On roads that echo: bicycling too far. Part 1: Asia
Charlie Walker cycles far too far - though not fast - as he pedals across India on his way to Africa. Here there's a river in the way.
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Charlie Walker
24 posts
Cutting the wires to sneak through Tibet’s closed Western border
Charlie Walker's continuing adventures have resulted in the launch of a new travel book. Here, for the first time, take the chance to read his prologue.
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Skiing south on the border between Europe and Asia
Charlie Walker tracks the border between Russia and Asia. It's cold up there but Cally helps him travel a route with absolutely no transport infrastructure.
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Arrested for tourism in Russia’s far north
Adventurer par excellence Charlie Walker runs into legal problems as he fights his way through a forgotten corner of the Soviet Empire. Who knew tourism was so illegal.
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A tank beats a trudge across the Soviet Arctic
Charlie Walker's latest expedition is tracing the border between Europe and Asia. His start, in the wintry tundra of northern Russia, makes it clear just what a task he's undertaken.
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Praise to the lord – and now please pay. Amen
On his bike through the DRC, Charlie Walker drops in to an emotional church service in Lubumbashi. Religious ecstasy rules but the ministers carefully shepherd their payment.
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Dodgy village campouts in rural DRC
Charlie Walker finds his cycle through the Democratic Republic of the Congo sometimes helped - but often hindered - by the rarity of foreigners in one of the world's most troubled states.
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A fast pedal through Namibia’s deserts
On his endless round-the-world cycle marathon Charlie Walker passes through Namibia. There's plenty of wildlife but also the peace of his surroundings.
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Stirrings of war in a quiet Mozambique
A 60-mile stretch of road was closed to all traffic, except for army convoys that sped through once a day, bristling with guns. But Charlie Walker, on his bicycle, is just waved through. Gulp.
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All at sea on the shores of Lake Malawi
Charlie Walker's epic cycle ride runs into soft sand (of the beachy kind) on the shores of Lake Malawi. An overdue chance for some R & R.
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Pedaling through mud on a track through Tanzania
By car, Tanzania's best know for serious, random speed bumps spread along the tarmac. On a bicycle Charlie Walker has a different set of problems - mainly ants and tsetse flies - as as he powers his way down East Africa along a long stretch of mud.
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Gorillas in the .. er .. missed
Charlie Walker's epic cycle ride climbs the hills of Uganda. Though his budget doesn't stretch to tracking oversize primates, his slow pace of travel gives him far more penetrating insights into everyday Ugandan life.
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Scorpions and desert storms: cycling Sudan
Globetrotting cyclist Charlie Walker pedals south from Wadi Haifa for the long hot journey to the capital, Khartoum.
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Cycling through Kurdistan: welcome to a boom zone
The latest installment from Charlie Walker's three-year bike-ride around the world sees him pedal through Iraqi Kurdistan, dodging fast imported cars and endless cups of tea.
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An all-too white Christmas: Iran by bike
Charlie Walker's epic bike ride continues through the Middle East's most hidden society, the shrouded rural areas of Iran. Though the authorities are routinely suspicious, amongst ordinary Iranians he finds nothing but friendliness.
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A leisurely pedal across today’s Afghanistan
It's hardly a usual destination for a cyclist. But getting a visa is easy so Charlie Walker seizes the opportunity to visit a country that may soon, once more, close its doors to the West.
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A game of polo with a headless goat
Charlie Walker pedals slowly through the mountains of once-soviet Kyrgyzstan and borrows a horse for a game of Ulak Tartysh. Sadly the welcome of the locals is not matched by their mirror-shaded authorities.
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Horsing about on the Mongolian steppes
Charlie Walker's adventures across central Asia continue with a 600-mile expedition across Mongolia, helped by a horse. Maybe calling the animal 'Nicky' was tempting fate...
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Fair wind to Mongolia: from China on foot
It's a long walk from Beijing to Ulaan Baatur. Charlie Walker spends six weeks on the road and though frankly that's fast (to cover 900 miles) he has the occasional adventure on the way. My favourite is the sexual assault, where grannies and toddlers come to his aid.
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Earning a travelling crust in Beijing
Charlie Walker parks up his bike to earn some cash in China. Five months in the Chinese capital get him little closer to understanding several mysteries of the Orient. But when a small child pees on his leg he quickly decides it's time to move on.
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Cycling across China: into Beijing
The world's most populous nation - and one of the largest too - doesn't deter round-the-world cyclist Charlie Walker who pedals from Vietnam in the south to the northern capital, Beijing - and finds plenty of rural tranquillity along the way.
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Skulls and scams: cycling through Cambodia
On his round-the-world cycle ride, Charlie Walker finds his biggest problem, in Cambodia, is too many tourists - and a lot of abandoned skulls.
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Cycling Laos, from north to south
World cyclist Charlie Walker pedals his way down small, landlocked Laos but finds plenty of water along the way. Then a scooter crash threatens to derail his trip.
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A long draught of China on a slow-moving bike
Charlie Walker is almost a year into an epic four-year cycle-ride that aims to reach the world's 'Four Corners'. With thanks to Lifeboat Tea (his sponsors) he details his experiences of pedalling through mainland China.
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