I was born in London, but grew up in a small village in Nottinghamshire with fond memories of riding BMXs and MTBs - the most popular bikes for anyone growing up in the 80s and 90s.

My teenage years were mostly taken up playing whatever sports were on offer, although cycling never featured as something competitive.

At university I studied geography, but had no real idea what to do when I finished. Various jobs that had kept me debt-free while a student (working part-time in factories, call centres, supermarkets) weren’t ones I wanted to do much longer, but provided me with the funds to travel. So I took off to South Africa, ditching the return ticket when I realised two months wasn’t going to be long enough. At that time travelling by bicycle hadn’t occurred to me at all, but the following eight months backpacking through southern and east Africa sparked a wanderlust to see more of the world.

Finding a job that allowed me to travel became the plan. In 2002 I trained to become an English language teacher and the following year moved to Japan. By this time I’d come across the inspiring stories and books of those who’d seen the world on two wheels. It sounded a much more adventurous and exciting way to travel than being a passenger on public transport.

In 2004 I spent several weeks cycling around the island of Kyushu, a trip that instantly fuelled thoughts of undertaking a bigger journey. There was something about the simplicity and sense of freedom associated with travelling by bicycle that had me hooked; a feeling of reward at the end of each day as I lay exhausted in my tent thinking what the next day might bring. The cycling itself was never about how far or how fast I could go in a day, and the bicycle I had wasn’t especially built for being loaded with bags for touring.

And so the next year, without a great deal of planning, I set off with a vague aim to cycle back to the UK. I had no idea how long it would take, but decided that as long as I maintained the motivation and funds to keep going I would. The Long Ride Home, as I called the journey, ended up covering some 50,000km over three years.

Restless for more two-wheeled adventures, and fulfilling a wish to return to Africa, I left the UK by bicycle a year later in 2009. The Big Africa Cycle was another solo and mostly unplanned journey. I guessed I might be on the road for a year and a half, but it was almost three years later that I rolled into Cape Town, having covered 35,000km on a circuitous route across the continent.

In 2013 I returned to Africa and took up an English teaching post in northern Tanzania. I brought the bicycle and used my holidays to explore more of the continent on two wheels.

Two years later my teaching contract finished and I was back on the road, riding north through the Horn of Africa. A cargo boat loaded with cows transported me out of Africa to Oman and the Arabian Peninsula. That journey finished in the UAE.

The Gulf had never really appealed as a place to live and teach, but there were plenty of jobs, and I’d enjoyed my time in Oman. In the end it was Saudi Arabia where I started work again in 2016. The plan had been to stay a few years, save some money and use my free time to study again. Adventurous cycle tours sadly featured far less frequently over the following years as I balanced full-time work with postgraduate studies (Masters degree in education and international development).

When the studies were complete in 2019 I felt restless for another adventure, so set 2020 as a year to get back on the road. A global pandemic put a hold on that, until 2021. I've mostly been on the road since then, riding around the UK, Ireland and various parts of Europe.