Cycling Adventure From Rossi to Aussie: Fergal Guihen (Pt 1)

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Yeah, so we're camp out atthis beach together for night.
We cook our own dinner,have a few cans, and then
the next day we separate.
But then I'm just thinking,okay, this is where I can, you
know, change my route entirely.
Am I gonna fight fears andgo to Iran and whatever
countries after that tookStan or Afghanistan, or am I
going to go with my originalroute, which was through

(00:22):
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
And, uh, in the weeks offollow up, I was, you know,
contemplating which one to take.
And the one that was morefrightening stood out to me,
which was, uh, the one toIran and heard so many great
things about the country.
And me being Irish, Iwould've met so many English

(00:43):
and American cycle touriststhat can't travel to Iran..
But I knew my passport,I can enter the country.
So this is where I just, whenI got to Tbilisi in Georgia,
I went to the embassy.
I applied for the Visa and I gotapproved and yeah, that was it.
I was telling my family I wasgoing to Iran and I honestly
don't know what they werethinking because my family

(01:04):
didn't even know what to sayto me when I was leaving on
this trip.
Welcome to Seek Travel Ride,where we share the stories and
experiences of people takingamazing adventures by bike,
whether it's crossing stateborders, mountain ranges,
countries, or continents.
We want to share thatspirit of adventuring on two
wheels with our listeners.

(01:33):
Hello everyone.
Bella here, host from the show.
Just quickly before weget into this episode,
I have done it again.
I have once more interviewto guest whose story is too
incredible to condense downinto one single episode.
The guest today is FergalGuihen, and you will be hearing
part one out of two parts.
I caught up with Fergal whilehe was in Timor Less Day.

(01:55):
We had a very interestingand long podcast session,
one of the longest ones Ithink I've ever done, which
also involved a power cut anda scene change for Fergal.
At one point, I was speakingto him completely in the dark.
It was quite hilarious.
Anyway, in this episode, you'regonna hear about how Fergal
got the idea for his journey,how he planned and set out on

(02:17):
this adventure, and also whathelped him choose to take the
more adventurous and unknownroute to where he is now.
And then in next week, wewill continue the journey on.
So saddle up and enjoythis session, part one of
two with Fergal Guihen.
Hello listeners.

(02:38):
It's Bella Malloy here,host of the show, and
today on Seek Travel Ride.
I'm joined by someone who'sin the middle of an absolutely
incredible bike adventure.
It was way back in March,2024 when Fergal Ghan set off
from his home in Rocom IslandDestination Sydney, Australia.
The thing is, before he started,Fergal didn't really have
much cycling experience and hehimself admits he didn't even

(03:01):
know how to fix a puncture.
Since then, his ride has takenhim across Europe through the
Balkans into Turkey, whereit was a chance meeting with
another bike traveler headingin the opposite direction
that completely changedthe course of his trip.
Instead of taking what manywould consider to be the safer
route through Central Asia.
Fergal chose the adventurouspath, and soon enough found

(03:23):
himself cycling through Iranand Afghanistan countries.
Most of us only hear about inheadlines, but where he says
he's discovered incrediblehospitality and had the most
unforgettable experiences.
He also cycled across Chinawhere he found himself cycling
in temperatures down as lowas minus 20 in remote deserts
in the middle of winter.

(03:45):
He had challenging moments withpolice escorts navigated the
mega cities there, and alsocollected insights from regions.
Many of us, dare I say,probably don't even know exist.
Fergal has wild camp throughout.
He's had the challenges ofdoing so with a broken tent
in Southeast Asia and hasexperienced temperatures
climbing close to 50 degrees.

(04:05):
His journey has been filledwith challenges, surprises,
and extraordinary kindness fromstrangers around the world.
In every country hehas traveled through.
We're catching up while he'sin Dili t more less day,
with just one final stretchleft before Australia.
I cannot wait to hear aboutwhat it's really like to take
on such a huge adventure withno prior cycling background,

(04:26):
the moments which have shapedAL'S perspective and what
he's learned as he makeshis way from Rossie to Ozzy.
Fergal.
Guihen, you absolute legend.
A big warm welcome to the show.
Thank you so much, Bonai.
It was really to bringback a lot of memories
here in, uh, that intro.
And, uh, I'm happy to bejoining the list of all the
amazing guests and friendsthat, uh, you've interviewed

(04:50):
throughout the, your podcast.
It's a pleasure to have youon the show, Fergal, and it's
something you said there justquickly, like the friends that
you've made on this journey,bike traveling gives you fast
friendships and I can't thinkof the countless long list of
people that you have now, youknow, can count on as friends
there from your travels.
Speaking of long lists,Fergal, I've got a long

(05:11):
list of questions for you,but the question I start
my show with and I ask itof all my guests is Fergal.
Guihen, do you remember thevery first bike you ever rode?
Uh, the exact bike.
I don't really havemuch an an idea.
I never really cycled beforethis challenge, but, uh,
I do remember when I wasin primary school in the
summertime, like the last fewdays of school, I remember.

(05:34):
Taking off with my friendsto cycle towards their house
in the heat and we'd go likemessing around the hay bales.
'cause I come from likereally countryside Ireland.
So, uh, yeah, I justremember like cycling to my
friend's house and kind ofplaying around the fields.
And uh, I guess next bikeafter that would've been like a
long stint all through school.

(05:54):
After that, I never reallycycled until I got to
university and in Dublin, uh,I would've traveled around
on my sister's bicycle.
So that was really it.
I would've just cycled myfriend's house when I was
little and then around, uh,Dublin to commute to college
and uh, to work and stuff.
But I was never really much ofa bicycle person before this.

(06:15):
Yeah.
Do you think you're a, you'llbe a bicycle person after this?
Do you think you'll be someonewho just rides a bike for
sport or is riding a bike?
It, it's a travel thing for you.
It's the vessel to propel youto the other side of the world.
At the moment,now, I call myself a cyclist,
but for so long in this, uh,this tour, I never counted
myself as a cyclist becausereally, like when I left on
this journey, I, I never evenpracticed cycling because I

(06:38):
was recovering from an injury.
So I think at this stage in thegame, I would find it hard to
remove myself from a bicycle.
Uh, and I think you wouldhave lots of guests that
were the same, that tookup the bicycle as the best
vessel to explore the world.
And yeah, it's gonna be hardto remove it from myself
when this is said and done.
Nimrod your bike has, Imean, he's gone through

(07:00):
a few iterations.
It's got a few newparts on it as well.
Uh, you've definitely riddenit into the ground in places,
but, uh, it's part of yourpersonality too now, right?
Yeah, completely.
Nimrod has come withme the, the whole way.
And, uh, there's lots of timesNimrod broker me, uh, so people
would buy, you know, a brand newbike for this type of travel.
But I, uh, was on crutchesat the time and I was

(07:22):
committing to myself to goahead with this grand plan.
I have the cycle from Irelandto Australia, and the first
thing I had to do was,you know, buy a bicycle.
That's what I had to do.
And, uh, I was freshly offgetting my, uh, cruciate
ligaments, my knee operatedon, and uh, I was off work
and it was around the timewhere like, okay, I need to

(07:43):
commit to this travel or not.
And I said, right, look uponline, see your frame bike.
That's all I knew.
Need a steal frame bike.
And, uh.
I seen the first theater bike.
I sent the person a message.
I literally hopped inmy car on crutches and
I went and collected it.
And it's so funny going backnow, I have a video of, uh, me

(08:04):
kind of, you know, assessingthe bike after I bought it
to send a video to my friend.
And I, I don't know theterminology for anything.
I'm like, well, there's afew scrapes here on the, the
break, which I was pointing at.
The shifter, the pedal,you know, was a bit worn
and I was pointing atthe whole chain ring.
The cassettes.
The cassettes.
I, I don't evenknow what it called.

(08:25):
I didn't even knowwhat a spoke was.
That's how raw Iwas before this.
Yeah.
You've used, I mean, you'veused zip ties as spokes on this
journey for a bit too, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Lots of times, especiallythere in, uh, Southeast Asia.
I think I went eight spokes,uh, missing on my bicycle.
But I think Emily Holbertspeaks me to which she had

(08:46):
something like 12 missing.
Oh my gosh.
Em.
Absolute legend of a human beingcurrently in the High Mountains
in Nepal, doing absolutely greatthings on her water cycle tour.
Yeah.
Oh, I, I, have you seen thelittle video with em and her
broken spokes on that section?
It's absolutely ridiculous.
It looks awful.

(09:06):
And for me, now, I am headinginto my Australian cycle.
And originally, you know, Ithought, okay, I've built up
enough confidence, I'll take onthe route that, that Emily took.
But, uh, I, I think afterseeing that video and, uh,
maybe with the seasons beinga little hotter now, I,
I'm not kicking that route.
Well, I, I think also you'dnearly be coming into it just

(09:26):
before wet season starts too.
So that would be quiteinteresting to see you take
a bit of a route if, if youwere, if you were heading in
Northwestern Australia as well,and up in, through Darwin too.
Oh my gosh.
Jumping across to Australia.
I wanna jump back in time Ilback to before the, this trip
even started for you, right?
I wanna know what growing upin Ross Common was actually
like, you, you handle on,on Instagram rossie to

(09:48):
Ossie Rossie short for Ross.
Common.
What was Ross Common like?
It's Ireland, so I'm picturingvery lush green fields, but
tell me more about Ross.
Common.
Yeah, so growing up inthe west of Ireland,
uh, Ross Common is, you know,it's on the border where
the west meets the Midland.
So I would alwayscall it the west.
It's west of the river Shannon.
And I guess growing up there wasonly one thing you do as a child

(10:10):
and it's play Gaelic football.
So all my life I would beplaying Gillick football.
For those that don't know,it's uh, maybe a bit like
Aussie rules, but it's asport that we play with
our hands and our feet.
And it's very, I guess,tribal sport because you
play for where you're born.
And all my life I wasplaying for, you know,
my small little village.

(10:31):
And I come from a very ruralplace in my primary school,
which is eight age groups,uh, like eight classes.
There was only 32 inthe entire school.
32 pupils.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Very rural.
And, uh, I would bea farmer as well.
So I think you can't livein the west of Ireland
without being, uh, a farmer.

(10:52):
You know, everyone would'vemanned the land when they
were younger generations ago.
So every family has land andmy parents would've grown
up with sheep and cows.
So even though they have theirown jobs and we don't have, you
know, a big enough farm to, uh,to actually have full-time, I
would've grown up going out intothe winter, the fish elements,

(11:12):
moving cows, dosing sheep,clipping sheep, you know, and
it's all mountainous terrain.
Where I come from isthe mountain of Orna.
It's a coal mine and village.
So, yeah, it's very, I guesspeople would say it's in the
middle of nowhere, but to usit's the hidden gem of Ireland.
And when I was practicing forthis cycle, trip, you know, I
was recovering obviously withmy knee, so I didn't do much.

(11:34):
But I remember taking intothe, the mountains and being
like humbled very quickly.
And I'm very lucky thatthat didn't, uh, you know, I
didn't lose enough confidencein taking on them mountains
because, uh, I think it wasthe Alps or the next ones
that were as tough after that.
But yeah, that's kind of the,the west of Ireland, what really
Moja and, yeah, I, I guesswould've grew up with testing

(11:58):
myself playing Gaelic football.
It was really my wayof, uh, my outlet.
It was always pushing myself.
And then when COVID hit,uh, we weren't able to play
Gaelic football anymore,and I took up running.
So I was working as a nursein the hospital at the time.
Uh, I was still a student,but they needed help in

(12:19):
the intensive care ward.
So I was helping up there.
And, you know, obviously duringCOVID it was a very hard time,
um, me only being, I think I was2120 at the time, and I would've
been working with patients,getting to know them and then
honestly, you know, buildingrapport and then seeing them
unfortunately pass away in thelast few days of their life.

(12:41):
And I guess to me, it reallymade me know that I'm not gonna
be around forever and whatdo I want to do with my life?
And at the same time, I wasreally invested into this
kind of long distance run.
I was doing a hundredkilometer, uh, runs a week, so.
When, you know, thingsstarted to open up again.
I said Iwas, hang on, hang on, hang
on, hang on, hang on, hang on.

(13:03):
A hundred kilometer runs a week.
Was it a hundred kilometersof running or were you running
like a trail run every week?
Uh, I was running ahundred kilometers plus a week.
So not at one go, butduring the week, I, yeah.
Okay.
But I said to myself I wouldrun, uh, an ultra marathon and
then I, I told my friends I wasgonna run an ultra marathon and
then I do know what happened.

(13:23):
Uh, things opened up.
The pubs opened up, I guessis the biggest excuse I have.
And, uh, I lost confidence'cause I told people I
was gonna run an ultramarathon and I didn't, and.
That really, you know, Itook a hit with that 'cause I
wasn't the person I said I was.
And then fast forward anotheryear or so, I ended up, you
know, going on a very quickcycle tour with one of my,

(13:47):
uh, friends from Amsterdamto Sher Berg in France,
which is like six days cycle.
And it was, I, I don't even knowhow we came up with this idea.
I'm gonna send him amessage and find out.
But it was my firstintroduction to Cycle tour.
He would've cycled, uh, I thinkit was Iceland before, and I was
like, oh, okay, we'll do this.
And that was for me and himtook go from Amsterdam, build

(14:09):
our bikes at the airportand straight away camping
on the beach near the hikein, uh, the Netherlands.
And it was so cold, even thoughit was like the 1st of April.
But it was, you know,such a great experience.
My first time actuallycamping, I can't remember
ever camping as a child.
And then three of our friendswould've flown to Paris and

(14:30):
then met us for the lastthree days of our tour.
And this is where I thinkmy real love for bicycle
touring came from becausewe were all cycling.
So that's a groupof me and my friend.
And then the three friends wemet up with, we were cycling
through Aurora, France andwe stopped for lunch, eat
our own stuff outside thishouse in the countryside.
And a guy comes over, hestarts talking to us and

(14:50):
he invites us in for tea.
So we get talking to him, it'slike really nice, like getting
to, you know, see a Frenchhouse and like obviously,
you know, happy to see somepeople in Royal France.
And next thing we'relike, oh, it's, you
know, quite a big house.
Uh, they're building ahouse beside this house.
So we're like, it's quite a bighouse that you're building here.
And we knew hewas newly engaged.

(15:11):
He told us.
And then he said, well,I never told anyone this.
You're the first peopleI'm telling, but me and
my wife are expecting.
And the first people, thisrandom French man told us that
he was gonna have a child.
What's the five Irishlads that rocked up to
his house on bicycles?
And it was such a warm.
Nice moments and it's sucha really stuck with me that

(15:32):
this is the really best wayof travel to meet people.
'cause whenever wouldI be in a situation to
meet someone like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess then I, I arrived backto Ireland and uh, it's coming
to the stage of my life whereeveryone my age, you know, I
was 25 at the time, is movingto Australia or they're going

(15:53):
to be staying in Irelandand saving up for a house.
That's kind of the, the twodecisions you have at the,
that 25 years, uh, of agein Ireland and Australia is,
you know, the number one.
Everyone my age is moving outthere, especially me being a
qualified nurse, I'd be ableto get a, a job very easily.
Yeah.
I, I remember thinking duringthe summer beforehand, wouldn't

(16:15):
it be amazing the cycle there?
Like how many more of themexperiences them, interactions
would I have along the way?
I said to myself that I can,you know, I love enjoyed sports.
Running it would obviouslytake too long, so why
not do it by bicycle?
And, uh, I started to telleveryone, uh, that was
the first thing I did.
I started to tell my friends,started to tell my family.

(16:38):
And at first, you know, myfamily were like, okay, right.
These just saying this,nothing will happen.
And then I tore my cruciateligament in my knee.
After, uh, I ran a marathona few days later, I, I fell
off my bicycle, actually toremy c in my knee, and I had
to get a, it operated on.
So this was the pinnaclewhere it's like, okay, I
need to make a decision here.

(16:59):
Am I gonna stick to whatI was telling everyone?
And in six months, months time,I'm gonna leave and cycle to
Australia, or am I going tojust be like, oh, that's it.
Like I can't, this isa, a sign not to do it.
And I went with the, the firstone, I, I said, right, no, this
obstacle, which would me tear,my crucial ligament led to.

(17:23):
Me having the time off work toplan such a enormous trip and it
led gave me time to call peoplethat have done this before.
Like I would've been on, uh,zoom calls of five or so people
that have cycled from Irelandto Australia or parts of it.
I would've had time to plan myroute and in the same time I
was telling everyone, becauseif I kept it to myself, I

(17:44):
knew I wouldn't commit to it.
And also I knew I neededan external motivation more
than just my own ignorance.
The two charities that arevery important to me are, and
hostage foundation because, um,my great granny would've passed
away when she was the age of 99.
And for us, my family, shegot care in her home house

(18:06):
where she, you know, livedher own life rather than
unfortunately passing away or,or passing away in the hospital.
So.
It was really nice for ourfamily that my granny passed
away the last few days ofher life in her home house.
So I knew this was a veryspecial charity organization
and me being a nurse, I, youknow, of course, is a great one.
And the other one that Ichose was Northwest Stop

(18:28):
Suicide Prevention Services.
So unfortunately, my own familywould've had members that
lost their life to suicide.
Most recently, when I wasactually eight months into this
cycle trip, I was in Tajikistan.
I just left Afghanistan after,you know, two months a month.
We ran and went throughAfghanistan and I was
in Tajikistan takinga well earned break.

(18:49):
And unfortunately, uh, I gotthe news that my cousin Tom
had passed away from suicide.
And yeah, it just showshow prevalent suicide is
in the west of Ireland, orin, I guess Ireland, how
I'm out here raising fundsfor suicide prevention.
But yet that's also thereason I had to fly home.
Oh, al feral.
I'm so sorry.

(19:10):
I, I knew that youhad gone home because.
He'd passed away unexpectedly.
I, I didn't actuallyknow that he had that.
It was due to suicide.
My heart breaks for you.
'cause I can't imaginewhat it's like for you.
I can't imagine what it'slike for your family.
Yeah.
A charity close to your heartand then just another, yeah.
Another reason why thatwould've been really hard

(19:31):
to deal with at the time.
I can't even imaginewhat's going through
your head at that moment.
Yeah.
It was, you know, a very,uh, poignant moment because
I just left Iran, Afghanistanafter fighting so many fears,
and I'll get into that later.
But it was a time I was,you know, questioning
a lot of stuff.
And then next thing I getthe news and, you know, we'd

(19:52):
be a very tight knit family.
Yeah.
I, you know, straightawayknew I had to fly home here
and I was very fortunate Iwasn't in Iran or Afghanistan,
that I was somewhere thatI could get a flight from.
I was in the city ofthe Shabe, Tajikistan,
so I flew home and, uh.
Nice to be there with myfamily during that time, but
obviously a very sad time.

(20:13):
And then after that, Iwould've had to fly back.
Uh, I only spent three,four days at home.
'cause you know, I wanted tobe there for the funeral and
everything, but I didn't wantto be there for anything more.
Like I, I was still soin the middle of my trip.
And also the fact that I amraising funds for suicide
prevention, when I did return tomy bicycle and continue cycling,

(20:34):
it gave me more motivation andit, uh, yeah, it really made
what I'm raising funds for to bethat bit more significant And.
Here I am, I guess I'm in Dilinow after quite a lot further
and we have 90 grand raisedfor the two charities now.
So that's me clapping myhands and listeners, feral.

(20:56):
I'm gonna put links intoyour fundraiser in the
podcast, show notes andlisteners, I definitely
encourage you to hit them up.
And if you're somewhereand you're thinking in a
different country even,and you're thinking about
organizations maybe closer tohome that you can contribute
to as well, maybe this is alittle poignant reminder for
yourself to look and seekthose out there as well.
But Fergal, it's, oh mygosh, there's so many

(21:18):
things I wanna wind backon and and touch on there.
But to add that extra senseof purpose and a poignant
extra sense of purpose toyour trip as well, um, I'm
sure has helped keep yourpedals turning, so to speak.
Something else that youmentioned early on here was
the idea of committing toit by saying it out loud.
By saying it out loud.

(21:40):
It's what has.
Led you to commit to it.
You, you even had the greatexcuse, the bailout excuse,
oh, I've, I've hurt my knee,I've gotta reconstruct it.
So unfortunately I had thatplanned, but, you know,
life's thrown me a curveball, and now I'm on a
two different trajectory.
But you even consciouslyknew that you could use that
as an excuse, but chose tostick to what you had said.
I also really, really loved thatit was that random experience

(22:02):
in rural France with perfectstranger showing you hospitality
that made you dream aboutall the types of experiences
and acts of hospitality you'dreceive all the way along.
And that's really beenan undertone of your
journey, hasn't it?
Like I see that in yourupdates constantly.
I can't imagine there's beenmany days where you haven't

(22:22):
had an interaction or asign of hospitality shown
to you by a, a stranger inevery single country, right?
Yeah, I, when I firstleft on this, on this, uh,
journey, it was meant tobe, you know, endurance.
I thought to try and get therefrom A to B as fast as I can.
You know, 11 months wasmy deadline, but straight
away I was hit with howcan I do this so quick when

(22:42):
there's so many meaningfulinteractions along the way.
So many like cultures toexperience people to meet.
And I am, they onlymeant to take 11 months.
I'm not even finished yet,and I'm, uh, currently 18
months into my, my cycle.
So, uh, I really, I guess tookmy time is one way to put it.
But like you said, there, Icame across so many amazing

(23:03):
people along my journey andI think most of them great
experiences I had came on whenI let myself be most vulnerable.
And an example of thatwould've been when I just
crossed into Vietnam and Iwas back cycling by myself.
I was cycling with someoneall throughout China.
So I left China,I entered Vietnam.

(23:24):
A new country left China.
China was very safe.
You're maybe in Vietnam,you dunno what the
people are liking.
I set up my tent in this,you know, beside a, a
rice field and just alittle bit of flat ground.
And I was on the phone to my,my dad and next thing a lights
start shining on my, on my tent.
So what's this like?
Uh, you know, the fearsstart comes straight away.

(23:45):
You're like, is someonegonna attack me?
Are they gonna steal something?
Everything comes rushingthrough your heads.
This person comes to mytent and I unzip it and, uh,
they're just, you know, tryingto speak Vietnamese to me.
I can't.
And then, and it, anyways,uh, he's gesturing
for me to follow him.
So I end up getting Googletranslate and, uh, I, I think he
wants me to, to leave the field.

(24:06):
I thought it was his field,but he ended up saying, no,
no, come with me to my house.
So I end up leaving my, mytent there just at the other
side of the rice field is thishouse behind a few, uh, shrubs.
And when I come around, I, uh,I entered the house and he.
Three grandchildren waitingfor me at the door, and they
start being like jumpingup and down, excited to

(24:27):
see this foreigner coming.
And by me, like initially Ididn't want to follow this
man, I was gonna be like, no,no, no, I want to stay here.
I, 'cause I knew, you know,he wanted to bring me into
his house by that stage.
But I was like, okay, no,maybe this will be all right.
And I follow him and I endup having the best nights.
It was so meaningful to beable to be invited into a

(24:49):
Vietnamese home, see what it'slike, have dinner with them.
I sat down, ed with them,got playing with, uh, this
guy's grandchildren who were,I think 10, eight and seven.
And they were so full of life.
And kids are the bestpeople to be around.
They're so full of joy.
And I think as we get older,we kind of lose that optimism
and sense of playfulness andjust being around kids in these

(25:12):
foreign countries just makeseverything seem so less foreign.
Because we're all so similar.
At the end of the day,kids just want to play.
It doesn't matter if you'rea grown up or child, all
they want to do is justhave a good time with you.
And yeah, I guess that mychildlike innocence comes
out as well, and I just wannaplay and learn from them.
And yeah, that's what thiskind of travel's all about.

(25:34):
I wouldn't have hadthat experience if I was
traveling by bus or by car.
And that's what's sobeautiful about cycle touring.
And I have countless otherexamples of, uh, this
and it, it puts youright in that place.
Like you, you, you're whereyou are, you're very present.
You, you're surroundedby like, I think of the
innocence of children aswell that comes out there.

(25:55):
I remember seeing, oh,I'm trying to think what
country it might've been.
I've scanned throughevery single one of your
stories leading up to thisinterview, Fergal, just in
the last couple of days.
Can I say I, I reckon there'stens of thousands of them.
If I got the countrywrong, I don't know, but
I think it might've beenin Turkey, potentially.
There were, there were twolittle kids who you'd given
some sweets to and then theywere just really innocently
playing with every singlething in your panas and

(26:17):
stuff like that as well.
But the other thing thatstrikes me, you mentioned
em holbert before, absolutelegend that she's, and
something I love about em.
EM'S currently deliveringwater filters to places and
rural communities who don'thave access to clean water.
And a lot of that hastaken all also to schools.
And what I love abouther stuff is exactly what
you're talking about.
She's posting images ofthese beautiful, it's

(26:37):
just the innocence andhappiness of children.
I guess there's, there'sanother aspect to your
travels as well where there'sthat awesome undertone that
you get to experience theinnocence, happy smile,
children playing, welcomed intofamilies, shown hospitality.
I guess there's the other sidetoo, where as someone who comes
from places, and I say thisas someone who's also very

(26:59):
privileged as well, to have somany opportunities, education,
clean water, sanitation, warmth,air conditioning, whatever.
To then experience the otherraw side of the reality of
what a lot of people areexisting through in life.
And I say existing.
How has that been?
How has it been to see theother end of the spectrum
on your travels as well?

(27:20):
That's a great question becauseyou'd often forget when you
leave certain areas how, like,let's say going through Iran,
like the people there haveso little compared to what we
have, you know, job security,everything is kiosk there.
And like I guess back home wedon't realize how much we have

(27:42):
until it's taken away from us oruntil at least we go somewhere
and experience how other peoplelive to realize what we have
that we weren't appreciating.
Like that.
You said water and you haveEmma, Emily going around
delivering water filterslike that is such an amazing
project and I actually wasmeant to collect water filters
and maybe bring them here tothe leste and I'm on my way,

(28:04):
but unfortunately I was a bitlate in, in messaging her.
But that's it.
It's like something like water.
You never think about thatwhen you're back home.
In Ireland, we have abundanceof water, so much rain.
Like we never think, oh,what if there is no water?
And uh, that's justthe tip of the iceberg.
You know, you have to thinkabout like job security.

(28:25):
You have to think aboutfuture for your, your
kids and everything.
Like we can plant things in inthe west where it's a lot more
stable, but then you see thesesocieties that aren't stable.
But people are still so generousand so kind for what they have.
Like the places thathave the least is where

(28:46):
I've received the most.
And that goes for the bestexperiences, the most generous.
Kind things to happen to mewere always where people had the
least, like going through Iran,I couldn't go a day without food
and water being handed out thewindow of moving car cars to me.
I'd stop at a restaurant at noonjust to, to have lunch and the

(29:07):
people would be trying to makeme stay the night with them.
Just this incredible friendlygenerosity that there is in
the world, and for some reasonit's not really there back
home and not in the sensethat it's not there, but we
have too many distractions.
It'll be really interestingfor me when I do finish up
this cycle tour and try toincorporate this, all these acts

(29:28):
of generosity that I perceive totry and see if I can do it for
other travelers coming through.
It's been a, a struggle dealingwith the, the privileges
that we, that we have thatI wouldn't have noticed.
I've had the pleasure ofinterviewing many long distance
bike travelers and it'ssomething that sticks with them.
It almost becomes an inherentpart of your personality of
this, want to always finda way to pay it forward.

(29:51):
Always, always, always.
In a, in a way.
I feel deeply whatyou're saying there.
Have you ever wondered whatit is like, do you have a
theory on why it is that,you know, the poorest people
with nothing seem to showyou the most hospitality?
I can't put my finger on it.
I'd love to know why, but Iwould say we have too many
distractions and a lot of, Iguess greed maybe comes into

(30:13):
it in the West where we'realways thinking about ourselves,
but it's the family nature.
Like family is number onein a lot of these, these
countries, uh, that Iwould've passed through.
And family breeds you tothink for more than just
yourself, makes you thinkof the people around you,
the community, around you.
And for that, well, as atraveler passing through,
you're part of their family,you're part of their community.

(30:35):
And a good example of thatis just here in Indonesia,
I'm after traveling twomonths through Indonesia.
When you're on a boatin Indonesia, it's
an island nation.
You're always on a boatfrom one eye to the next.
Uh, I'd be sitting next tosomeone and he'd say, oh yeah,
this is, uh, this is my mother.
And we'd get talking after awhile and then I found out this
person doesn't know this person.

(30:56):
I'm like, you told methey're your mother.
He said, oh no.
We, we always say that.
It's like, uh, we'reall family, we're all
traveling here together.
We're all family at this moment.
And when do you everthink about that?
When do you ever thinkyou're on a bus in, I dunno,
Paris, and think everyoneon this bus is family.
It makes you change yourthing the way you think, your

(31:17):
thought process, and you startthinking of the people in a
more friendly way, maybe theway that we should be thinking.
You know what, it takesme back to Fergal.
I, uh, a few months ago.
I was returning actually,back from the uk.
I'd done my live shows upthere for the podcast and I'd
visited some great friendsup in Scotland, and I chose
to take the train all the wayback down to the Pyrenees,

(31:40):
which, which is awesomethat you can even do that.
And the final leg of thatjourney was a sleeper train
from Paris to the Pyrenees.
And it was my firstexperience of being on a
sleeper train on my own.
And it's set upamazingly here in France.
And as a woman, there's evenwomen only carriages for
sleepers and stuff like thattakes any of the perceived
fear away, makes it feel safer.

(32:01):
But I still even rememberon that journey and, uh, the
sleeper carriage for me theresix sort of bunks, like, well,
there's two bunks of three,you know, bottom, middle, top.
I was in the middle.
I, I actually did wonder,this is a tangent.
I wonder which one thebest one is Anyway.
I remember leading upto that thinking, oh
gosh, I hope there's noweirdos in there with me.
And oh, I hope that, you know,you know, I'm, I'm, I wasn't

(32:23):
thinking, wow, I'm gonna havea great experience with a new
family or anything like that.
And you know, as it waslisteners, I'm on the
early side of 40 here.
I think I was definitelythe youngest person in
that sleeper carriage.
It was, you know, there werefive other women, probably
average age 65 and all havingmega awesome travel trips.
I think most of them were comingto the Pyrenees to solo hike.

(32:44):
But just what you said theremade me think, I've never
considered transport to be, oh,you were traveling with family.
It is such a differentculture, isn't it?
Completely, yeah.
It's, it just makes yourtop process change that,
oh, I want the window open.
But if you think of everyoneas family, you might go,
oh, well what if someonewants a window shut?
Like that's just oneexample, but it just makes

(33:04):
you think of other peoplea lot more than yourself
taking the individualpart out of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something that we've touched on,Fergal, your journey initially
was gonna be 11 months.
Your, what did you say?
You're 18 months or somethinginto it now or whatever it is.
Your plans havedefinitely changed.
You've taken many adetour along the way.

(33:25):
One of the detours andchange in your, a significant
change in your route was achance meetup with previous
podcast guest, another deadset legend, David McCourt.
Hi David.
You met David travelingthe other way.
He was going from Melbourneto Kdo, his little village
there in Northern Ireland.
You met him in Turkey.

(33:46):
You both connected reallywell and you spent some time
hearing David share storiesand that changed a lot of
your trip for you, didn't it?
Oh, did David, whatan amazing guy.
And if there's anyonelistening to this, he should
definitely go back andlisten to David McCourt's
two episodes with you, Bella.
But David, he was uh, avery significant moment
for me on my travels.

(34:08):
Meeting him.
I would've just finishedEurope, but I guess you
could really break down.
The first half of Europewas me learning how to
do this type of travel.
The second half was likemeeting other cycle tourists
and kind of building confidence.
But then the nextstage was Turkey.
And I was back into, you know,the unknown first time in a
Muslim populated country really.

(34:29):
And you know, a lot of unknown.
But I would've met David.
So randomly, like he'son the inverse tour of,
of my trip and I cycling.
I was on the descent and hewas, uh, on the ascent and.
I almost didn't see him.
I like almost stoppedright after him.
And I can remember himgoing, oh, we're stop.
We're stopping now.

(34:50):
And I turned around, I, Istarted talking to him and
uh, there was a, this reallynice kind of viewpoint with
a restaurant right besidewhere we were now when I
see a restaurant, it's a fewplanks that met a decking
that you have a woman thathas a hot plate in front of
her that she cooks maybe eggand a bit of flour on top of.
So we sat in this makeshiftrestaurant and David would've

(35:11):
told me about his, uh,travels through all of India,
Pakistani, China, Tajikistan.
And then it comes to, Ithink it was Stan and Iran
and then Iraq and I was herethinking, what, you can travel
through these countries?
Like I am so naive beforeI started this tour.

(35:32):
So naive.
I'm like, it'spossible it's you.
You can do this.
And he's telling meall these stories like.
Going through Iran, the capitalof Iran, like seeing people
protesting against the hijab,going through the city of Mead,
that's really Holy city in Iran.
I was like, but like how, howI've not been arrested or shot.
It doesn't never question what Iwas told about these countries.

(35:55):
And I was told a countrylike Iran was unsafe
and cannot travel there.
So after hearing all David'sstories, we, we then actually
cycled back down the road andwe camped out on the beach
together and I just sat therelistening to him for hours.
I think anyone couldlisten to David for hours.
He's an amazing storyteller.
Something I love aboutDavid was his motivation to

(36:15):
take his journey was alsobecause of another friend.
And he remembersmeeting his friend.
I think it was in, uh,I'm gonna get it wrong.
Maybe it was around Darwin.
Sorry David.
You're gonna let me know.
And hearing his friend's storiesand he had just had this big
passion to, I wanna be able totell these stories and share
stories, but go on, he's he'ssharing stories with you there.
Yeah.
So we're camp out at thisbeach together for night.

(36:38):
We cook our own dinner,have a few cans, and then
the next day we separate.
But then I'm just thinking,okay, this is where I can, you
know, change my route entirely.
Am I gonna fight fears andgo to Iran and whatever
countries after that Turk,Stan or Afghanistan, or am I
going to go with my originalroute, which was through
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

(36:59):
And, uh, in the weeks offollow up, I was, you know,
contemplating which one to take.
And the one that was morefrightening stood out to me,
which was, uh, the one to Iran.
I heard so many great thingsabout the country and me
being Irish, I would'vemet so many English and
American Cycle touriststhat can travel to Iraq.

(37:21):
But I knew my passport,I can enter the country.
So this is where I just, whenI got to Tbilisi in Georgia,
I went to the embassy, Iapplied for the visa and I got
approved and yeah, that was it.
I was telling my familyI was going to Iran and I
honestly don't know whatthey were thinking because
my family didn't even knowwhat to say to me when I
was leaving on the trip.

(37:42):
I remember seeing, I cameacross one of your story posts
and it's like the reactionsfrom your mom and dad with
like a different emoji.
And I think your dad repliedwith a, and you've got this
photo of like, guess who'sgoing to Iran and I think
it's you with a photo of yourpassport or something, or your
visa and your dad respondswith a thumb up and your mom
responds with a smiley face.

(38:02):
But then you said mum'sresponse followed promptly by
like a, a significant messageabout all her concerns.
I think she put the thumbs up.
There's, uh, to, I dunno,reassure my siblings.
But uh, then in a privatemessage, she was very much,
uh, letting me know howfearful she was about it.
But, uh.
Actually things worked out.

(38:23):
But uh, yeah, I dunno.
Even just thinking back, I'mso proud of myself for taking
that, the route that I would'vebeen fearful of, because
that's really been a theme ofmy travel, is fighting fear.
Because you feel that, likeeverything you do in life,
you feel fear, but it's tofeel it and to do it anyways.

(38:43):
Like it fear is always gonnabe there, but it's the false
evidence appearing real.
It's not the, uh, theacronym FEAR, false
evidence appearing real.
And that's what it is.
I had these false evidenceevidences about Iran and then
they made me, uh, fearful.
And then I get thereand it's just not true.

(39:04):
The people are so generous.
They're not trying to, youknow, attack me and the
saying goes for so many ofthe countries I go through.
So, yeah, I think one thingis, uh, we shouldn't be as
fearful of fear, which is,I dunno, a counterintuitive
statement, but it's.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's always so muchto learn on the opposite
side of doing somethingdifficult and your fears.

(39:27):
Yeah.
And I think there's alsoanother side, especially
with people who are takingthis type of travel, of other
people, pushing their fearsonto you as well sometimes.
And it magnifies the fear.
So then you have fear and thenyou have their fear, and then
you're like, oh my gosh, maybe Ireally shouldn't be doing this.
And again, it, it, it sort ofputs you in that fear state,
like you said, with the peopleputting their own fears on you.

(39:49):
It was when, uh, before I left,I, you know, was obviously
telling everyone about mytrip and the amount of people
that said, this is impossible.
You know, you're going tothe, I had people walk away
from me, like literallyjust walk away when I told
them what I was doing.
And, uh, it's so difficultto continue with this
idea despite people notthinking it's possible.

(40:13):
You know, you have tohave so much confidence
in yourself, but.
How can you, when you don't knowwhat's possible yourself, but
to me, I said I'd rather tryand fail than to not try at all.
And isn't that whatit's all about?
Like at the end of the day, I'mnot gonna be around forever,
so I, am I gonna try and do thethings I want to do or am I just
not gonna try and I'm not gonnaachieve them if I don't try.

(40:35):
So yeah, it takes me back.
Also, Fergal, to what you didwhen you had made the decision
that you were gonna go and, youknow, your knee reconstruction
surgery gave you that bit oftime to prep as well, where
you actually, you've got peoplethat are maybe pronouncing
their fears onto you, butthen what you did was seek
out people who'd actually donethe thing and to learn their

(40:56):
lessons from them as well andsort of give yourself their
own little evidence bank ofbeing able to make it possible.
Yeah,that and that's honestly it.
It was same with for David.
David went to Iran.
I think he went to Iran.
I knew it was possible.
For me, before I left, I gotcontacted people that have done
this cycle, tour trip before andthey told me it was possible.

(41:19):
So then even though I don'tknow if it is possible myself,
I know other people have doneit, so surely it has to be.
Yeah, it's like seek out peoplethat have done this before,
because no matter what youdo, you're gonna have people
that don't want to believesomething's possible, so you
don't change their perceptionof reality beforehand,
I would've had peoplesaying, this is impossible.

(41:40):
But now that I have pretty muchalmost got to Australia now by
bicycle, I'll just to try andfind a boat to Australia, the
narrative change that it's not,um, that it's not possible, but
it's only o only he can do it.
Well, where did,where did that switch?
Where did it switch from?
Only I can do it from,oh, it's not possible.
So like people just don't wanttheir perceptions of the world

(42:01):
changed and it's up to youto do your own research and
create your own perceptions.
Don't listen to peoplethat haven't done
something themselves.
That's really interestinghow it's changed it.
Oh yeah, no, it's okay forFergal, but I, you know,
only he can do it now.
Oh, that's really interestingthat you've sort of seen that.
Yes, you are lucky you're ableto do it, but I couldn't do it.

(42:23):
There's a really good saying.
I got taught when I wasgrowing up of like convince
a man against his will.
He will hold thesame opinion still.
So like even if you provideevidence to someone that what
they're saying isn't right,they will still believe what
they're saying is right.
So maybe that, maybe that goesinto that case a little bit too.
Oh, that's a brilliant call.
You can use it from now on too.
I don't mind if you steal it.

(42:43):
We know when we talkabout fears, there's also
another different aspectthat's not necessarily
fear, but discomfort.
We've spoken aboutyou world camping.
You said how you hadn't campedat all before this journey
and how, my goodness, howmany day, how many hundreds of
days have you spent in a tent?
Some of them in a, in areally crappy broken tent you
took forever to, to replace.
But anyway, something thatI came across was, you've

(43:06):
had some uncomfortable wildcamp locations, but you've
also had the discomfortof wild camping as well.
And something that you'vesaid about wild camping is
you realize that you justhave to get comfortable with
being uncomfortable with it.
Is that something thatstill is the case for you?
Like do you still have momentsinside your tent where you're
like, oh gosh, you know,I heard a noise out there,

(43:29):
I'm not sure what it is.
Or can I be here?
Is someone gonna flashlights on me at two 30 in the
morning and tell me to leave?
Because I think thatdid happen to you.
I'm just trying to think.
I think in Turkeyyou literally had to.
Walk with your tent stillpitched in one hand and
move to a different spot.
How has world camping and yourrelationship with it changed
and evolved along this route?

(43:49):
That's a brilliant question.
So going to France, I would'vecycled through France before.
So I, at the beginning, Iknew it was relatively safe.
I wasn't that worried.
But then, like I said,when I get to Turkey, it's
straight into unknown.
I'm hearing the call for prayer.
I am seeing peoplewearing huge ads.
It's very different to me.
And I remember campingin a dressing room of a

(44:10):
football pitch, and there'sa, a split in the door.
It's a literally a crack.
So I could see the moonlightshining in from the, the door.
And I could not sleep thatwhole night because every 30
seconds my brain would convinceme that someone just walked by.
Someone just walked by thedoor and blocked the sunlight
for a second, and thatwhole night I got no sleep.

(44:31):
And I would've had anothernight similar to that.
And.
It just got to the stage whereit's like, what am I gonna do?
Am I just not goingto sleep anymore?
Like with all these fears?
And I had to say to myselfthat until I see a gun or
a knife or actual threat infront of me, I'm sleeping.
So it doesn't matter if I heara noise, it doesn't matter if

(44:52):
you know the wind is blockingover my tent or something.
It's until I see athreat I, I'm sleeping.
And that really stood to meonce I met that mental shift
once I cognitively, like saidright now until I see that I
was able to sleep from then on.
And even one time when I wascamping in Armenia, I was
in the middle of this, thisfield, I, next thing I light

(45:14):
starts shining on my tent.
It's a common themethis happened.
And, uh, I'm like, still fine.
I wake up, but I'm,I'm like not worried.
And next thing I knock onmy tent, still not worried.
Me at the beginning ofthis trip would've been
absolutely, you know.
Petrified Fugal.
I would've been peaking.
I would've been peaking, Iwould've been bricking it,

(45:35):
but I opened the tent andthere's literally this farmer
holding a pitchfork, butthankfully he's talking very
friendly as, as, as you say.
And it's pitch sharkkoutside as well.
And he's shining a, atorch in my, in my face.
But he, it is gesturingfor me to follow him.
So I, I follow him and he's justsaying, oh, oh, no, no English,
but don't I see that there's a,a trade of water coming from a

(45:57):
burst pipe down towards my tentand I'm in the middle of this
back ass field for the chancesof me to put up my tent here
Where Amelia to one, I said,and, uh, yeah, he helped me
move my tent just up the field alittle bit out of the, the line
of the water that was beacon.
And I mean, that could havebeen a extremely fearful

(46:18):
and petrifying moment, butonly for the fact that I
like reconditioned my brainto think, okay, until I see
fear, I'm not gonna worry.
I'm gonna try andtake that on board.
'cause I, uh, you know,when you were talking
about wild camp, right?
Am I just not gonnasleep anymore?
I could nearly say nearly everytime I've wild camp, I've just

(46:38):
not slept because of fear.
And look, I'm also one ofthose people that sadly just
can't sleep even in my own bedsometimes a sleepless night's
not a new thing to me, but I,I almost accept that if I'm
wild camping, I'm just, I'mjust gonna be really exhausted.
But yeah, I'm gonna tryand take that on board.
Do you have to give yourselfa pep talk to do that still

(46:59):
or that's now inherent?
No, it now inherent likeanymore I set up my tent and
it's, I don't think about itand it's, uh, it is a trade
thing because I'm c so long,but it's been night and day.
Once I did train myself that,yeah, it was uncomfortable at
first, but I mean, I learnedthrough it and now I can
pretty much sleep anywhere.

(47:20):
Like you would, I guess thatI, I don't know who it was,
but was talking about howthey could hear footsteps.
And it could, could heargetting louder and louder
and they're getting morefearful and more fearful.
And then they realized thesound of the footsteps was
actually their heart beating.
Yeah.
That was fellowIrish, Irish resident.
So, so potty.

(47:41):
Ah, yes.
Yes.
This would, I guess, preventthem to sort of situations from
happening because that's yourbrain playing tricks on you.
And no matter what, your brain'sgonna play tricks on you.
It's gonna make you not wantto do something, uh, because
of fear or because of whatever.
So you have to havethese kind of, uh, yeah.

(48:01):
Mental things on your twobelt to keep you going.
I remember being campedwild, camped on top of
the cliffs of mower.
Absolutely convincedmurderers were coming for me.
In the morning, realizingthe sounds of the murderers
was like just some longwispy grass that was brushing
against the side of my tent.
I remember someone else sortof talking about, you know,

(48:23):
you're always scared of somewild animal and then you wake
up and it's like a baby deeror something in the forest.
Yeah, exactly.
Because we always go to theworst possible scenario.
You are not thinking thatyou're gonna get woken up in
Vietnam by an old grandfatherwho's simply just wants to
invite you to his own home.
Right?
Yeah.
Your mind always played trickson you and yeah, it's a skill.

(48:46):
At the end of theday, it's practice.
Like if I stop campingfor a year when I go back
camping, yeah, I'm gonna befearful if I hear a sound,
but then I need to remindmyself how I overcome that.
It's a tool on my tool beltand uh, you need to keep
practicing it to keep it onyour tool belt, but once it's
there, you're unstoppable.
You can sleep anywhere.

(49:06):
Something that's occurred tome is like, you've done such,
and this journey's not over.
It's fair to say you,you've still got a
continent to ride across.
Australia's a massiveadventure in and on of itself.
Getting there will be as well,but you've experienced so much
that even talking to you about,you know, building mental
resilience and changing yourperspective and changing your
mindset and learning throughyour own lived in experience

(49:27):
as opposed to perceptionsyou've changed along the way.
We were talking about thedead set legend, David McCort.
I knew I was gonna interviewyou and I reached out to David
and asked him, Hey legend,do you have a question for
the other legend Fergal?
And of course he does.
So I'm gonna playit for you now.
Hear him speak and ask hisquestion and I'd like you
to give me your answer.
Well, Fargo, great to see thatyou've almost finally made it

(49:50):
to the continent of Australia.
Looks like you've got a bitmore of Southeast Asia in
far East Indonesia and thenonto East Timor after that.
All the best.
What's finding some sort of boattravel across the water too.
My question for you is thinkingback to, I think it's a
year and a bit year, threemonths since we bumped into

(50:11):
each other all those monthsago on the road in Turkey.
I'm wondering how have youchanged that time because
you were very much at thebeginning of your adventure,
I think you just left Europeand crossed into Turkey and
things were just starting toget interesting and now you've
gone through some epic places,uh, gone through some epic
aspects of your adventures.
So how would you say, lookingback to that time we met, how

(50:35):
have you changed as a person?
What have you learned aboutyourself and what's different?
Cheers and all the bestlooking forward to seeing you
when you get to Australia?
Wow.
Yeah, great question, David.
I think a question thatonly a fellow long distance
bike traveler couldprobably ask in that manner.
So what's your answer to that?
Yeah, well, well, a greatquestion and of course David was
always gonna ask a great one.

(50:56):
It's so nice to getting aquestion like that from him.
Yeah, I guess when I met himfirst and I even before I,
I left Ireland, I, everyonewould say how, I guess naive
I was before leaving or howlittle I knew about the world.
And sitting here now when I'mon the opposite side of the
world here in Dly, very closeto Australia, I am almost like

(51:19):
a completely different personfrom firstly talking to my
phone for, I dunno how manymonths the ability to public
speak has completely changed.
But then just my wholeperception of the world
after meeting David, buildingup the confidence to go
through a country like Iran,Afghanistan, like just seeing
how you need so little to behappy and how so many ways

(51:44):
there is to live your life.
Like, I really feellike all these different
experiences along the wayhave molded me into a, a,
different person, a more, uh.
I'm at a loss to this question.
It's such a great question.
Sorry Bella Gimme a second.
Good old David?
Um, I think my abilityto fight fear as really,

(52:09):
I don't know, there's somany ways to answer it.
Let me think.
Well, before I was on, beforeI started talking to you
about, I was on the phone tomy sister and we were talking
about how, you know, naiveI was before leaving, and I
guess to me, I knew so littleabout the world and here
I am on the opposite side.

(52:30):
I'm here almost in Australia,and all the amazing experiences.
I've had it on the way, andit's changed me in the sense
that I, I'm so comfortable withletting myself be vulnerable.
Now, whether it's me talkingon the phone to whoever's
following my journey or.
Me off, like letting myself bevulnerable to follow someone

(52:51):
into their home or to, I dunno,sit down and express insights
into how I see the world.
Like I have so much moreconfidence in myself, but
also I'm so, I'm very happy inletting myself be vulnerable.
And I think that's a, atrait I would not have had.
Uh, I had it before, butI would not have, I guess,

(53:12):
be as comfortable unless Idid do this sort of travel.
To me, travel is allabout sharing experiences
and meeting people.
And whether I was inAfghanistan, talking to someone
in, a random village, or I'm inthe Taklamakan desert in China,
people are people everywhere.
And me on this trip, I, onething I want people to see

(53:33):
is how this is so evident,how it doesn't matter
where you are in the world.
A person is a person and theyhave the same needs and the
same interests, and the same.
Wants as you.
And I think there's somuch of the opposite.
Uh, we're trying to splitpeople so much and, uh, I think
it's changed me in the sensethat I had a perception about
the world more or less, andthat perception has come true.

(53:56):
I believe everyone isinherently good being a nurse.
I would've, I guessthat's how my thought of
the world would've been.
And from traveling alongthis, that has only
come true everywhere.
People are just inherentlygood, friendly people, and I
am, yeah, very happy to that.
I did go on this cycle tripbecause I so easily, as I said,

(54:17):
could have, I guess, backed out.
I think what you'resaying makes sense to me.
You've had to launchyourself into the unknown
each and every day.
And I think that's somethingthat comes across when
I interview people is.
We talked about how planschange so quickly on a long
distance journey, right?
Like what you plannedout and what you're doing
now are very different.
But to some degree, there'salso a massive element of

(54:39):
unknown with every time youpack up all your belongings,
put them in your pans and turnthe pedals each day, you don't
know what you're going to face.
You might have some perceptionof what's ahead of you,
and maybe you even have a,I'm heading to here today,
thought of a destinationfor the end of the day.
But what happens inbetween to getting there
is outta your control.
And so the idea that you'vehad to force yourself to

(55:00):
be comfortable with beingvulnerable and comfortable
with dealing with the unknown,I think that's a huge,
huge learning to be able toself-reflect on Something
that I came across from you,Fergal, and this was talking
about problem solving, wasthat the solution is always
a lot clearer in the moment Ibring it up because I remember

(55:22):
when I was researching foryou, you had said that.
Before setting off, you hadall of these scenarios in your
mind of what could possiblygo wrong and they were all
possibly issues and, and reasonsto not let yourself set off.
But you still let yourself dothat and you've had a lot of
these scenarios probably occur.
You know, when you were talkingFRG earlier about, oh here's

(55:43):
the breaks and you know, you'repointing to a gear lever,
you don't even know what tocall the items on your bike.
And Nimrod has brokenin every single way.
I think his crankeven fully came off.
Your pedals come offin different ways.
Yeah.
You didn't know how to change apuncture, but somehow you found
a solution and you fixed stuff.
You've changed gear cables,like the solution is always
clearer in the moment, right?

(56:04):
Yeah, completely.
It's uh, before I left Ihad a bit of a going away
do where, you know, it wasa charity night to raise
funds for the two charities.
I'm raising funds for it.
I had a bit of a q and aat the end and you know,
one of the questions was.
All these possibilities.
You know, everyone was askingme, what if your chain breaks?
What if you go 10kilometers in the what?

(56:25):
Wrong direction?
And right now it's sitting here.
These are actually pretty easythings in the moment to fix.
Like if your chain breaks, youhave a spare link, you connect
the link, you continue cyclinguntil you can get a new chain.
Uh, if you go 10 kilometersin the wrong direction,
well you just go 10kilometers back the way.

(56:46):
For some reason, when people,there's so many of these
scenarios that can't happen.
And the answer is always soeasy in the moment, like,
like you said, yeah, thesolution's always there.
And what I would alwayssay is that the road always
provides, so like whenever,let's say I had a problem or

(57:08):
whenever I needed something,the road always provided.
I remember cycling throughthe tactile mac and desert,
it was minus 15 degrees.
It was six weeks cycling,the length of it.
And there was one stretchthat either side of me
was the length of Ireland.
I had 300 kilometres behindme, 300 kilometers in
front of me, or sorry, 200kilometres in front of me.
And I had to carry loadsof water, loads of food.

(57:31):
But we were getting verynear the end of our,
of our water and food.
So were like, whatare we gonna do?
We need to somehow doa 200 kilopmetre day in
one day, despite all theelements and like the
terrain that we were in.
So we take off cycling and we'relike, how are we gonna make,
make it to the end of this?
And, uh, to have lunch.

(57:51):
We like kind of go underneathone of the, on the, there's
like a drainage tunneland we we're sitting there
to hide from the wind.
And as soon as we sit down,next thing a guy on a mountain
bike comes by and I mean thisis, you're talking, we're
in the middle of a desert onthis road where there's not a
house or nothing either sideof us for I know how many
kilometers like the length ofIreland And we're like, where

(58:13):
did this person come out of?
You could not make it up.
And we then come up from thestorage drain and we're talking
to him and we're trying tocommunicate, but he's kind of
gesturing for us to follow him.
So we follow him then andhe leads us down this back
road to a abandoned factory.
Then, you know, the fearsare there where it's kind of
like, oh, you know, are wetrusting this random Chinese

(58:34):
guy leading us to this factory?
But we end up, you know,trusting our gus and following
him and in the factory,he opened the door and his
friend was there and uh,it turns out the two of
them mined this factory.
Uh, they're like browns men,but they lived there too.
And they ended up cookingus up a full on meal, like
scrambled egg with theselike really nice bread

(58:57):
baps and bread is somethingyou rarely get in China.
They ended up making us like hotchocolate and the whole thing
boosts our spirits more thaneven the food that we needed,
and it gave us enough energy forus to cycle the next, I dunno,
I think it was 180 kilomet.
How many hours that wasto get to the next town.
And we just had enough foodbecause right before we were

(59:19):
getting to the town, likewe could see the lights,
but we kept thinking we werenearer to it than we were.
So we're just losing motivation.
And I remember I had a littlebit of water left and I
had coffee gradually, and Ijust would've like put the
coffee granules into thewater and instantly like it's
minus five degrees outsidethe water that freezes up.
So I'm having like thisflushy coffee to keep me

(59:42):
going to get me to this town.
And once we get there, Ithink two 3:00 AM there's
one noodle shop still open,and we just get inside
the wa the wa uh, windows.
Were all steamed up and it'slike you're after completing
an ultra marathon or likeyou're after completing.
The hardest thing you'veever done in your life.
You're just sitting there withsuch a sense of accomplishment

(01:00:02):
after cycling so far.
And, uh, what's funny isthe road provided, like how
could you ever have predictedsomeone to invite us into an
abandoned factory and be givenall this food to manage, to
bring us the rest of the way?
And I've count this otherexamples of this, but
that's, uh, one that reallystands out in a story I
haven't told that often.
You couldn't evenfabricate that as a story.

(01:00:25):
Do you know what I mean?
If someone asked you towrite a, like a, a book and
you know, like a fictionalevent, you'd never fabricate
that before, right?
In fact, did you even know wherethat akr, Mac and Desert was
before you even were in Chinaor had set off on your trip?
Maybe you did.
No, I definitely better.
I didn't know it existed beforeI was interviewing you, Fergal
actually, do you know whatI wanna say about the road
providing, you know, and sadlywe touched on how you had to

(01:00:47):
put a pause on your journey tohead back to Ireland and Judy,
the death in your family there.
That was where you knewyou were going to China at
that point, but you had thepremieres to cross and your
bike did cross the premieres.
Yeah.
But in a really,really very unique way.
Yeah.
And this is a case of theroad providing as well.

(01:01:08):
I want you to tell thelisteners how you experienced
the Premiere Highway.
So, to the listeners, uh, I haveto say that I didn't experience
mere highway, but, uh, and Idon't say that I cycled the
whole way from Ireland toAustralia because I haven't.
But my bicycle has Nimron,has Nimrod has, when I was in,

(01:01:29):
uh, de Shabe, Tajikistan, Ihad to fly home for a funeral.
And while I was there forwhenever the, the week or so
were covering after Afghanistan,I became friends with two
other travelers, Shara and Eva.
Hi Kiara and Eva.
Yeah.
Two amazing solofemale travelers.
Eva is from France and shewould've hitchhiked from

(01:01:50):
France to Tajikistan byherself, independence, and
think of all the fears shehad to face doing that.
An incredible woman.
And same for Cara.
She would've flown todifferent parts, but she also
did a lot of hitchhiking.
And even after that she'stooken up, uh, cycle tour.
So she might be a future guest.
But, uh, the, the two of themwhen I had to fly home, they

(01:02:12):
knew I was in a bit of botherbecause my Chinese visa had
an expiry date for when Ihad to enter the country.
So let's say I had to enterthe country by whatever
the 15th of October.
Uh, it was currently the 10thof October, so I only had
five days, but I was home inIreland for four of them days.
So there was no way I couldhave flown back to Tajikistan
to cycle the premieres.

(01:02:34):
So Eva and Kara teamed up'cause they never traveled
together before this.
They met also at the same time.
I met them to hitchhike mybike over the premier highway.
So what is crazy, and I hadall of my social media is
you can see pictures of mybicycle on the back of the
mentor truck, like cement.
Cement trucks.
Don't have room for abicycle, but it's just wedge.

(01:02:55):
No, it's crazy.
The leverage of the wheel iskind of stuck underneath the
bit that twirls on us MentorTruck that it's just holding
on, just about going downthe worst possible roads on
the Premier highway and up tolike 4,000 meters elevation.
Like this was a story in itselffrom my bicycle, and Kara

(01:03:16):
and Eva like were amazing.
To manage to hitchhike,whip my bicycle and bring
it all the way to Kashkar inChina, where I eventually met
them, uh, a few weeks later.
But what incredible two women,it was hilarious.
Like when I scrolled throughyour stories of that, I, I
was in stitches because theyalso, I think they got a photo

(01:03:37):
of you and printed it out.
So every now and then there'slike a story of you with your
bike and there's like yoursmiling head and your pearly
white smile at the handlebars.
Yay.
He, he, you know, fle crossedhere or there's a photo of
you curled up in bed withthe sheets up across you
or something like that.
And I was also wonderinglike just the act of

(01:03:57):
hitchhiking across comeswith its own challenges, but
just agreeing to hitchhikewith a fully laden touring
bike just, just levels up.
Yeah, like, like it's onething for a car to stop,
but then all of a suddenthat sort of really randomly
reduces the cars that canstop to help you out as well.
And Kiara and ever, ifyou're listening to this
fully welcome interviewingyou both for the pod, I

(01:04:19):
think you'd both be amazing.
I have much respect for youand I love your sense of
humor and I think it wasone of the most brilliant
crossings of the premieresthat I've, that I've looked at.
Definitely unique.
Unique and it this shows likeI would've been very on the
endurance side, that I wannacycle as much as possible.
But after this happened, I wasvery okay with not having the

(01:04:41):
cycle every bit of my journeybecause when I had to then come
back to meet them in Kashgarin China, all the stories I
collected, I had to, I couldn'tfly to the Chiyan and get
a bus from there to China.
'cause that would take two days.
I had less than 24 hoursto get across the border.
Before my visa expired, so I hadto fly to Kazakhstan, to Amazi.

(01:05:01):
I had to get a bus, 18 hourbus across to, in the, uh,
Jing Yang province of China.
Then I had to get a 16 hourtrain through the Hamm and
Desert back to my bicyclein Kashkar to then cycle.
Cycle, bye the wayI came on the train.
It's such a wild story, Fergal,and like you said, just how all

(01:05:23):
the cards stacked up for youto even be able to make it in
China in time on the final day.
I remember looking throughthat on your stories there.
Will I make it?
It was almost like you had anhour of countdown to show you
arrive in time, but also justthe serendipity of a meeting
ever and Kiara in the firstplace, and then also meeting up
with them again in China whenthey had no intentions of being

(01:05:43):
there necessarily either, right?
Yeah.
Like it's the beautyof travel, isn't it?
You don't know howeach day is gonna go.
You don't know who you'regonna meet, but you come across
these amazing, generous people.
You create stories andmemories you'll have for
life like Kiara and Eva.
Now I can't wait to meetthem again when I do finish
this, uh, cycle challengeand share the memories

(01:06:05):
that we had talk about it.
And that's why travel isso amazing and that's why
bicycle touring is so amazing.
'cause Kiara would've seenme cycle touring and now
she actually is currentlya cycle tourist herself.
She ended up, uh, taking upcycle touring in Vietnam and
then she did Hong Kong, China.
And she's just, after finishingthe premieres, she's gone

(01:06:27):
full circle with it thatshe brought my bike over
to Premieres hitchhiking.
But now she's, after comingall the way back and took them
on herself on her own bicycle.
Kiara, I hope you'relistening to these.
If you are, can youget in touch with me?
I, I just wanna, well, A,I'd love to give myself
the gift of just beingable to speak with you.
'cause you, you know,you're acts of kindness.
You're just a dead setlegend, but oh my gosh.
I'd love to share your story.

(01:06:49):
Yeah, no, lovely.
The Italian lady,you know, a lot of these
type of journeys, Fergal, arereally defined by the people
that you meet along the wayand the friendships that are
born out of stuff like that.
On along the way, you've donea lot of this journey solo, but
you have also done sections withpeople as well, haven't you?
And like if we look at Chinanow, that was an area that

(01:07:09):
you weren't undertaking solothrough that journey, were you?
No.
So, uh, China, I was joinedby, uh, my friend Finn.
So when I had to fly home forthe funeral, when I was flying
back to Kazakhstan, to crossinto China, if people can
follow along with all the steps,are we going back and forth?
We will continue to do so.
Uh, Finn joined me, so, uh,Finn I didn't really know

(01:07:31):
that well from home, but hewas friends with, uh, some of
my friends from university.
So, uh, I knew he was biginto cycle touring as well.
And yeah, he came out to join mefor the Lent of China and it was
a great time to have someone.
Join up for it because obviouslythe ham mac in desert was a
very death lit and would'vebeen a very lonely place.

(01:07:53):
But then crossing up to, uh, Ihad an option I could take the,
like I was so slow at my travelsthat I ended up being in China
at the worst season, whereas,you know, minus 22 degrees.
So I could have went to routethat was, you know, a bit
more lower elevation and a bitbetter conditions, or I could
take the mountainous route thatis actually beautiful and the

(01:08:16):
route, the most cycl tour take.
And because I was withsomeone, I had the confidence
to take on the moremountainous, colder route.
And that led to me going uponto the Tibetan plateau,
seeing how the Buddhist TibetanHerdsmen live created its
whole new journey in itself.
And like, I'm tryingto fit like four months

(01:08:38):
into one sentence here.
Like, you couldn'tdo it justice.
No.
China deserves its own session.
I think that distinctly of everycountry you've traveled through,
feral, and I do this with a lotof people who've traveled so, so
vastly like you have, how do I,how do I have a hope in hell of
condensing this into an episodewhen we bring up a question
that should be its own episode.

(01:08:59):
But the experiences in Chinawe're immense, and like you
said, from polar opposites too,you know, like the desolate
nature of being in the Tibetanplateau at that point in the
year too, where I think the coldand the ice and the snow and the
wind really bring starkly justhow hard and precious life is in

(01:09:20):
terms of just survival, right?
Then the communities thatyou're meeting there, two weeks
later, you're in a mega city.
You know, like that's crazy.
Your perception of how peoplelive all across the world
is completely changes, andChina has been the biggest
example of that, where youhave people living in a little
hut on the side of a mountainlike moving herds of yak.

(01:09:43):
And then maybe ahundred kilometers down
a massive mountain.
You have a mega city of 20million people and it's,
there shows how there's somany ways to live your life.
And China was such aforeign place, like no
one had, uh, English.
Like I would've gone toIran, Afghanistan to Stan.
And people, if they hadEnglish, they'd run up

(01:10:05):
to you and speak it.
Or if you're trying to talk tosomeone, they had the basics.
But China was impossible.
Like you need aGoogle translate.
And even at that, thedialect changed throughout.
So I would've went toseven or eight different
provinces in China.
And when I was in the lastprovince of UN A, this was
was near Vietnam, the peoplethere thought I was from

(01:10:28):
Xin Yang, which was thefirst province I was in.
That's how far removed theyare from that part of China.
Like me, this western lookingperson they thought was from
a different part of Chinabecause they knew people
from their look different.
Yeah, it's alwaysthe vast of China.
Yeah.
And everything'sdifferent there.
The other thing is different,and I mean you had this

(01:10:48):
in other places obviously,where, you know the alphabet's
different and, and it'sdifferent in parts of the
world that you went there.
It's not the alphabet that wesee, but there's just no hope of
you even reading a sign, right?
Like it's just like,what does this say?
I'm gonna bring it to foodbecause I have to talk
about food at some stage.
I this my goodness,me, my goodness.

(01:11:10):
Me.
Fergal.
Oh, we could do a whole episodejust about the food you've
experienced on this journey.
Right.
But I'm all about the food.
But it was hilariouswhen you landed in China.
I, I think chopstickswas not something you
were good at, right?
Like, I'm a, a country manfrom the county of Alman.
Uh, I don't think chopstickshave ever entered the county,

(01:11:31):
uh, or the country of Ireland.
You're a black belt now, right?
I am.
I am.
Thankfully, I, I've, uh,mastered the skill, but I can
remember the start of Chinawas straight into ti, which
is the capital of the provinceof Xing Gang, which is one
sixth the size of China.
It's mostly comprised ofthe tac in desert, which is

(01:11:52):
very harsh desert landscape.
And the food there was.
Like the food in China wasincredible throughout, but
the food in this xin yangprovince was next level.
Like the noodles, theywere, each town were like
competing the best noodles.
So we'd go through andthey'd be like, oh, our
noodles are the best.
We'll get to the next town.

(01:12:13):
And they'd be comparingparts of noodles that like,
how can you compare noodles?
They're all the same.
You, you can change thediameter of them or whatever.
There's, it's an art and itwas such, so amazing food
noodle soup, beef noodle soupI've had all throughout China.
It was like the stapledish, and it's one of
the nicest dishes I hadthroughout my entire travels.

(01:12:35):
And I'm interested to knowif you've ever been to China.
I haven't, but my goodness,I've visited it through people's
interviews and actually, ifI think of, I'll think of two
guests now that I'll call out.
The first one is Muriel Zuri.
Hi Muriel.
He, oh my gosh.
Maria would do anything to beback in China in a heartbeat.
I think he absolutelyloved his time there.
And the other one is em,we've mentioned you a
couple of times already.

(01:12:56):
Indeed.
Em Holbert, I mean emspeaks Chinese and teaches
English to beautiful Chinesestudents there as well.
And yeah, her, my God, her talesof the time in China as well.
Anyone who I speak to aboutChina just tells me there's
this beauty about it and thefood there is next level.
You know, when you were talkingabout the beef noodle soup, I

(01:13:17):
wonder, Fergal, if that's gonnabe something that you somehow
try and seek out to take youback to places Because the
food and memories from foodwe do that we seek out flavors
or smells or aromas and theytake, they transport us back.
And I mean you'll have this ofmany countries in the world.
Yeah.
But actually I do rememberas I was scrolling through
all of your hundreds ofthousands of stories.

(01:13:38):
You had one where you were like,I've had beef noodle soup every
day here in China and I wantedto try something different.
And you did and you orderedsomething that Google Translate
told you was pizza and itdefinitely didn't look like
pizza when it turned up.
It was like, I think yousaid, I think it looks like
a duck pancake or something.
I'm not sure.
And then you, you sortof looking at, oh no,
alright man, here you go.

(01:14:00):
You take a bite and with itthere's a second of nothing and
then it's like, oh, it's good.
Well, that, that's whatit's on about, you know,
trying different foodsand really, and bursting
yourself in the environments.
But it's funny what you saidthere, how we all want to go
back to places like China ordifferent places along our
travels, but we often forgetas enjoyable as it was.

(01:14:22):
I remember, uh, coming downthrough, I think it was
Emily, I was talking to usabout, like, I came down
through the mountain, downtowards Chendu in winter at.
I remember talking to Finnwho was with me, how much
would I pay you to cycleback up that mountain?
And I said, there's not a price.
Not in a million years amI gonna turn around and

(01:14:43):
cycle back up that mountain.
It was so cold, so hard.
But right now I wouldgo back in a heartbeat.
But you forget about howdifficult it is in the moment.
The rose tinted lenses arefirmly on, aren't they?
Yes.
What do you wannaseek out there?
Like, you know, it was sogrim in the moment, but
you'd go back in a heartbeat.
What is the experience thatyou're seeking out to go back to

(01:15:04):
the people, like on topof that Tibetan plateau
I was communicating withTibetan herdsmen, these
17, 18, 19-year-old guysfull wearing scarfs robes.
Uh, the way the, how they are.
So like, they weren't cold,they know how to survive
in that temperature.
But they were looking atus going like with these
big like modern jackets.

(01:15:27):
Synthetic, like cottondown and they're going,
you don't need that.
And uh, what I'd love to do isgo back and be able to maybe
be invited into the houses,because that's one thing I want
in every country is you're notreally experienced it unless
you're get invited into a houseand you see how they live.
Like if someone comes toIreland, you know, you could

(01:15:48):
stay in a hotel all you want,but unless you get invited
into a home and have a cupof tea and you know, taste
some, uh, potato bread, that,that's where you have the
local food, that's where youhave the conversations, uh,
experience what it's like.
Even the smells, thetouch, everything.
Like even right now I'm thinkingback to that time you just
said there about the pancake.

(01:16:08):
Uh, and I'm like, it'sdefinitely not a pan
or a, a pizza in China.
Like I can smell that dish.
I can feel.
The table, like it reallybrings you back and that's it.
You want to be back in thatscenario and that's why
I would a hundred percentnow go and take on that
mountain again in China.
I wonder if you askedFinn that question, would

(01:16:29):
the heat go back now?
I dunno.
I dunno.
I guess, uh, it's thesame for every traveler.
Like I think you, you are sohappy with your accomplishments
of getting through the harddays that you forget how
actually hard they were.
But then again, like you can'thave the tip on your shoulder
unless you would do it again.
Yeah.
I like for me, when I finishthis trip, how can I walk around

(01:16:49):
with a chip on my shoulder ifI'm not willing to do it again?
You have to be ableto, yeah, endure.
Like, 'cause a lot of this cycletouring is pain, it's putting
yourself through hardshipto, I dunno, test yourself.
And for me that's theendurance aspect of it.
I think I couldn't turnaround now and be like,
oh, I wouldn't do it.

(01:17:12):
And that's where we're goingto leave part one of this
two-parter with Fergal Guihenand listeners, I'm pretty
sure you'll agree with me.
Fergal is an impressivestoryteller and he has
so many stories to share.
This particular recordingsession went for over three
hours, and even then I feltI was just skimming the
surface of the incredibleexperiences Fergal had.

(01:17:32):
We ended here with him talkingabout his experiences there in
China, and in the next episodewe will go further into detail
about China Tibetan Plateau.
We're also gonna rewind Fergalback a little bit in his trip
and find out exactly whatit was like there, traveling
through places like Iranand also Afghanistan before

(01:17:53):
continuing his journey onthrough Southeast Asia.
So keep your eyes peelednext week for part two
of this special episodewith Fergal Gwen.
And a reminder, I haveincluded links in the show
notes to ALS fundraisersfor his current ride, as
well as his social handletoo, so that you can check
out his adventures in full.
Now, if you are enjoyingSeek Travel Ride and you

(01:18:15):
want to contribute a bitto the running costs of the
show, simply head to buy me acoffee.com/seek travel ride.
Buy me a few virtual coffees,but more importantly, let me
know what is it that you loveabout the podcast, and where
is your next bike adventuregonna take you and until the
next episode, I'm Bella Malloy.
Thanks for listening.

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