The big adventure

And so the big adventure begins. It’s been a long time coming and a busy few weeks in the lead up means that I’ve had little time to really think about the implications of the journey I’m about to undertake. A journey of potentially some 15,000km. A journey that will take me nearly a quarter of the way around the world, through some of the most densely populated areas on earth.

At Stanstead airport waiting for my bike box to be x-rayed, I turn to Juliet and give her a hug. As I do emotion wells up inside me. She’s normally by my side on big adventures and tears form and roll down my cheeks. For this is a solo adventure by bicycle.

We take a parting selfie and I turn for the security gate and am enveloped by the summer holiday bustle that’s packed into the airport.

Winding the clock back forty years with fewer things to worry about a long sustained journey was less about the things you leave behind and more about the things discovered on the way. These days it’s about both.

At 62 I have more friends, more things, more memories and experience. Saying goodbye feels harder.

The other day someone asked me if I was off to find myself. At the time I didn’t really give a cogent answer. After 40 years of work I don’t think I’m looking to find myself. More that I feel a real sense of freedom. That I’ve been unshackled from the corporate bonds that have restricted me. I’m now free to fully engage with the curiosity that burns hot in my belly. Curiosity that wants to understand the world.

In this age of strong divisional political and corporate leadership, more than ever I feel a need to directly hear the stories of real people. Stories lost in the era of AI driven social media.

Twenty four hours after saying goodbye to Juliet, I find my self tired with a sense that I’ve walked through the wardrobe into another world. My bike box that originally came from the Giant shop in Carcassonne has made it. Battered and covered in extra tape that I applied I Delhi to help patch it for its final flight.

With the help of a watching enthusiastic crowd I reassemble my bike and head off into the Srinigar maelstrom. It’s a proper Kashmiri welcome.

Earlier in Delhi airport there was a long list of things that are restricted for carry on luggage. I have a melange of things needed for a a bike adventure including my saddle, peddles, wheel nut spanner, lighter, some boiled eggs, my electronics, a selfie stick and clamp. I give up my lighter before putting my bag to be X-rayed. Not surprisingly they want a look inside my bag. The spanner is definitely a no as it’s a tool but they are not sure about some of the other things including my peddles and saddle. After a lot of tooing and froing and consultation they agree I can keep the saddle, peddles, selfie stick, clamp and eggs in return for me surrendering my spanner. In Srinigar it means that my front wheel nuts will only be on finger tight.

As I set off round Dal lake early the next morning I’m acutely aware that my wheel could come off on any bump or pothole. My mind concentrated on the road ahead and finding a suitable spanner to secure my wheels.