Background to trip

Background to forthcoming trip:

For as long as I remember I have wanted to travel the world and so far have been lucky enough to see a few places. Lately I spent 6 months in India before flying to Thailand where I made my way to Malaysia over the period of a week, to spend a while exploring the forest. While walking in the jungle I decided I needed more freedom from the way I was travelling. My initial thoughts were to buy a motorbike but eventually settled on the cheaper option of a bicycle. I soon returned to England and have spent the last few months sorting out a suitable bike and researching routes and the like.

Of course I wanted to leave as soon as I had returned, but after some research decided to wait it out for a few months. The reasons for this included waiting for a suitable time of year to travel through the regions I am planning to cycle, and that a good friend showed an interest in joining me on the trip. Subsequently, I am pleased to say my friend Huw will now be cycling with me and that we plan to leave in early February 2007. We realise its the worst time of year to be cycling in Europe but it will maximise our time spent pursuing giant fish and climbing mountains in central Asia before heading to India.

The general route we are looking to take will be from England through Europe with a stop in Turkey to gather visas for central Asia. From Turkey we will pass through Georgia and Azerbaijan before catching a ferry across the Caspian sea, hopefully into Kazakstan where I can possibly track down some sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) and Catfish (Siluris glanis). From here we will head across the "stans" and into china before dropping down through Nepal and into India where a few months will be spent resting and catching fish. From India we will head back to China via Pakistan and head towards Australia which is our present goal. This route will probably change much in practice but I think it is good to have a bare structure which can be changed as we progress into the trip.

As any reader can probably guess I am quite keen on fishing and plan to pursue this hobby as much as possible along the way. I will be carrying a number of rods and reels, as well as lures and other tackle with me. I know I will probably be cursing this equipment while cycling through desert but the pay off for me is too great to leave without my rods. While sitting on trains and buses in past trips I have seen too many great looking fishing spots pass by through the window and now I plan to make the most of these opportunities to bag a few specimens. I will include some details of past trips on this site at a future date.



I am also very interested in Natural History and intend to keep a record here of any interesting occurances I come across along the way. I will be carrying a digital slr so will hopefully be able to share some of the sights that I see.

Until we reach india where accomodation is cheap and secluded ground scarce, we will camp as much as possible. I Have forked out on some decent kit including a steel bike with strong pannier racks and fully waterproof ortlieb panniers. I have a multifuel Msr stove and a terra nova tent along with a decent sleeping bag from alpkit.com. I have also gleaned much information from other guys websites such as Martin Adserballe's site at http://www.adserballe.com/index.html and Janne Corax's site at http://www3.utsidan.se/corax-e/ . thanks chaps!

These guys and many others have much experience in cycle touring over rugged terrain, meaning their experience and recommendations are invaluable to someone starting a long trip. Much time and money can be saved by buying tried and tested kit at the start of a trip. We shall see how all the gear performs over the next few years so watch this space!

In a few days I will be flying to South Africa to visit my family and hopefully go fishing in Mocambique for a few days. Then there will be a month when I return for final preparations before setting off in February.