Beyond the Bike 2011-13

Beyond the Bike's latest adventure is publishing an illustrated book for children aged 5-9, joining forces with illustrator Tim, another teacher and tandem cyclist. The Adventures of Thandie the…

Chavy sits at a table in Mickey’s, a relaxed bar just off the famous Pub Street in Siem Reap, waiting for the evening flow of customers to pick up. 'Tonight, I make $20, maybe $50 if I lucky’ she…

Our own endurance challenge has opened our eyes to the importance of sustainability in bikes, phones, chocolate, clothes, dragon fruit, toilets… as well as the wider ubiquitous and all important…

Half a century ago, Singapore and Zambia had several commonalities: they had recently transitioned into peaceful independence from Britain; they were led by strong men who would hold power for more…

I’m writing this from the historic city of Malacca in Malaysia, overlooking arguably the most important bit of sea for global trade over the last 1000 years. However, more on this later as I’m…

Kwacha on the run…. I concluded my last blog suggesting that this week I’d be exploring the role of China in Africa using Zambia as a case study. However, my conversations since stepping off the MV…

Lusaka to Livingstone, 487km July 16th - 19th At the start of August 2011, I was cruising into Livingstone from the South on Thandie, stoked by a powerful Irishman; my original African adventure just…

Nearly two months after arriving back permanently in England’s Green and Pleasant (& wet) lands, I’m delighted to note that we have now met or should I say SMASHED our fundraising target. Including…

Burgundy to Blighty. June 25th – July 14th, 975 km. Coincidentally, I’ve started writing this blog whilst watching the Tour de France’s 16th stage: a ball busting 197km in the Pyrenees with a couple…

Siena to Stratford, May 5th – 18th, 1250kmPeople talk of false starts. I’ve never heard of a ‘false-finish’ but I was searching for the equivalent word on May 18th. On that grey spring day, I found…

Olympia, Greece to Siena, Italy. 1350km April 23rd - May 4th My beloved Thandie has done herself proud over the last 9 months, managing to carry me & some 150 stokers 11,000 kilometres through Africa…

Dahab to Tel Aviv, 1st -18th April, 990km The route for this stage would take me along the northern most part of the Great Rift Valley from the Red to the Dead Sea and north along the Jordan Valley.…

Luxor to Hurgarda, 290km March 19-21st I have endured some tough physical challenges on the journey so far: the hills & dirt roads of Kenya, the heat in South Sudan & headwind in the Nubian desert.…

Khartoum to Luxor, 1470km & a ferry ride up Lake Nasser. Feb 19th – March 11th People love to talk about ‘Africa’. Yes it is a single physical continent but its human diversity- nearly 3000…

650km Feb 3rd - 11th. Six months ago, I neither expected to be in South Sudan or indeed singing the French & Scottish rugby anthems to live accordion & bagpipes in the middle of the African bush. But…

Nairobi to Jinja: 1050km, Jan 4th – 21st In 1999, I was invited to play cricket for the wealthy philanthropist Christopher Ondatjie in Devon. Despite only scoring a single run, he kindly gifted me a…

Dar to Nairobi; 950km, November 28th - December 10th. Fun isn’t always fun. So Jim Blyth, a Chamonix mountain guide told me in 2010. During Type 1 fun, you enjoy both doing the activity and…

Stage 7, part II: Mikumi to Zanzibar & around, November 12-26th 502 km The best part is that you get to cycle through Mikumi national park and be right in the middle of elephants, giraffe etc. Only…

Stage 6: Nkhata Bay to Mbeya, 430km. October 13th - 19th "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. You have…

Beyond Cranleigh Zambia Trip II, October 22nd - 30thOK, so the Tazara railway is not quite as high tech as Marty's Mcfly's souped up 'flux capacitor' but it was at least able to take me back to…

Stage 5: Dedza to Nkhata Bay, Malawi. 650km, 12 days Sept 28th - October 11thMy stay in Malawi will forever be associated with music. As well as experiencing my first African festival, I was lucky…

You're more likely to find an African cycling a racing bike clad in sponsored lyrca in Richmond park that in Malawi's capital city. When I bumped into one en route to the market whilst in Lilongwe,…

Having not done any proper cycling for 3 weeks, it was always going to be a tough first couple of days back in the saddle, made worse by a constant headwind, serious hills & rising heat. The addition…

A punchy claim from a 26 year old Californian who looks like he had just stepped off the latest series of baywatch but one that I think can certainly be justified by Africa's leading manufacturer of…

Having said goodbye to the majority of the cyclists following the successful group ride, a core ofthe group remained to enjoy 24 hours of peace & quiet before greeting 17 students from…

The group saw some cyclists say goodbye but we were joined by fresh blood for the final stage to Ndola. Little did we know that we'd enjoy a police escort out of Zambia's capital city...

A further eight cyclists joined Beyond the Bike in Livingstone, with another support driver - Jo Mackay - who runs Beyond Ourselves operations in Zambia. This stage of the ride was sponsored by…

Botswana is one of the few countries whose per capita GDP growth has kept up with China's over the last 15 years. Perhaps easier to do in a country with a population of only 1.5 million (compared to…

I am writing up the South African leg from the calms of Botswana. We are camping at a lovely place called "Elephant Sands"- appropriately if not orginally named due to the two main features of the…

One of the joys of cycle touring is that you can't take on too many calories. I put it to the test with a man who calls himself the HUNGRY CYCLIST.

Spring was in the air as Thandie and I glided along the A281 into Guildford before getting the train into London for a photoshoot with the sports Minister Hugh Robertson....