Cycle solo across Africa?

Cullen82

I wondered if this was possible and scoured the net for info about it, for which there is a little ...but not much.

With only one way of finding out I decided to just go and do it. The website:
www.nohangingaround.com follows the journey but it's also a realistic insight for anyone thinking of taking a cycle tour...esp to somewhere remote or crazy!

I left Ireland for Cape Town in October and have already since cycled more than my own bodyweight of panniers as far as Windhoek, Namibia....Angola is to the North and Botswana's lions to the East.

Hope you enjoy the blogs and feel free to ask questions as I know its sometimes hard to get the info you specifically need.

If you have any suggestions on what I could add to the site, I'd love to hear it !

Derek

Lusk_Doyle

Beautiful. You will have some great stories by the end of your journey. Fantastic thing to have undertaken.

What bike are you using and how kuch does the whole rig weigh when fully laden?

Cullen82

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Beautiful. You will have some great stories by the end of your journey. Fantastic thing to have undertaken.

What bike are you using and how kuch does the whole rig weigh when fully laden?

Hey Lusk, thanks for the compliments

The bike is a 13 year old Trek 820. It's solid but took me almost 2 weeks to find it in Cape Town. They're mad for road bikes down here and mountain bikes but there little by the way of old school mountain bikes which I needed - shocks etc are only another breakable item to have along.

There are 2 panniers on the front, two on the back with a waterproof bag across the back two with tent etc. A handlebar bag for passport,money, taser etc, I carry approx 10 litres water every day and the bike without me on top weighs approx 75 - 80 lb I guess.

Yeah....it's heavy haha

Lusk_Doyle

Have you had much in the way of mechanical problems, punctures, etc?

Also, can you tell more about the close encounters in the tent at night with the wildlife?

Cullen82

Mechanically no, the frame of the wheels are being tested and I can see a coupe of spokes snapping soon.,...fingers crossed but I have spares for EVERYTHING which you need. Punctures, I've had only 3, my tyres are quality - schwelbe marathons - the best! In saying that I have had problems with tubes, faulty valves so I'm picking up more here in Windhoek on Monday.

At night in the tent lol I haven't gone into this in much detail as I will be in Botswana in around a weeks time when no doubt the entire post will revolve around wildlife and the tent - the areas I will cross are known to have plenty of lions...which worries me tbh

A few nights I have had little sleep as I will wake to something shuffling around the tent...I wake with a shock of not knowing what it is each time and its frightening for that split second. However its unlikely a leopard and spotted hyenas are very rare down here so I dont worry too much and go back asleep. The footprints the next morning are usually zebra, gemsbok (oryx) and springbok.

Basically what I am saying is the real deal starts next week and to be honest its a part of the trip Im not looking forward to...wild camping in predator known areas.

fingers crossed eh?!

pprendeville

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Have you had much in the way of mechanical problems, punctures, etc?

Also, can you tell more about the close encounters in the tent at night with the wildlife?

Close encounters with women or animals Lusk?

gallag

Fair play fella, will be following with interest, I would imagine the human aspect will be more worrying than the wildlife! Be safe.

Lusk_Doyle

pprendeville wrote: »

Close encounters with women or animals Lusk?

It's the same thing ain't it? More or less.

thebouldwhacker

Cullen82 wrote: »

Basically what I am saying is the real deal starts next week and to be honest its a part of the trip Im not looking forward to...wild camping in predator known areas.

fingers crossed eh?!

That's pretty kick ass. I would love to have the wherewithal to have such an adventure.
He who dares wins but listen to yourself and only face acceptable dangers.
Then again what do I know sitting in my house in Ireland.

Good luck, post pic,s when you can.

Daroxtar

Have you Strava turned on? Nothing like being chased by lions to help give you awesome segment times:)

Seriously though, fair play to you for taking on this incredible trip and thank you for sharing it with us. Hope it goes really well for you.

Canis Lupus

I did France down to Ghana. If I had the chance to do it again I'd have gone East towards Asia and skipped Africa :P I had some amazing experiences but found I burnt out at the end. Once I got to Senegal/Subshara Africa it was just one long monotonous countryside and without border control you'd never really know you were in a different country.

Out of curiousity because I'm too lazy to google but aren't you going against the prevailing wind going South/North?

Cullen82

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I did France down to Ghana. If I had the chance to do it again I'd have gone East towards Asia and skipped Africa :P I had some amazing experiences but found I burnt out at the end. Once I got to Senegal/Subshara Africa it was just one long monotonous countryside and without border control you'd never really know you were in a different country.

Out of curiousity because I'm too lazy to google but aren't you going against the prevailing wind going South/North?

You're right and I was wondering when and if anyone would pick up on this, I've faced a lot of headwinds and plenty more to follow...not only that but its obviously the hottest time of year down here so doing it completely backwards.

Re the monotonous countryside yeah I can totally see why something like this would end a trip and burn out? I've felt it coming on. I just hope that maybe I can take my time a bit more and accept a lift here or there for the sake of not going crazy.....well, TOO crazy!

Did you record it in anyway, journal online? would love to read it if you did

Great to hear from you

Cullen82

And for all the other posts thanks a lot, the site actually came to very good use as hearing from people back home and seeing people follow the trip is more than awesome....there are times it keeps me going lol

Yeah people are more dangerous than animals, very true but since starting i have absolutely zero concerns in this sense...besides Ive had nothing but friendliness so far, i think people give you a break when they see you on the bike haha

Raam

Sounds like this will be quite the adventure. Massive respect. Good luck, I hope you really enjoy it.

t1mm

Cullen82 wrote: »

You're right and I was wondering when and if anyone would pick up on this, I've faced a lot of headwinds and plenty more to follow...not only that but its obviously the hottest time of year down here so doing it completely backwards.

Re the monotonous countryside yeah I can totally see why something like this would end a trip and burn out? I've felt it coming on. I just hope that maybe I can take my time a bit more and accept a lift here or there for the sake of not going crazy.....well, TOO crazy!

Did you record it in anyway, journal online? would love to read it if you did

Great to hear from you

First of all - awesome sounding adventure. I'm very jealous; I'm hoping to do Cork to Cape Town next year but I have so many ideas floating around my head who knows which I will go for

About the burning out; in my opinion the solution is to just take it a bit more easy. Maybe try to stop focusing so much on kilometers and borders and the number of countries. On my latest trip I found myself much more drawn towards people and experiences rather than scenes of natural beauty after a few thousand kilometers. Also, locals tend to know about much more cool and "back country" routes than most maps I've found!

If you'd like to have a read about my trip, here's a link:

http://synergydesign.ie/corktobelgrade

A bit closer to home than yours though!

Enjoy your trip, and I wish you the best of luck

Lusk_Doyle

^^^ Exactly. When in doubt just ask yourself "What would Ewan and Thingy do?" The answers will follow!

t1mm

They'd ride large distances daily with a support crew not far behind, and Boorman would say "it's BEAUTIFUL" at every single thing he lays his eyes on! Nothing compared to the OP's adventure imo

Cullen82

t1mm wrote: »

First of all - awesome sounding adventure. I'm very jealous; I'm hoping to do Cork to Cape Town next year but I have so many ideas floating around my head who knows which I will go for

About the burning out; in my opinion the solution is to just take it a bit more easy. Maybe try to stop focusing so much on kilometers and borders and the number of countries. On my latest trip I found myself much more drawn towards people and experiences rather than scenes of natural beauty after a few thousand kilometers. Also, locals tend to know about much more cool and "back country" routes than most maps I've found!

If you'd like to have a read about my trip, here's a link:

http://synergydesign.ie/corktobelgrade

A bit closer to home than yours though!

Enjoy your trip, and I wish you the best of luck

This sounds superb, I have it marked down to read in the morning (one more day left in windhoek)...look forward to reading it

Re burning out yeah I think youre right, at least thats what Im hoping by taking a few days rest here and there...thing is, the sun is so relentless here this time of year especially and no shade = killer!

What sort of route are you looking at? West/East?

I think the Pyramids as a starting point in Africa is pretty amazing

t1mm

I'm not sure about the route yet to be honest - I'm going to spend the winter staring at maps and come up with some sort of an idea I guess Please keep us updated about your travels!

niallb

Fair play to you @cullen82. I'll follow your adventures!

A great guy I've worked with named Hugh Bergin is currently cycling solo from Kilkenny to Burma. He had a broken rim around the Black Sea, but got things sorted thanks to good people. He posts regular updates at
http://bicycletoburma.com

He did a lap of Africa on two wheels five years ago, though that time he brought an engine.
You might find something worth reading on his blog of that at http://www.lapofafrica.com

He's riding to raise money for two charities, one in Ireland and one in Burma, but he's funding the trip himself.

Cullen82

t1mm wrote: »

I'm not sure about the route yet to be honest - I'm going to spend the winter staring at maps and come up with some sort of an idea I guess Please keep us updated about your travels!

Will do, it's a top idea - look forward to seeing what you decide to do

btw I dont have a GPS and don't really plan much further than a week ahead re where to go lol

Cullen82

niallb wrote: »

Fair play to you @cullen82. I'll follow your adventures!

A great guy I've worked with named Hugh Bergin is currently cycling solo from Kilkenny to Burma. He had a broken rim around the Black Sea, but got things sorted thanks to good people. He posts regular updates at
http://bicycletoburma.com

He did a lap of Africa on two wheels five years ago, though that time he brought an engine.
You might find something worth reading on his blog of that at http://www.lapofafrica.com

He's riding to raise money for two charities, one in Ireland and one in Burma, but he's funding the trip himself.

What an absolute legend!! These blogs are hard to come by through google I could have done with more to read before setting out myself...still, it will be great to relate to now I'm on the move Thanks for that Niall

Cullen82

t1mm wrote: »

They'd ride large distances daily with a support crew not far behind, and Boorman would say "it's BEAUTIFUL" at every single thing he lays his eyes on! Nothing compared to the OP's adventure imo

Appreciate it. Personally I'm a big motorbike fan (BMW F650 at home) and also Ewan /Charlie....Boorman is great fun - look at all his adventures since.

Long Way Round was class and Long Way down too but Ewan did a bit too much whinging on the Africa one. Funnily enough I think about this quite a lot (in my endless amount of thoughts haha) if he thought the motorbike was rough going, how funny would it have been to see him in a bicycle saddle? haha

Think you'll agree T1mm, Being alone is far and away the biggest challenge both physically and mentally

MrMischief

Cullen82 came out for his nephews birthday party last February. He cycled from Milltown to Sutton (prob 20km ish?) and it took him well over an hour. I checked his bike before his return trip and both tyres were nearly flat...d'oh! I fixed that and off he went and he was back in Milltown in no time. So to say I was a bit worried when I heard of his adventure is an understatement!!

p.s. He has had absolutely ZERO training for this so he's LEGEND status in my book and I don't say that lightly!

Jabel

Fair play OP, sounds like a leap into the unknown!
Well written blog too, I'll be keeping an eye on it for sure.
Respect.

Best of luck
Jabel

MrMischief

From Paul Kimmages Twitter

Paul Kimmage ‏@PaulKimmage 18h
Check out this Rough Rider. Chapeau @NoHangingAround
http://nohangingaround.com/churchstorm

Wonder will he say he's on drugs next? :O

catweazle

To add a little latin flair to this topic, a mate of mine is spending the next year cycling around South America

Madcyclist.tumblr.com/

Cullen82

MrMischief wrote: »

Cullen82 came out for his nephews birthday party last February. He cycled from Milltown to Sutton (prob 20km ish?) and it took him well over an hour. I checked his bike before his return trip and both tyres were nearly flat...d'oh! I fixed that and off he went and he was back in Milltown in no time. So to say I was a bit worried when I heard of his adventure is an understatement!!

p.s. He has had absolutely ZERO training for this so he's LEGEND status in my book and I don't say that lightly!

Haha that was the last time I cycled out that way for a reason, massive headwinds, gale force winds, think there was almost cyclone status if I remember right?!

Thanks for telling everyone that chief!!

Cullen82

So chuffed with all the support and comments, honestly delighted and hope some of you have the chance to follow the Journey on facebook/nohangingaround

Fire away with the questions and feel free to contact me through the sites or on here!

Derek

Lusk_Doyle

Hey Cullen82, have you seen this? Something to occupy the mind on those endless straight desert roads. There's nine in total.

Cullen82

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Hey Cullen82, have you seen this? Something to occupy the mind on those endless straight desert roads. There's nine in total.

Never seen that before...man youve given me such a laugh here. Especially the end LOL

Cullen82

Oh ...theres 9 of them !! nice one ))

Mr November

Saw this video from this lad yesterday...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04T9VRVufw0

http://youtu.be/04T9VRVufw0

Been following the blog on nohangingaround.com for a while now.
Really excellent read. Some adventure.

Would love to do something similar. I often thought about even just doing a round trip of Ireland on the bike... this makes me realise how much of an idiot I've been putting it off or finding excuses not to.... as the chap says...

'When you find out what you really want to do, regardless of how it makes you feel... you should just go for it!'

Daroxtar

Mr November wrote: »

Saw this video from this lad yesterday...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04T9VRVufw0

http://youtu.be/04T9VRVufw0

Been following the blog on nohangingaround.com for a while now.
Really excellent read. Some adventure.

Would love to do something similar. I often thought about even just doing a round trip of Ireland on the bike... this makes me realise how much of an idiot I've been putting it off or finding excuses not to.... as the chap says...

'When you find out what you really want to do, regardless of how it makes you feel... you should just go for it!'

I've been hanging on like a child waiting for his updates on the blog and fb for the past few weeks

Mr November

Good article in the Irish Times today on the trip

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/cycling-out-of-anxiety-and-into-an-african-adventure-1.1667339

MrMischief

From breakingnews.ie


http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/heroic-dubliner-returns-home-after-raising-thousands-in-year-long-cycle-through-africa-649905.html

:)

el tel

Fan-bloody-tastic!

It would be hard to beat the highs that trip would give you.

Congrats Derek!

spoke2cun

I'd love to do something like this around the coastal roads
of Ireland, before we become the northwest coast of Europe.

Mr November

Amazing achievement. Well done ya legend! ;-)