From China to England: a traveler’s adventure to pick up his bike

Josh Reid, as a cycle tourist, was no stranger to tackling long bike rides. Even though he was only 23, he had already put himself to the test on numerous trips, often remote. Last year Josh needed a new adventure partner, one new bike. He could get it in the shop behind his house, like a mere mortal, but Josh had another idea: to get it directly from the manufacturer in China, eliminate all middlemen and bring it home, cycling. It was, with an epic four month journey to return to Newcastle in England crossing 15 countries and covering 15 thousand kilometers.

Josh’s journey began in July a Shanghai, where, after collecting his new bicycle from the Giant factory, he left with a small amount of luggage: clothes, a camping stove, an air mattress and a sleeping bag. Without curtain to save weight. Of course Josh asked for hospitality along the way, which he was often given. Josh, he tells the Daily Mail, was inspired by a trip his father, journalist Carlton Reid, made in his youth in the 1980s, when he rode a bicycle to Israel and spent a year touring the Middle Eastern deserts on a mountain bike. “With a bicycle fanatic father, I practically grew up riding a bike. My first bike tour was a trip to Luxembourg with my father when I was seven. ‘

In China after Xi’an, the home of the Terracotta Warriors, he followed the route of the ancient Silk Road, but unlike most western cyclists, he also rode from east to west on comfortable cycle paths. “Away from the big cities, there weren’t many roads to choose from, which made navigation a breeze. Leaving China, I entered Kazakhstan and headed to the country’s largest city, Almaty, where I enjoyed a nice massage in one of the city’s public baths. This was the last convenience I allowed myself for a while, if you can call it normal to be beaten with oak leaves and then plunged into a pool with other naked men around me. ‘

Instead of taking the flat desert road that runs through the Kazakhstan, Josh has diverted along one of the wildest and highest roads in the world, the Pamir road, which peaks at 4500 meters of altitude. This meandering, mostly dirt road took him through Kyrgyzstan, theUzbekistan with the passage to the mythical Samarkand and the Tajikistan, where he drove 400 kilometers along the border withAfghanistan.

“In a Tajik village, I asked a passer-by where I could sleep – he called friends who said their grandparents would take care of me. They did and even fed me, without asking for any payment. This hospitality – so welcome and so touching – was the norm throughout Central Asia. During my trip, I was invited to sleep in several mosques and stayed in many people’s homes, including a bed in a roadside watermelon kiosk, ”Josh tells Lonely Planet.

Avoiding Iran, he ventured into Azerbaijan and in Georgia. The first signs of autumn were the signal that Josh had better get home as soon as possible, having neither a tent nor suitable clothes. After crossing Turkey along the Black Sea coast to Istanbul, he took the ferry to cross the Bosphorus leaving Asia behind. From Budapest, he followed the Eurovelo cycle route along the Danube, cycling quickly through Luxembourg and Germany along the Old Continent’s cycle paths to his home, some four months after leaving Shanghai.

“I was helped by so many kind people on my journey, who offered me food and shelter. The biggest lesson I learned along the way was to trust strangers and accept their kindness. People are much friendlier than you can imagine, even when there are language barriers ». Discover in the gallery above some photos of Josh’s adventure.