On 19th March 2024 I arrived on my bicycle at Cape Point, the end of a rocky peninsula just south of Cape Town where the road runs out and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. 199 days earlier I had left London on a bike that I had barely owned a week, with no idea what I was doing, and entirely unprepared for what the next 7 months would have in store.

Over the course of this life-changing journey I pedalled through spectacular mountains and untouched jungle, slept in the desert under the milky way, and eaten some of the most delicious and horrible food of my life. I shared KFC with Russ Cook (the first person ever to run the full length of Africa) in Ghana, chased a thieving fox through the Namibian desert at 2am in my underwear, and drank gin out of a plastic sachet at gunpoint in Nigeria. I shared tea and camel milk with Berbers in the Sahara, slept in mud huts and on police station floors, and battled with horrific food poisoning and malaria.

There were moments when I thought I might not make it back home at all, let alone to the finish line. I’ve learnt that life is so incredibly precious and each new day on this earth is a gift not a given. The world is so much smaller than I thought, and we are so much more alike than we are different. People are curious, kind, funny and generous wherever you go. For every one unpleasant interaction there were 1000 smiles, waves and hellos. Despite being alone, foreign and vulnerable I hardly ever felt unsafe.

This truly was the adventure of a lifetime. If you’d like to read more, these are good places to start:

Listen to the Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of being invited onto the Seek Travel Ride Podcast for a 2-part interview with the legend Bella Molloy.

In Part 1 I discuss how it felt to take on such a huge journey as a complete bikepacking beginner, the first week in France and crossing from Europe into North Africa. I reflect on the highs and lows of crossing the Sahara, pedalling through the jungles and mountains of West Africa, and all the incredible and generous people I met along the way. I also discuss my experience being held at gunpoint by a rebel militia group in Nigeria, the effect it had on me going forward and how it’s changed my perceptions on life a year on.

In Part 2, I pick up the story in Cameroon with a broken printer nearly derailing my trip, and recount some of the crazy encounters on my adventure through Congo’s jungle. I reflect on the generosity of strangers, the brutal challenge of cycling through extreme heat on sandy roads in Namibia, and the shift in mindset that helped me push through. As I neared Cape Town, I realised the journey was never about the destination—it was about the challenges, lessons, and personal growth along the way.