A Cycle Tour Around The World
Covid Lockdown and crossing the Nullabor desert
Western Australia March 2020 So it’s been a while since my last blog when I’d just finished cycling the Munda Biddi trail in Western Australia. As I left off it was mid March and I was just about to head out to cycle across the mighty Nullabor desert. Well as you are probably aware there was a little something going on at the time although it didn’t seen to be effecting Australia all that much. So off I cycled and...
Arrival in Australia and the Munda Biddi Trail – 8 Feb to 15 Mar 2020
Australia 8 Feb 2020 Perth Intl Airport to Camillo 35km My flight arrives in to Perth from Bali to a very quiet airport. I pick up my luggage and the bike box and head outside. It’s still very quiet, even at 1pm in the afternoon. I find a place in some shade where I can put my trike back together. The sky is a vivid blue, its hot and there’s not a cloud in the sky. An hour later the...
An ever lengthening amount of time in Paradise, also known as Bali, Indonesia. 28 Nov 2019 to 8 Feb 2020.
An ever lengthening amount of time in Paradise, also known as Bali, Indonesia. 28 Nov 2019 to 8 Feb 2020 (Wiki extracts in italics) Bali is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Located east of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. The provincial capital, Denpasar, is the most populous city in the Lesser Sunda...
Java, Java, Java (and a smidgen of Singapore!) – 9th to 27th Nov 19
9th to 12th November 2019 Singapore Having arrived from Malaysia on my trike (see the previous blog to catch up) I book into my hostel in the Little India district of Singapore. The smell of curries cooking in the nearby restaurants is alluring. Not so the large gangs of itinerant workers lounging around the public spaces drinking alcohol and eating food! Over the next 3 days as I am waiting for the ferry to Indonesia I get out and about...
Inroads into Malaysia, not all Tarmac is Equal
The Final Days of Thailand Total Page Visits: 15814 - Today Page Visits: 2
Amazing Thailand – 16 Aug to 9 Oct 2019
Thailand 16 August to 09 October 2019 Thailand Total Distance 1992km Accumulative Distance 31,026km Days in Country 54 Days Cycled 23 Well this blog is going to be slightly different from all my other blogs so far. Why’s that you ask? Well after about 1 and a half months in Thailand I went on a waterfall walk and my phone got water damaged, basically it was Phuket (yes that’s a pun on f@@ked!!) . So what’s that got to...
Lao People’s Democratic Republic 6 – 16 August 2019
Intro Laos first emerged in the region as Lan Xang, or the ‘Kingdom of a Million Elephants’, in the 14th century. Despite some bursts of independence, the kingdom generally found itself paying tribute to more powerful neighbours, including the Siamese and Vietnamese. Geography ensured Laos was sucked into the Vietnam War and a lengthy civil war culminated in a communist takeover in 1975. After many years of isolation, Laos began to experiment with economic reforms in the 1990s but political...
Goodbye Vietnam! 14th July to 5th August 2019
Sunday 14th to 16th July 2019 Ha Giang to Sapa (Ta Van) Distance 85 + 96 + 41T Total 28476 km Mud mud mud gloop gloop gloop. Between Ha Giang and Sapa it rained quite a bit. The final climb up to Ta Van was huge and in a lot of places just hard packed gravel and mud. Tough going but I make it in the end. Time for a couple of days off which I spend walking up the...
Hanoi! Hanoi! Hanoi!
Hanoi So I’ve been to Hanoi three times now and it’s about time I did a blog on it. My first visit was as a backpacker from Cambodia to visit for New Year 2018 and as a jump off point for backpacking the rest of Vietnam. Then the second time was in June 2019 as I cycled up from the south to the north and finally on a quick bus trip from Sapa to apply for my Thai Visa. Each...
North Vietnam and the Extreme Ha Giang Loop
Sunday 23rd June 2019 to Thursday 27th June 2019 Hanoi to Ban Gioc Waterfalls Distance 359 km Total 27858 km Monday. I’m leaving Hanoi today and heading to the fabled northern hills of Vietnam. Here there be waterfalls, caves, huge hills, mountain passes and beautiful scenery. A little bit like the rest of Vietnam just more vertical! Nick gets up with me at 3am and let’s me out of Fortress Ha (Nicks wife enjoys her security!) At this time in...
On route to Hanoi. Hoi An, Hue, Phong Nha Caves and Tam Coc. Four top destinations in Vietnam
25th May to 04 June 2019 Hoi An 11 long days in Hoi An. Having researched online about getting a new visa for Vietnam it seems I have to do a border run to Laos. I’ll also need a letter of invitation as I’m asking for a 3 month visa to ensure I have enough time to explore the North. The options are go with the local bus, hire a motorbike or go with a visa run company in comfort....
Welcome to Vietnam… Again!!
Welcome to Vietnam… Again! OK, so I know I was in Vietnam in January this year, had a fab time and met up with old friends and new alike. I also know I haven’t written the blog for that backpacking visit yet, so you’re just going to have to wait, and in the meantime read all about my current visit on my Azub Ti-Fly Trike. As you may have read in the previous blog, (if not why not!?) I’ve just...
Cycling Out of Cambodia
Tuesday 7th May 2019 Siem Reap to Stoung Distance 98km Total 25324km A few days ago I went into Siem Reap town center to a travel agents. I was enquiring about extending my visa for 1 more month. However, with the amount of public holidays this month and the fact your passport has to be sent to the capital, Phnom Phen, it wouldn’t have been returned to me until about the same day the extension was going to run out!...
Cambodia December 2018
Cambodia. 2nd Dec to 27 Dec 2018 Sunday 2nd December Siam Reap, Cambodia My flight out of Phuket is at 6am so like the good traveller I am I arrive 3 hours before. Having checked my bag in I’m told security doesn’t open for another 1 hour 30 minutes! So much for arriving early! I arrive in Siam Reap at 735am and after a very quiet trundle through the sleepy airport and having purchased my US $30 visa...
Nov 2018 A split in the road
So if you’ve been reading the blogs so far you will have possibly heard we have been having a tough time of it. For the month of November Heulwen and I travel from Singapore, through Malaysia and into Thailand and up to Phuket to a workaway at a dog sanctuary . Unfortunately I’ve not got any photos and blog for this period as we were going through a massive upheaval and long story short we have decided to go our...
Stormy seas, stormy relationships. Not a sailor’s life for me: Muara to Tanjung Pinang – 12th to 30th Oct 2018
Friday 12th October / 13th October Muara, Brunei We complete another sailing leg and arrive in Muara. We anchor in the bay and Philip heads off to complete the Marina paperwork and immigration. Two hours later he’s back and he’s failed the Immigration test because they need to see us all personally. Whilst Phil’s away it’s been a mammoth task to organise movement of the crew from the trimaran to the yacht club. It’s about 300m away and it’s really...
A Life on the Ocean Wave – Philippines to Brunei : 28th Sept to 12th Oct 2018
Friday 28th September Cebu, Philippines So here we are in the Philippines sans trikes and the plan, if it comes to fruition, is to take a 6 month break from cycling . There are a number of factors that led to this cunning plan but ultimately our desire to cycle through China was the driver. But for that we need a Chinese visa. We had researched getting the visa from Seoul but even if successful that would have meant cycling...
Korea and the 4 Rivers Cycleway 31 Aug – 27 Sep 2018
Friday 31st August Busan port to Songdo Beach Daily Total 62.39 km Trip Total 24220.6 km We arrive in South Korea at 6pm. We get through Immigration and then are wondering where our trikes will be when a shipping agent comes over and asks us if we are the trike owners. (We’re probably the only European foreigners on the boat!) he takes us into a back room and then over several baggage conveyor belts and down a long metal staircase....
Cycling again, the end of Japan 9 Aug – 31 Aug 2018
Friday 10th August Mimasaka to Kori Daily Total 58.22 km Trip Total 23376.92 km And we’re back on the trikes, cycling again. It’s been a fab workaway but time to move on. It’s an uneventful ride as we retrace our previous tracks back towards the coast. However we do make one slight detour. Remember the nice man who picked us up outside Okayama one night, took pity on us and drove us all the way back to Mimasaka? Well we...
Final days of workaway and Climbing Mt Fuji 28 July to 8 Aug
Saturday 28th July Last night, returning from Okinawa, when our coach pulled in at Minasaka we’d been unable to reach Kuzumi and get a lift home but within 5 minutes we’d managed to hitch a lift. Over the next 4 days we do various chores including weeding, masking and sealing walls the walls in the house and other various chores. We catch the tail end of another typhoon with some high winds and torrential rains. To Crip’s surprise I quite...
Sumo! More workaway and a flying visit to Okinawa – 10 July to 27 Jul 2018
Tuesday 10th July Sumo day!!!! This morning we’re up at 4.45am to buy our tickets at the Aichi Prefecture Gymnasium, situated in the castle grounds. The ticket booth opens at 7.45am and there are only about 100 tickets sold each day of the tournament. There were tickets available online on 24th May for this tournament that runs from 8th to 26th July but firstly they’re more expensive and secondly we weren’t really sure where we’d be and whether getting to...
Permaculture workaway – 26th June to 9 Jul 2018
Tuesday 26th June Kori to Kamikayama Distance: 52.30 km Total Distance: 23301.35 km A pretty uneventful day cycling wise but we do arrive at our workaway. There’s Crip (well Crispin), he’s been here in Japan for 30 years but originally he’s from Alton in Hampshire. He’s married to a Japanese lady, Kazumi, and they have a 6 year old daughter, Emma. They have a small holding and originally we were to live there, in a shed, offgrid, whilst they live...
Guest blog written by Brett Green
Our first full day in Miyajima after settling in the previous day we decided having first checked the weather forecast that our best chance of getting a fantastic view at the top of Mount Misen would be today. It was not guaranteed but we set off in good hope. Daz checked the Geocache App to see if there were any caches that we could take in as we travelled to the Roadway Cable car. So, the competition started with...
Toyohashi – Kori: 12th to 25th Jun 2018
Tuesday 12th June Toyohashi to Ise Distance: 55.31 km Total Distance: 22731.04 km Yesterday, despite the typhoon forecast, it was a lovely sunny, windless day but we stayed at Aaron’s just to catch up on the blog and do some work on the trikes; fitting a second mirror, a new flag pole for me and changing the oil on the Rohloff hubs. Daz cooked with Aaron last night and we discovered gazpacho and how delicious it is. Then Aaron...
Kate and Brett’s Visit – Part 2 – Hiroshima, Miyajima and Kyoto – 2nd to 10th Jun 2018
Saturday 2nd June Takamatsu to Hiroshima After breakfast in Mr Donut by the railway station we board the train for Hiroshima, via Okayama again. Since Sapporo, Daz and I have been hankering for some more cheese pies, which are absolutely delicious. When we come out of Hiroshima station we see a queue around the block… it’s only a cheese pie queue. Daz joins the queue, and we go and get coffees and wait and wait some more. It’s a...
Kate and Brett’s Visit Part 1 – Himeji, Takamatsu and Naoshima :29th May to 1st Jun 2018
Tuesday 29th May Toyohashi to Himeji by train We’re off to meet Brett and Kate! We get a lift from Aaron’s neighbour to the train station. We’d looked at getting a cheap train but with 4 connections and 6 hours of travel we opt to use the bullet train, 1 hour 20 mins direct to Osaka!! We need to go to Osaka first so we can buy a 7 day JR pass for the railway, which for us is only...
Hommoku Makano – Fuji 5 Lakes – Toyahashi : 22nd to 28th May 2018
Tuesday 22nd May Hommoku Makado to Hadano Distance: 44.65 km Total Distance: 22369.74 km We’ve received a message from Rich and Joan, warmshower hosts in Hadano. They’re going to host us for a couple of nights which is great because we’re in desperate need of some down time for laundry, bike maintenance and to publish the blog etc. And the forecast for Wednesday is rain. The ride is pretty unspectacular although it’s entertaining when we discover we’re not allowed to...
Hirosaki – Hokkaido – Hadano : 21st April to 21st May 2018
Saturday 21st April Hirake to Hirosaki Distance: 9.42 km Total Distance: 21452.38 km This morning we’re out in the garden again. More soil sifting! And of course there’s the usual admin frenzy; blog, make video, publish, FB posts etc. In addition, after months full of good intentions, we finally get a translation prepared – thank you Tama. Now we can show people our translation so they understand what we’re up to. Around 2pm we leave – we knew Tama...
Sakura – Cherry Blossom Festival (Narita to Hirake)1st – 19th April 2018
JAPAN Sunday 1st April (Easter Sunday) Narita International Airport to Matsuko Distance: 9.61km Total Distance: 20681.57 Despite a landing time of midday the cabin crew intent on torturing their economy passengers put the cabin lights on around 5am and start offering a drink of juice and then serve breakfast. I noticed the business section was still kept in darkness. We land and at immigration we’re given a fingerprint scan and are issued a 3 month tourist visa – no...
Incredible India – a footnote
Incredible India – we DID IT!!! There were many who thought we wouldn’t live to tell this tale but fortunately they were wrong. We were warned about the dangers of cycling, with the crazy Indian drivers, and the dangers of wild camping but not once in 3.5 months did we feel threatened or our lives to be in danger. Perhaps it was their endless fascination with our trikes that kept us safe because we were often surrounded by an...
My name is Darren Broadhurst
It all started in 2015. After a year of planning and a last minute change of plans I set out on a round the world cycle trip with Heulwen (Hels, my girlfriend) who I had persuaded to come on this epic journey. We initially backpacked through Scandinavia and Iceland using www.workaway.info for 8 months. Some of the highlights were husky sledding in the Finnish Arctic Circle, looking after horses on a farm in Sweden, Norwegian coastal cruise and an incredible 2 months in Iceland with whales, geysers and stunning waterfalls.
Then the cycling began, first on a tandem recumbent around Spain, Portugal and France. More workaways and incredible adventures ensued.
But after only 6500km we realised the tandem would be a nightmare to cycle around the world, so we sold it in France and flew to the Azub recumbent factory in the Czech Republic.
We were soon owners of two recumbent trikes.
And the adventures continued as we cycled down through Europe towards Turkey and Central Asia. In our sights was the Pamir Highway, a cycling mecca and an amazing place to camp and cycle through.
After the ‘Stans (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan?) we hit up Nepal…
and India
Then we flew to the amazingness that is Japan where we spent 5 months doing the country proud including climbing Mt Fuji and finally on to South Korea and its 550km four rivers cycleway.
During all this time we still used Workaway.info in many countries and met some amazing people and learnt new skills.
This took us up to September 2018 and after 3 years cycling we decided to park the trikes and take a winter break. We flew to the Philippines and joined a sailing trimaran on route to Borneo, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Unfortunately as we crossed the South China Sea to Singapore we lost our mast in a storm and after putting in at some tiny Indonesian tropical islands we decided to jump ship. Fortunately we were able to catch a ferry to the Indonesian mainland then another to Singapore where we continued our travels as backpackers again through Malaysia and into Thailand.
Its here, after 4 amazing years with Hels, on so many thrilling adventures that we decided to continue onwards in separate directions. Hels was the driving force behind the majority of our experiences and if you want to catch up with her on her solo travels you can read all about them at
https://roamingmole.com/the-underground-story/
If you’d like to look back at our joint travels then you can do so here
And so now I’m travelling on too. You’ll be able to catch up with my adventures and follow my route all from this website. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Click the 3 lines at the top of this page to head over to the blog or map page to see where I am now. Also don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube links below.
Enjoy!!
Darren
