Young Scottish Man Cycles 18000 miles in 195 days.


Mark Beaumont passed through 20 countries on his way, including Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Short article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7245381.stm


Website with radio interviews, video and some diary entries here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/programmes/pedalling_around/audio.shtml


This guy has some guts for sure. It is well worth a poke around his website to see the kinds of things that happened to him on the way. He cut the existing record for a route like this by a staggering 81 days!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/images/programmes/pedalling_around/gallery/8/04.jpg

My gawd, he's not wearing a helmut!!! How did he survive????

Congrats to him, that is a remarkable trip.

Does that truck have some road kill the bumper, or am I just seeing things? An average of more than 92 miles a day for that long is incredible.

Does that truck have some road kill the bumper, or am I just seeing things? An average of more than 92 miles a day for that long is incredible.

Yes I know. I am more than twice his age, but it really is hair curling mileage. He's pretty well vegetarian too, which especially makes me wonder how he did it. There were places where he could only get burgers though, but of course, he needed 6000 calories a day, so he ate quite a few of them. The trip into strong headwinds across the Nulabor Plain in OZ was particularly hard. In one part there is a stretch of road called 'The Ninety Mile Straight. There isn't a kink in the road, a fence, a building or anything except dry scrub in the whole stretch. In the afternoon, he was fighting blistering headwinds all the way. I think he only managed fifty odd miles a day then, There was no water either.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/images/programmes/pedalling_around/video_promos/oz_longroad.jpg

The links to his phone calls and some of the video blogs up top are worth a look.

VIDEO ->
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/player/?item=44533802

Mark Beaumont passed through 20 countries on his way, including Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the US. That is an amazing feat.

I also find it both unsurprising and slightly sad that he's ridden through places like Iran and Pakistan, but his most harrowing day was getting hit by a car then being robbed in Louisiana.

That is an amazing feat.

I also find it both unsurprising and slightly sad that he's ridden through places like Iran and Pakistan, but his most harrowing day was getting hit by a car then being robbed in Louisiana.

To be fair, he said he was treated most warmly and given assistance by strangers in the USA as well as elsewhere. I've watched a lot of his video and listened to the radio interviews he did. There are probably hours of it on the site. He met with road rage and abuse in several places, but selfless assistance too. In Pakistan's wilder regions, he had a police escort so he wasn't kidnapped or worse, and slept on the floor of cells in police stations at night. He thought that on the human level, Iran was an amazing place, and not at all as he felt it is portrayed in western news - a place he would like to re-visit, as was Thailand. He didn't want to revisit Pakistan. In Eastern Turkey, shepherds set large dogs on him.

There are good and bad people everywhere, the world over. That's a fact. Beaumont's impression was that everywhere he went, there were more good people than bad.

My overwhelming impression is one of great admiration for a man who could keep his head together enough to do this herculean task. He has huge courage and determination.

Those Pakistani trucks have all manner of things hung off the front, including chains which you can hear rattling miles away in the desert (in most parts of Pakistan, there's far too much noise to notice that!). I'm surprised that he didn't like Pakistan, but it is pretty hairy. I'm with him on Iran, which is the friendliest place I've ever visited. Don't reckon I fancy riding it though....

I'm surprised that he didn't like Pakistan, but it is pretty hairy. I'm with him on Iran, which is the friendliest place I've ever visited. Don't reckon I fancy riding it though....

I suppose it may be twofold - firstly, he said he was disturbed by the degree of poverty he saw, but also, the police escort he had were rather unhelpful, resisting his need to stop occasionally. Even though he covered superhuman mileages overall, they seem to have wanted to get this trailing behind a bike job over with.

I suppose it may be twofold - firstly, he said he was disturbed by the degree of poverty he saw, but also, the police escort he had were rather unhelpful, resisting his need to stop occasionally. Even though he covered superhuman mileages overall, they seem to have wanted to get this trailing behind a bike job over with. That sort of sounds like Rory Stewart's experiences with government security escorts while walking through Afghanistan in The Places In Between One would love to think that the escorts were amiable companions hoping to put forward the best face of their country, but they're just as likely to be bored babysitters hoping to steer you to a friend's kebab shop so that they can make some money on the referral.