THE ROUTE: 70,000 KM BY LAND, 22,000 NM BY SEA
It’s hard to visualise in one bang—six continents, 50-something countries, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans—but split into a series of transcontinental and oceanic journeys, the route looks something like this:
STAGE 1 (COMPLETED): Australia, Oceania, Southeast Asia & East Asia. (10,000 km cycled & 3,500 nm sailed)
Departing Melbourne I headed north up the East Coast of Australia, sailed over the top end to Indonesia via the Coral, Arafura, Timor, Banda, and Flores seas, then cycled through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, and Japan.
STAGE 2 (COMPLETED): Russian Far East, Northern China, Mongolia, Siberia, Western Russia, Scandinavia. (18,000 km)
From Japan I travelled due north to Sakhalin Island, cycled through the Russian Far East to Northeast China, across the northern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Inner Mongolia, across Mongolia from the Gobi Desert in the south to the mountainous steppe in the north, then back into Russia through the Altai mountains, Siberia, Western Russia, Finland, and Norway.
STILL TO COME
STAGE 2B: Cycling Western Europe
STAGE 3: Rowing the Atlantic Ocean
STAGE 4: Cycling and paddling the Americas
STAGE 5: Sailing the Pacific Ocean