Supporters
I’m already hugely indebited to lots of people for all their help and advice. It’s very important to me that, at the very least, I give proper recognition for their efforts – and this is my attempt to do so. For simplicity, entries are mostly chronological. If you are interested in supporting me, be that anything from offers of hospitality en route to items of kit, please do get in touch.
So, a big thank you to…..
Mum and Dad for their love and support. My brother Steve, his wife Lou and their daughter Imogen.
Laura Watson at the Outward Bound Trust. Shane Winser at the Royal Geographical Society for lots of advice and guidance. Pam Goodall for all her advice and encouragement.
Jon and Helen for their support and encouragement, and insistence on feeding me every time I rebuild bits of my cottage, and take up residence in a tent in my garden. Peter and Carol for lots of help with equipment design and manufacture, testing and refinement, cups of tea and lots of biscuits. Sue – not forgetting husband Roger – for translating my ramblings into readable press releases. Helen’s friend Sue for politely listening to said ramblings. Neighbours Colin and Gill, Sarah and Tony, Sue and Malcolm, Mandy and Bill.
Jenny, Nicky and the village Community Group for organising such an amazing send-off – bunting, our local MP Jeremy Browne to cut the starting tape, and about 200 well-wishers – truly very touched.
Jan in the nearby village of Pitsford Hill for ‘keeping Mum’ about me doing a fine rendition of someone appearing lost, just a few miles from their home…
Jenny for understanding.
Pete Sellers for being annoyingly right that now was the time to do this. Gordon Graham, John Bonnar, Chris New and Iain up north for being so supportive during my frequent absences for training, jabs and such like. Chrissy for helping sort out my written words.
Claudia Myatt for the artwork. James the web designer.
Anton at 10Radio for his sterling support, gently breaking me into the art of radio interviews, and following my progress on air with monthly live chats with my good friend and neighbour Jon.
Fellow CycleWales students Colin and Steve for capturing me on camera, and Philip for giving me a few steers on my expedition cycle ‘test run’ around Eire.
Dom Hall and Nigel Hodgson for copious advice on travelling through, and living in, the tropics, desert and savannah.
Andy Blance, Thorn’s designer, for all his help refining Emma’s (my custom built expedition cycle) specification, as well lots of on-the-road advice, hints and tips.
Louise English at Lifeline Language Services – in my home county of Lancashire – for very kindly arranging translation of my letter of introduction into a whole raft of different languages.
Dr Ewan, Sisters Moira and Carole for a lot of patience, cups of tea, chocolate biscuits and (almost) every pre-departure jab possible. James at Travel Health Consultancy for a few top-up jabs, and lots of advice on water purification and anti-malarials. Phillippa and Alison at Bishops Lydeard for sorting out my feet! Dr Ramin Ordi and Ann at Crownhill Dental Practice, Plymouth, for some last minute root canal work, and advice on the road.
Peter Elliott at PH Designs for his carefully considered advice on some serious down clothing and sleeping bags, and for making a visit to their Lancashire workshops such an enjoyable experience!
Katie and Tarka at Primal Journey for lots of spot on advice on affordable mobile internet solutions, even when in the midst of last minute preps for their own expedition!
Samantha – sorry, humble apologies, Sam – at T-Mobile for going through the fine print with me of pay-as-you-go international mobile internet roaming, always a much loved subject late on a Friday evening! Simon at Applied Satellite Technology for some serious communications kit…
Becky and Nicky at my local Lloyds TSB Bank branch for their great patience and good humour – especially on a hot, humid Friday afternoon – helping sort out all the money stuff!
Mathias and his mum Dominique Le Pennec for their kind offer – graciously accepted – of bread, fruits and pate in the small town of Pleguien. And for catching up with me a few miles later to take a photo for the local paper… Tim and Pierrette Lee, proprieters of the delightful Camping l’Abri Cotier campsite – www.camping-abricotier.fr – in Etables-sur-Mer on the coast of Brittany, for making me feel so welcome. And Pierrette’s mother for cooking me such a lovely meal! Fabrice at ‘Sans Souci’ (’Without Worry’) campsite at Fresnay-sur-Sarthe for lots of helpful advice and sharing some Gaelic humour. Fabienne, proprietor of the ‘Loft Cafe’ in Mamers. Harry and Jean Dixon for feeding me so well south of Chartres. Seige, proprietor of ‘Snack des sapins’, high up near La Bresse, eastern France.
Manfred and Ute, my cycling companions into Regensburg, Germany. Claudia, fellow hosteller in Straubing, Germany.
Lancashire lass Kelly and her Australian partner Steve, perfect hosts in the Aboriginal Hostel, Budapest, Hungary.
HM Consul Belgrade, Sean Moran, and his team. Natasa for being such a generous and kind host in Belgrade. Mica in Negotin, eastern Serbia, for making me so welcome in his home town.
Fellow Englishman Myles Mellor, my cycling companion from Sofia to Harmanli, Bulgaria. Shirley and husband Martin in Harmanli, eastern Bulgaria. Chris, Ruth, Alex and Emily for the very generous use of their home in Bulgaria, and with it the opportunity to experience traditional village life. Julie and George, Aneta and Yany, Zoya and Jack, Christopher and Radka, Donka and George, and Nicky, Nanette and Michael in eastern Bulgaria for their generous help and hospitality.
Tugba, Zehra and Huseyin for their fine Turkish hospitality in Istanbul, and Alapli on the Black Sea coast. Yaren, Ali, Sena and the rest of the team in Trabzon for making my Dad and I feel so welcome, not least putting up with our terrible efforts at Turkish, and for looking after Emma.
Becky and Lisa at the WD-40 Company for kindly providing me with cans of ‘3-in-One’ (©WD-40 Company Ltd) – there’ll be postcards….
Daniela and Azhda at Cafe Licious in Wellington, Somerset for feeding me my staple bacon and toast during training.
Sue and Tim for agreeing to buy my lovely little car…
Those nice folks at the Rock Inn, Waterrow, for one of my last decent meals before I set off…
Tim at Novel T’s of Minehead for the ‘Across Continents’ t-shirts.
And all the craftsmen who’ve helped renovate my old English cottage – Martin the plumber, Andy the carpenter and tiler, Scott and Adam the painters, Ross the gardener and outdoor handyman, Adam and Lou for the kitchen, Ben and the folks at Brendon Hill Stoves for the much loved woodstove, and Brett and Ian for demolishing walls…. And Nick and Liz at Courtyard Antiques for helping furnish my home.
