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British Dreamers Ride Bicycles Across 19 Countries

2010/9/2 14:59:00 38

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Ishida Yusuke is known to the world because of a book "not going to die!" there is also such a cyclist in Britain: Douglas Whitehead.

Douglas Whitehead

He is an ordinary company employee. After the financial crisis, Whitehead's dream of riding was rekindled.

He set out from London, England in February 2009, which lasted 9 months, spanning 6000 miles, through 19 countries, and eventually arrived in Amritsar in northern India by bike.

Along the way, Douglas Whitehead carried nothing but a tent, an alcohol fuel stove and some clothes.

His travel notes "riding diary" (

The Bicycle Diaries)

Serialized by the daily telegraph in Britain, it aroused great repercussions in Britain.

Many people tried to follow his footprints. For this, the Daily Telegraph asked Whitehead to write detailed maps and bike riders in the newspaper.

This is not the legend of Marco Polo era. Whitehead is only a 40 year old employee with general physical quality.

He had traveled to Africa, Afghanistan and India before, and the impact of those experiences stayed in his mind for a long time.

But he always had a lot of interest in traveling to travel agencies. He said, "I want to travel in a slow way, and really get to know something else outside these systems."

"Madman" and "idiot" - the question of ridicule followed, like "do you not know that there are direct flights to Heathrow Airport in New Delhi?" such problems were also thrown to Whitehead, and even he himself did not have the confidence to go through the whole process.

Before he left, he wrote on the website: "I envisage that there will be unpleasant parts of the journey, such as loneliness, illness, or rough behavior.

If I can't get over it, I'll give it to the trusting passers-by and then go straight to the nearest airport to go home.

When he was riding on the continent, he never dared tell the people he met on the way that he would ride to India. He just said, "I want to see if I can ride to Istanbul."

Although Whitehead's confidence in his feat is not strong enough, the preparatory work still needs to be done: he bought a 36 speed.

GALAXY DAWES

The modern mountain bike, a CRAGHOPPERS outdoor sports pants, went to Yorkshire, England for a four day trial ride.

When he found that the bicycle could climb uphill easily, the middle-aged man who had never experienced any outdoor riding experience was so happy that he decided to start at once.

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Whitehead was trying to find a place to spend the night near the desert highway in Azerbaijan.

A local man enthusiastically invited him into the room.

Although the room seemed to be broken, the owner had some tattered clothes, but Whitehead had no choice but to go to sleep.

When he woke up in the middle of the night, he was amazed to see that his master was holding a six inch knife. Luckily, he woke up in time to stop his master's robbery plan, and also saved his property and bicycle.

Afterwards, Whitehead wrote in his diary: "at that time, I really doubted whether the idea of cycling to India was too childish.

But the desire for this kind of travel has gone deep into my heart, and quoted the Robert Louis Stevenson as saying that the significance of travel is to let us stay away from the high pillow of modern civilization and truly understand the needs of life. "Stephenson said.

When riding a bike becomes a daily job, Whitehead's physique is also becoming stronger and stronger.

When it passed through Schwarzwald in Germany last March, it had been raining for 48 hours, and then came heavy snow.

It was so cold that even the water bottles in the tent would freeze, and three pairs of socks were still worn.

Even so, Whitehead did not find a place to camp in a forest or railway bridge on the way. He lived in a simple hotel. Only when he was riding to the south of France, he had to spend 60 pounds for a night to get a thorough treatment because of a knee injury.

What's worth remembering in the journey should be all kinds of interesting people on the way.

The elderly, who are old enough to travel around the world because of their love for freedom, have good intentions to be his guide and provide him with comfortable housing.

With the increasing distance of bicycling, many websites in Britain have begun to use "commendatory words" such as "fearless" and "brave" to describe him.

After cycling through Whitehead's favorite Turkey Istanbul, he began his journey in the Asian region.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the Iran border, his visa in Iran was rejected.

At that time, Iran was not very peaceful, and the neighboring countries like Syria also had no choice but to choose to take a detour to Georgia, the only country he knew was "the birthplace of Stalin".

Georgia's simple and enthusiastic folklore led Whitehead to run smoothly. After that, he was arrested in Kyrgyzstan for smoking, because he was unwilling to bribe the police and was detained. Fortunately, he finally crossed Pakistan to reach the destination of India.

Whitehead had considered putting the end of the tour in Taj Mahal, India, but in the end, he was attracted by the Golden Temple of Ali. In this sacred place, he obtained the privilege of free accommodation, and began to write about this 9 month ride trip: "19 countries, all kinds of people, on the way to see the seasons changing, experiencing the most beautiful and worst moments in life.

But I feel satisfied. I feel that life experience, color and contrast have reached the peak in my own control.

If I save enough money, maybe I will take the next bike trip, cross South America or travel around the world.

Maybe when you finish reading my riding diary, you also have the urge to buy a bicycle and choose a distant end on the map.

Then let's go. I bet you can! "