Japan to Ireland by Bike

Yarisbob

This is the brother-in-law, Him and his girlfriend have spent the last 2 years teaching English in Japan. They are on their way back to Ireland by bicycle.

They have just come through Mongolia and are near to Russia. They have gotton delayed by sickness for 4 days but are back on track again.

They are writing about it and got into the Irish Times Saturday 2 weeks ago.

https://crankandcog.wordpress.com/

Now it would be very bad of me not to meet them along the road when they get to this country and ride a bit of the road with them....!

Not Daft but Brave

Koobcam

Your Brother-in-law and his girlfriend are a bit mad. Fair play to em', it's a long way back.

helimachoptor

interesting read, will have a follow

crosstownk

helimachoptor wrote: »

interesting read, will have a follow

Same here. I'll keep an eye on this too.

petethedrummer

The photos are amazing. Wanderlust is rising.

run_Forrest_run

amazing pics of what will surely be a journey of a lifetime.

Gallant_JJ

Drove across Mongolia a number of years ago, tough terrain with incredibly tough surfaces to contend with, I would imagine its very tough on the bikes. Epic journey, I'll be tuning in.

The sight of that plate of 'food' still make my stomach churn.

petethedrummer

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

Drove across Mongolia a number of years ago,

What vehicle did you use?

Gallant_JJ

A transit van, arguably the most inappropriate vehicle imaginable for the task. Drove it from Ireland.

brocbrocach

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

Drove across Mongolia a number of years ago, tough terrain with incredibly tough surfaces to contend with, I would imagine its very tough on the bikes. Epic journey, I'll be tuning in.

The sight of that plate of 'food' still make my stomach churn.

I can't believe they only have one spare tyre between them. Also couldn't believe they only got one puncture going through Mongolian dirt roads.
Seriously fantastic thing to do.

omicron persei 8

I would be so worried about being attacked, robbed or sexually assaulted coming through some of the countries they are likely to pass through

Blowfish

Interesting. A friend of mine is going the other way and would be pretty close (in relative terms) to where they are. Tell them to keep an eye out for him:http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=15431&v=9N

Gallant_JJ

Another brilliant blog. I pity the poor lad though, looking forward to getting to Semey, arguably the glummest most depressing town I have ever been in.

The Russians carried out nuclear testing in proximity to the town, the results of which are still evident in the local population. A town time forgot.

petethedrummer

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

A transit van, arguably the most inappropriate vehicle imaginable for the task. Drove it from Ireland.

Nice! Did you put anything up on the net about it?

outfox

I think Christy Moore wrote a song about it

MiskyBoyy

I love following stories like this. The last one I really remember was the guy who cycled from Dublin to Beijing.

I also note from OP's brothers blog they met the Australian couple travelling on horseback. Had a look on their facebook page and seen they had 1 of their horses stolen only metres from their tent whilst they were sleeping in Mongolia. Ffs, bad enough without stuff like that happening!

Freddiestar

omicron persei 8 wrote: »

I would be so worried about being attacked, robbed or sexually assaulted coming through some of the countries they are likely to pass through

Not sure how you'd sexually assault someone on a bike but what do I know! You're right though they'd be better off staying indoors forever.

WoollyWoman

Looking forward to following their adventure. Thanks for sharing. Hope they bump into "Crazyguyonabike" :-)

omicron persei 8

Freddiestar wrote:

Not sure how you'd sexually assault someone on a bike but what do I know! You're right though they'd be better off staying indoors forever.

1 man and 1 woman in the back arse of Mongolia happen upon a group of whatever intent on doing harm to the westerners. What hope have they??

Daroxtar

Jaysus, it started off as an admirable cycling adventure thread. Now it's gone Mongol rape hordes.

Redderneck

I'd sooner be doing the Mongolia Mooch on a bike than trying to cross Dublin during rush hour, if personal safety was my overriding concern.

The Black Oil

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

iwillhtfu

omicron persei 8 wrote: »

I would be so worried about being attacked, robbed or sexually assaulted coming through some of the countries they are likely to pass through

Do you worry about that cycling through Dublin or wherever you currently cycle. My point being the world is full of crazy everywhere.

Looks like a fantastic trip fair play to them.

Rambling Man

Blowfish wrote: »

Interesting. A friend of mine is going the other way and would be pretty close (in relative terms) to where they are. Tell them to keep an eye out for him:http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=15431&v=9N

This is a really good account, very entertaining. For this kind of touring, surely you need a neck like a jockey's b****ks

WearstheFoxhat

I can just about make it to my local pub on the bike, and that's downhill. Fair play to them

Chris_Heilong

I remember a Japanese guy cycling around the world eventually arrived in Dublin only for his bike to get stolen.

petethedrummer

omicron persei 8 wrote: »

1 man and 1 woman in the back arse of Mongolia happen upon a group of whatever intent on doing harm to the westerners. What hope have they??

If this was the 13th century, I'd be worried.

petethedrummer

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I remember a Japanese guy cycling around the world eventually arrived in Dublin only for his bike to get stolen.

Noone locks their bike in Japan. Not even in Downtown Tokyo.

CycLok

That's an unbelievable under taking! Thanks for sharing

Blowfish

Blowfish wrote: »

Interesting. A friend of mine is going the other way and would be pretty close (in relative terms) to where they are. Tell them to keep an eye out for him:http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=15431&v=9N

Bit of a mini necro on this, but they ended up meeting up. Typically enough, despite being a random Irish encounter half way around the world from people who had never met and took completely different routes to get there, it turns out that they both have lived in Limerick and drank in the same local pub.

Here's a pic of them meeting in any case:

Qualitymark

Daroxtar wrote: »

Jaysus, it started off as an admirable cycling adventure thread. Now it's gone Mongol rape hordes.

I lolzed!

Rambling Man wrote: »

This is a really good account, very entertaining. For this kind of touring, surely you need a neck like a jockey's b****ks

Or vice versa?

Fair fair fair play to them! Stories to tell their gaping grandchildren!

The Black Oil

Coverage in the Irish Times.

brocbrocach

Blowfish wrote: »

Interesting. A friend of mine is going the other way and would be pretty close (in relative terms) to where they are. Tell them to keep an eye out for him:http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=15431&v=9N

I've grown obsessed with this dude since you put up that link.

Lumen

The Black Oil wrote: »

Coverage in the Irish Times.

Anthea McTeirnan wrote:

“Living it up in Russia now! We’ve been stuffing our faces with cheese and cake, Laura dropped to her knees when she saw cheese in the shop, a heavenly apparition in the dairy aisle, it’s been 40 cheeseless days, she really misses cheese,” blogged Hussey.

That's slightly ironic since from I've read Russia is in the grip of a quality cheese famine since EU imports were cut off, and the only stuff available legally is local crap.

I have a vision of them and the shop owner now being interrogated by the cheese police. :eek:

Rambling Man

Very disappointing and scary development for the round-the-world chap:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=438320&v=1W

brocbrocach

Rambling Man wrote: »

Very disappointing and scary development for the round-the-world chap:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=438320&v=1W

Yeah it's terrible, just unlucky i suppose.
People should look at what he has on his guestbook after reading that btw, for an update on things

MiskyBoyy

Rambling Man wrote: »

Very disappointing and scary development for the round-the-world chap:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=438320&v=1W

Wow that's mental. Poor f*cker. Can only imagine how terrifying that must have been :eek:

brocbrocach wrote: »

Yeah it's terrible, just unlucky i suppose.
People should look at what he has on his guestbook after reading that btw, for an update on things

Have you got a link to this?

brocbrocach

Sorry yeah, it's just the guestbook for him on that blogsite. He's just replying to a few queries etc.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/guestbook/?o=tS&board_id=19424&v=BS&board_mode=message

beertons

That's scary.

Qualitymark

Talked to a guy who works as security in casinos recently. He said the Chinese were helpless gamblers, but the Mongolians were mad bastards once they got a bit of drink into them. Perhaps racism, perhaps cultural…

Yarisbob

Hi All
Thanks for all the replys.. Yeah he met with William along the road shortly after the unfortunate incident with the member of the Mongolian race (don't want to offend anybody)

Latest update - I never did get to ride along with him and her. Got a feckin chest infection and the weather was rough.

Brother in law landed last night to surprise us.. Needless to say hes a tired bunny after 4 and a half months of living rough...

They were able to see from their blog where the hits were coming from and over 65% were coming from this actual forum so there you go .. They just want to say a big thanks to everybody who sent them messages of goodwill and support which really kept them going during times that they were low !!

Never let it be said that nobody reads this forum....!!

Thud

he made it home!
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/seven-attempted-robberies-ak47wielding-soldiers-and-aggressive-elephants-limerick-mans-incredible-global-adventure-36560989.html

Blowfish

heh, didn't expect Will to get into the Indo, fair play to him.

Blowfish

Ray Darcy interviewed Will here if anyone is interested.

I wasn't aware of the guy till this thread resurfaced and have been glued to the blog since. He should have it printed and sold in shops.

mugsymugsy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I wasn't aware of the guy till this thread resurfaced and have been glued to the blog since. He should have it printed and sold in shops.

He's planning to write it up and do a book. Great blog and class photos too. Sounds like a sound guy