I first asked Jim how he would feel about doing a big long-distance cycle tour a few years ago. I had always wanted to do a big tour, and had been wistfully thinking about cycling to China for a while, but wanted some company; specific company who happened to be both my boyfriend and a bike mechanic. His response was a pretty definite no. Every so often it would come up in conversation and his firm ‘no’ slowly became a ‘maybe’, and then a ‘yeah that would be good to do one day’. By our first proper cycle touring holiday together (Tenerife – 2017) we had tentatively decided that 2019 might be a good year to go, providing we enjoyed a two week practice tour in 2018.

Fast forward a few months and a few rubbish days at work and we decided fuck it, what was the point of waiting and what were we waiting for?

And so, after quite a few very long conversations about whether or not we should do it and how could we afford it and what would we do with the house and all our belongings and where would we go and a hundred other things, we decided we were both 100% terrified and 100% in. March 2018 we would quit our jobs, leave our things and lives and friends in Leeds, and set off to cycle across Eurasia.

This will probably be the biggest and best thing we’ll ever do.

Jade