Cycling Around the World with my Dad - Leaving home

My dad and I are about to take on the biggest challenge of our lives. Three years ago we cycled across the USA together and one year ago we decided we wanted to do something bigger. Something never been done by a father and son before and probably for good reason to cycle around the world. That was brutal. Everything is going to be tested over the coming months from our bodies to our relationship but we know it's going to be an incredible Two and a half k's uphill, bring it on. We've spent the past 12 months planning and now we are ready to leave our home in the UK and pedal east with the aim of returning in a year's time after going the whole way around the planet. Take this with me as well as like a jumper jumper. Well this is it. It's the 29th of March 2025 and today dad and I are leaving our home here in the UK to cycle around the world. We're leaving in about an hour's time. We're just prepping the bikes, the final checks and then we're going to head down to the ferry to head across to Holland overnight and start the Europe leg of this adventure. Shall we? Yeah that'll do. That's just Josh cycling. Yeah well you should have seen us yesterday. It's been a bit uh prolonged. Very great. We've got people coming in now. We have a little production line. Have you got lots of people you expect to come this morning? No I just put it out on the closed Facebook group for the village so I know there was a few people Just pedal. I'll try my best. You okay Ava? Yeah great. Last few weeks have been intense and then it's here. So what have I got to do? Open the doors? That's good. You like I have to stand on the tiptoe? Hey we're so proud of you. We're so proud of both of you guys. Let's do it. Let's do this. You good? Yeah. Ready? Yep. Let's go. Dear Joshua, unfortunately our booking system allowed bookings from the 29th which is today but we only start from the 1st. We are very sorry for this mistake and will refund you the money. This has confirmed the cancellation of the booking. Well that's not very good. It's a 60 mile detour but I don't think we'll make it because check-in's at 8. What's the name of the ferry company? It's a Felixstowe Ferry isn't it? So basically the ferry's cancelled and it's not running for another two days. Yeah. And we're meant to be on a ferry from where that other ferry gets to tonight. Yeah. No we're not going to make it. It's three hours in the ferry. No no no no no no no that's fine yeah because we're not we're not going for 4 30 anymore. We need to be in Harwich at 8 and this it takes three hours from here. So we've got a bit more cycling to do. It's only 60k's. Joshua? Joshua? Focus on the positive. Remember? We're only 8k's. That's good then. A lot of hills. Really? We haven't noticed them. Yeah I'm so glad that ferry was cancelled. Just what we needed on day one. I love cycling in the dark. Love cycling in the dark. We were commenting that your lights do stand out as well. Well at least it's not raining. Always look on the bright side of life. I need a wee. Oh god. What kind of day does he fear? 130 kilometers. That wasn't meant to be how long day one was. Just us and the world eh? Yeah. I can't believe we're the first one to do this out of eight billion people. How cool is that? We have made it onto the ferry. Just locking the bikes up. Making sure they don't walk around on the ferry crossing. Then we're going to go up to the cabin and get a good night's sleep because it's thoroughly deserved. Oh a home for the first night. Home from home. Lovely. First night down. Did not sleep very well at all. I think I've got about four hours sleep which isn't great. My watch told me that I need a rest today. Whereas we've got 100 kilometers to cycle but we're now in the Netherlands so it should be flat. How are you feeling Joshua? Good. Tailwind and flat. Just what we want for day two. The best snack. Harry Potter. Hey Joshua how you doing on day three? We're good. Cycling towards the German border. About 100 kilometers out but it's already feeling so Germanic. And yes there is a banana in my pocket. In Germany now. Just heading towards Cologne on a nice long embankment. Wind's not exactly in our favor. We've arrived in Cologne. Pretty impressive cathedral. We made it to Bonn just in time for the blooming of their cherry blossom. They've got this whole street which is just cherry blossom trees and it's really pretty. It's just all pink. Heading out of Bonn along the Rhine. Absolutely stunning. Nice sunny day. I think the realization of what we're undertaking has started to hit me. I guess the first few days was all excitement about this journey ahead of us and the last two days has kind of sunk in what we're doing and adjusting to this new routine has been pretty challenging. We did America. We did three months together back then so I know we'll be able to do it now. It's just hard at the moment and it's taking its toll on me. I'm definitely feeling in but we've just got to keep pedaling, keep moving on and it'll all be worth it in the end. I'm still super excited for what's to come. We always knew the first two weeks were going to be a challenge but it is hard just settling into this new lifestyle, finding a routine. These are the first big hills of the trip. My lack of training over the past few months is really starting to show. I'm struggling up these hills. Still breathing, just. We've just cycled into the town of Worms. We were aiming for a campsite tonight and asked if any spaces left and they said no. So we're in a hotel tonight. I can't complain. We've got a really big day today, 150 kilometers almost. We're about to hit 100,000 followers on Instagram. There we go. Lovely morning start. We're 25kms in already. We've got a long day ahead and we're just cruising down this lovely straight path through the woods. That was probably one of the most brutal climbs I've ever done on a bike. We've cycled into Stuttgart. It's about 5pm and we've still got 30kms to go so no stopping here. After our longest day on the bikes so far, we've arrived at this epic bike co-working shop but today was exhausting. We did nearly 1300m of climbing, 150k. Good morning. Just had a night's sleep in the Giovita store. It wasn't the best night's sleep but I'll give you that. I'm pretty exhausted. My hay fever is causing my eyes to all gunge up overnight so I'm waking up with horrible eyes which is actually quite painful and not pleasant. Bye bye. Well we don't need fuel for transport but we do need fuel to cook so we haven't got to wear a fuse mask. The worst thing about cycling is having to push when you're going downhill because of the headwind and that's what we've got today and it is awful. You work so hard to get to the top of a hill expecting a nice rewarding downhill. Instead you have to struggle to go back down because the headwind is so strong. It's not fun. We have finally arrived at the campsite. It was meant to be a pretty straightforward day but it was anything but. Going to set up the tent for the first time of the trip. It's been a bit longer than expected for our first night camping but yeah let's get the tent up. What we got for dinner tonight dad? We have the most marvellous pasta with tomato and chicken bacon sauce. Do you want a choccy bar for pudding? Yeah. I'm good. Doing the tent up? What are you doing? Good night. We'll see you for day 10 tomorrow. And that's what's left in the water bottle. Everything's frozen. It's day 10 on the road. Heading towards the Alps. Heading to Leuterbach after another cheeky hill climb. Plenty more of them to come. There he is grizzling it up the hill with a big grin. Still smiling. Just about. Only 11%. Deep joy. Alps are just in front of us. We're about to approach the foothills. Oh it's been a long day. We're trying to push our bikes up this to end it. It's not what you want but it must be done. We have arrived at our place we're staying for the night. We're staying in this cute little thing because it was 15 euros more than camping and it's going to get below freezing again tonight so we thought we'd spend the extra 15 euros and have a comfortable night. We can also charge our gear. It is our final morning here in Germany. Today we're heading up into the Alps and into Innsbruck for a well-needed day off. Tomorrow it's still pretty early. It's at 7 30 in the morning. now to start the big climb and then we've got about 500 meters to the pass that'll take us into Austria and then down into Innsbruck. Two and a half kilometers uphill, bring it on. We have arrived in country number four. There was no sign again just like when we came to Joli but we are now in Austria. We've just made it into our Airbnb that was staying in Innsbruck for the next two nights and that was probably one of the worst downhills I've ever done on a bike. It was just so steep. I think at times there was signs saying it was 16 percent and it was on a super main busy road so I couldn't film a thing. We could barely stop. We were on the brakes the whole way down and after climbing pretty much the last two days straight to be rewarded with that is pretty disappointing but it's just part of it so we're now going to get some rest here in Innsbruck and then we'll carry on in two days time.