The Book ‘Cycling Home From Siberia’ is written by Rob Lilwall, a British adventurer.
Rob used to work as a Geography teacher in the UK till the adventure bug bit him.
The Book describes his epic cycling journey from Magadan, Siberia to London.
The journey took around three years and covered more than 30,000 Miles.
Along the way, he cycled through Russia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and finally home.
The author is very honest about his experiences along the way and the Book makes for an interesting light read.
The Book is full of interesting events and anecdotes which includes a mugging, fire, cyclones etc
One anecdote I found particularly amusing was when author got bored cycling in Japan. Everything was too perfect and monotonous. So, like any other crazy Englishman, he thought it would be a good idea to cycle around naked. Of course, within no time, the police were on him and he had to put back on his clothes .
Couldn’t help but wonder that if he had done the same stunt in our chaotic India, nobody would have been bothered…possibly, he would have become even more famous as a ‘Cycle Wala Baba’ !
One aspect of the Book that stuck me was that the author was able to travel the world on a shoe string budget. The entire trip cost less than 8,000 Pounds.
One reason why he was able to do so was that he used to stay at Churches etc and used the extensive Church network wherever possible.
The second reason was he used to pitch a tent next to the road whenever he felt tired and needed a break.
Another thing that I found remarkable was how he successfully parlayed his adventure into speaking sessions, books and National Geographic shows.
Is there anything to learn from such adventures? Other than the trite “Anything is possible if you put your mind to it” or “The world is full of good people”
The author himself disagrees.
He says “Although I had been thrilled to discover the world is full of wonder, beauty and good people, I had also seen meanness, misery, conflict, poverty and the cruelty of life.
Although I achieved more than I thought possible, I also became aware of my own limits and mortality”
I would recommend this Book only for those into endurance sports.