I was born in London, but grew up in a small village in the middle of England with fond memories of riding BMXs and MTBs.

Looking back, I probably had far more freedom than most kids do today. Roads were quiet and safe around where I lived, and my parents weren’t strict about enforcing rules or boundaries.

My teenage years were mostly spent playing whatever sports were on offer, at both school and club level, although cycling never featured as something competitive.

Fast forward a few years to age 21 and I’d finished university, armed with a geography degree and little idea about what to do next. Various part-time jobs that had kept me debt-free as a student (temporary work in factories, call centres, supermarkets) weren’t ones I wanted to do much longer, but neither did I have much interest in the kinds of graduate jobs or careers that other students might have been led towards.

An invite to Zambia from a university friend shortly after graduating turned into eight months of solo travel through southern and east Africa. Travelling by bicycle hadn’t occurred to me at all, but the journey sparked a wanderlust to see more of the world.

And so finding a job that allowed me to travel became the plan. Teaching English as a foreign language was the most obvious choice, so I completed a language teaching qualification and ended up in Japan. By this time I’d come across the inspiring stories and books of those who’d seen the world by bicycle. It sounded a much more adventurous and fulfilling way to travel than being a passenger on public transport, and a lot more exciting than being in a classroom.

In 2004 I spent several weeks during a holiday from work 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; to be immersed in my surroundings and feel a reward at the end of each day as I lay exhausted in my tent thinking what the next day might bring. I loved the unpredictability about what I would see, who I might meet and where I might sleep. 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 finished my teaching contract and set off with a vague aim to cycle back to the UK. I had no idea how long such a journey would take, but decided that as long as I maintained the motivation and funds to keep going I would. I had saved as much of my salary in Japan as possible, and found travelling by bicycle to be cheap, as long as I didn’t splurge on expensive activities or accommodation. 

 The Long Ride Home, as I called the journey, ended up covering almost 50,000km over the following 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 countries had never appealed as a place to live and teach, but there were plenty of jobs, and I’d enjoyed my time cycling 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 (MA 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. Since then I’ve mostly been on the road, riding around the UK and Ireland, various parts of Europe, as well as the Caucasus, Arabian Peninsula and Africa.

The question many people might ask, understandably, is how have I been able to afford to travel for so long? A combination of saving hard, when I have worked, and spending little when not, is the simplest answer. That lifestyle goes all the way back to my first jobs while I was still a student, and graduating without the burden of debt that most students find themselves in. 

More recently, my job in Saudi Arabia paid far more than any other teaching job I’ve had, allowing me to save money to buy property and create a passive income from letting it out. No-one has ever gifted me money to travel. My trips have all been entirely self-financed, with some help along the way from a few companies sponsoring or providing discounts for equipment along the way. 

An ongoing curiosity and energy to see more of the world while I can keeps me as motivated today as when started travelling by bicycle over twenty years ago. A lot has changed in that time, but the enjoyment remains. I don’t think there is a better way to travel the world than by bicycle. 

One day I hope to finally get round to putting some of the pictures and stories in this website into a book….or two, but for the moment I’m happy to keep riding, exploring and documenting the world as seen from my saddle.