The Bicycle Diaries
September 17, 2009 9:26 AM Subscribe
The Bicycle Diaries - UK cyclist Douglas Whitehead rides from England to India. He just left Uzbekistan.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble
Dervla Murphy, Full Tilt: Ireland to India With A Bicycle. Especially the section on Afghanistan.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:41 AM on September 17, 2009
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:41 AM on September 17, 2009
Going Slowly - "We are Tyler Kellen & Tara Alan, two travel enthusiasts on a bicycle trip around the world. This website will chronicle our journeys starting in Scotland and continuing through Western and Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, Mongolia, China and Southeast Asia."
I'm living vicariously through reading these cycling adventure travel blogs. Someday I'm going to pack up everything and do this. Maybe - if I can figure out how.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 10:03 AM on September 17, 2009
I'm living vicariously through reading these cycling adventure travel blogs. Someday I'm going to pack up everything and do this. Maybe - if I can figure out how.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 10:03 AM on September 17, 2009
Why are British people always doing shit like this?
(not British-ist)
posted by oinopaponton at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2009
(not British-ist)
posted by oinopaponton at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2009
*splash*
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2009
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:35 AM on September 17, 2009
In a similar vein: Bettina Selby's Riding to Jerusalem , Pilgrim's Road: A Journey to Santiago De Compostela, and Riding the Desert Trail.
posted by apartment dweller at 11:49 AM on September 17, 2009
posted by apartment dweller at 11:49 AM on September 17, 2009
Nice being a first-worlder, isn't it? Someone with a British passport can bicycle from the UK to India. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to be someone with an Indian passport trying to do the reverse.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
i would love to read more about the bike he's riding, randonneur-style
posted by sentinel chicken at 12:27 PM on September 17, 2009
posted by sentinel chicken at 12:27 PM on September 17, 2009
i would be making this a FPP, except it's a bit of a self-link:
my friend james bowthorpe is, probably on saturday, going to break the world record for human-powered circumnavigation of the world: james visited my house for a party when he came through new york a couple of weeks ago. he was remarkably fit and sane, even though he had biked every day from vancouver to new york over the course of ~40 days.
he's doing this for charity, so hopefully i won't get hammered for the self-link.
posted by beukeboom at 12:29 PM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
my friend james bowthorpe is, probably on saturday, going to break the world record for human-powered circumnavigation of the world: james visited my house for a party when he came through new york a couple of weeks ago. he was remarkably fit and sane, even though he had biked every day from vancouver to new york over the course of ~40 days.
he's doing this for charity, so hopefully i won't get hammered for the self-link.
posted by beukeboom at 12:29 PM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
Nice being a first-worlder, isn't it? Someone with a British passport can bicycle from the UK to India. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to be someone with an Indian passport trying to do the reverse.
Yeah, pretty much impossible, speaking as a holder of an Indian passport.
I read through this whole thing and enjoyed it immensely but the second-to-last entry about Tashkent left a bad taste in my mouth.
Especially these lines:
Do you speak English?" Of course they didn't. Judging by their looks of brick-faced stupidity, they could barely speak their own language.
How arrogant is it to travel to a country and not speak a word of the native language, and somehow expect that officials there will speak yours? It's really hard to get past his contemptuous tone here.
posted by peacheater at 12:50 PM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
Yeah, pretty much impossible, speaking as a holder of an Indian passport.
I read through this whole thing and enjoyed it immensely but the second-to-last entry about Tashkent left a bad taste in my mouth.
Especially these lines:
Do you speak English?" Of course they didn't. Judging by their looks of brick-faced stupidity, they could barely speak their own language.
How arrogant is it to travel to a country and not speak a word of the native language, and somehow expect that officials there will speak yours? It's really hard to get past his contemptuous tone here.
posted by peacheater at 12:50 PM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
Mod note: few comments removed - knock it off? thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:57 PM on September 17, 2009
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:57 PM on September 17, 2009
He can write. And he has great experiences. Great job.
posted by uni verse at 4:08 PM on September 17, 2009
posted by uni verse at 4:08 PM on September 17, 2009
I really wish I had my mothers scrap book here for scanning & reading. In the seventies, in a small town north of Stockholm we met a man from India who was biking around the world.
He had gotten all the way to Sweden, and when he reached our neck of the woods he saw that there was a long white road that nobody was driving on, but much traffic on the road next to it, so he decided in his naive wisdom to ride on that white road. Which was an icy river, of course. Pretty soon he crashes through the ice, and is fished out by local boys. He speaks only english, and the boys thought they should bring him to us (known in the hood as the family who spoke english), so they did. He stayed with us a few weeks, all the local papers came by and reported stories about his journey so there are plenty of news clippings showing a very seventies looking family posing with our exotic biker-pal. He continued his journey, sending us postcards along the way. Mom has told me that he made it all the way Germany where he died of pneumonia a year or so later.
posted by dabitch at 4:11 PM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
He had gotten all the way to Sweden, and when he reached our neck of the woods he saw that there was a long white road that nobody was driving on, but much traffic on the road next to it, so he decided in his naive wisdom to ride on that white road. Which was an icy river, of course. Pretty soon he crashes through the ice, and is fished out by local boys. He speaks only english, and the boys thought they should bring him to us (known in the hood as the family who spoke english), so they did. He stayed with us a few weeks, all the local papers came by and reported stories about his journey so there are plenty of news clippings showing a very seventies looking family posing with our exotic biker-pal. He continued his journey, sending us postcards along the way. Mom has told me that he made it all the way Germany where he died of pneumonia a year or so later.
posted by dabitch at 4:11 PM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
My legs hurt just reading this
posted by luckycharmz336 at 7:41 AM on September 18, 2009
posted by luckycharmz336 at 7:41 AM on September 18, 2009
A friend of mine who goes by the name 'George the Cyclist' spends his summers and winters biking all over the world. While on these trips he bikes each day and wild camps by night.
Since 2005 he has biked across, around or through South Africa, Spain, Israel, Great Britain, Venezuela, Japan, Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ecuador, Italy and German. He has also followed the Tour de France each year since 2004. And he writes all about it on his blog.
posted by Rashomon at 2:34 PM on September 18, 2009
Since 2005 he has biked across, around or through South Africa, Spain, Israel, Great Britain, Venezuela, Japan, Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ecuador, Italy and German. He has also followed the Tour de France each year since 2004. And he writes all about it on his blog.
posted by Rashomon at 2:34 PM on September 18, 2009
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posted by vanar sena at 9:34 AM on September 17, 2009