgh for four years of antics (with a Zoology degree thrown in as well). Then Oxford Uni to train as a teacher – ad-libbing lessons and drinking coffee.

Now I’m ready to cycle around the world and build on my travels thus far – teaching for a year in South Africa, running a student charity project in the Philippines, cycling through Pakistan and China, from Mexico down to Panama, across South America from Buenos Aires to Lima and trekking through Spain for less than �5 – cooking on fires and sleeping in sewage pipes (clean ones!)

In between these trips I make a poor footballing imitation of David Batty (even worse at taking penalties!), help publish a travel magazine in Oxford and try to publish the book I wrote in Central America. I was the winning rhinoceros in the 2001 London Marathon (as seen on TV!), raising money for Save the Rhino.

What’s the philosophy behind the trip?
No guide books – an inflatable beach-ball globe to steer by. Appalling cooking and great camp fires. A sense of the ridiculous. A mouth organ and a penchant for cold beers and high comedy. The ways of the original English Wildman…

How did you get involved with Hope and Homes for Children?
I heard about HHC through a friend’s father whilst at Uni in Edinburgh. Andrew Baines spoke to me with such enthusiam about Hope and Homes for Children that I soon realised what an outstanding charity it was.

What kit are you taking?
Obviously I will need different things in the Iranian winter and the Australian Outback. This will require posting things back and forth around the world. My bike will be much heavier on the winter phases, although in the hot places I will have to carry massive amounts of water instead. Read my kit page for the complete list.

Where will you sleep?
I have already had many kind offers of hospitality all around and I will be most grateful for being able to sleep inside, eat from a table and a plate, sit in a chair and wash with warm water. Please email me if you would like a guest.

Normally, I will be sleeping in my two man tent, my waterbag as a pillow (nice and cool although the sloshing water tends to make you need a pee). I will not be staying in proper campsites, preferring to sleep rough in fields, woods, by rivers etc. Bit scary though!

What will you eat and how do you cook?

I usually get up, pack the tent away, cycle 10 miles to warm up and then have breakfast: some sort of sandwich and fruit. The same for snacks through the day and lunch. To cook I carry a stove that uses lots of different types of fuel and one mess tin. My ‘normal’ evening meal is an indecent volume of pasta or rice plus whatever else I can find to help disguise the taste of burning: tinned tomatoes, fresh vegetables, tuna or whatever the local store is selling. The more remote the location, the less pleasant the food! Because using the stove is a bit boring, wastes fuel and needs cleaning, I prefer cooking on open fires, balancing my pan on a couple of stones in the fire. It’s much more fun, provides heat and light, keeps flies away but also does usually coat your dinner in a thin layer of ash and bits of twig!

How far will you ride in a day?
Well-fed, with good roads and cool weather (e.g. Europe) an average day may be between 70-90 miles. Over 90 and 100 mile days are quite common but start to get a bit tiring. I averaged 100 miles a day in 1997 riding from Istanbul to Rome, but at the other extreme last year in Bolivia we averaged only 25 miles a day despite 7 or 8 hours of riding. Hard work.

Are you taking any luxuries?
The non-essential items I will be carrying are a mouth organ, a few books, curry powder and a mini-games kit.

Some of the things I dream of all day, everyday are: for passing cars to stop and ply me with food; for passing cars to stop and invite me to stay in their house complete with satellite TV showing English football; tailwinds; for it to rain; for it to stop raining; downhills; sunshine; shade; British pubs; tarmac roads; large plates of food (not pasta); and how I will feel when I round the corner and see before me the sea at the end of the continent.

What will you miss most?
When I’m on the road I miss food, clean beds and showers, reading the
newspapers, drinking coffee, Leeds United FC, not being a freak stared at all the time, knowing the way to the shops and a nice gentle day-to-day routine (although this is what invariably drives me mad as soon as I get home again).

Inquiries or feedback, contact: roundtheworldbybike@hotmail.com

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