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The original plan (it has now changed!)

Monday, September 6th, 2004

Paths turn, plans change, dreams fade and expand… the below is now actually considerably out of date. To see the new plan, go to my homepage, www.cyclinghomefromsiberia.com
(and only read below if you want to see the original plan)

Rob in PeruAfter 2 years of waging unruly battle with delightful kids and stroppy adolescents as a geography teacher at a school in England, I realised that cycling 15,000 miles from Far Eastern Siberia to London sounded like an equally exhilarating challenge and would also be a great way to raise money for children at risk…

Estimated to take over 500 days, I will travel with an old school friend (Al Humphreys) through some of the harshest terrain on Earth: some of the world’s remotest regions, coldest constituencies, and hottest hotspots…

We begin in Magadan, (Stalin’s “gateway to hell” – the Gulag town on the remotest edge of North-Eastern Siberia where 2 million prisoners perished), heading quickly south on the “road of bones” to try and stay ahead of the Arctic winter. Then, after some respite in Japan, we will head west via the most exciting route we can find through Asia: China, Tibet, Central Asia, Iran… on the long road back home to England.

The journey begins on 15th September 2004.

During the three and half thousand hours in the saddle, I am aiming to raise £10,000 for Viva Network who do fantastic work with children at risk around the world. I hope to promote the work of Viva through this website as well as radio and newspaper coverage of the journey.

Please do donate some money to support Viva Network by clicking on www.justgiving.com/cyclinghomefromsiberia, or else find out about how the ride is going by reading my updates on this site. I will be reflecting on what places are like, as well as recounting some of the adventures which come our way.

You can also follow Al’s version of events (and the rest of his epic trip) through the Round the World by Bike travelogue on BootsnAll.

NB – this was the original plan… if you read this blog you will see that things have changed quite a bit – Al and I are still friends but taking different routes – and I am heading to Australia first – then England!