Many an incredible story may have been told about young courageous

men and women cycling the globe in search of adventure, covering vast

distances at speed each day with not a care in the world, sleeping wherever

they could pitch a tent or find someone willing to give them a free meal

and bed for the night, who intentionally looked bedraggled to resemble

famous adventurers of old, with men sporting wild hair and beards that

could clear dusty streets as they cycled through.

Well, this incredible story is a little different. It is an astonishing story

about a 350-pound middle-aged, disabled, working-class husband and

father. I was never a regular cyclist, and I knew nothing about bicycle

maintenance and repair. And yet, without a single day of bicycle touring

practice, I loaded up my shiny new bike with everything I thought I’d

need and cycled out of Cheshire to see the world. Solo, self-financed,

with no support network and without any fixed route plan other than,

“I’m going that way.”

What could go wrong? I wondered.