Peak Dale man’s 40,000km cycle around the world - on grandad’s bike

Josh Howe, who has a degree in aerospace engineering, took a sabbatical to volunteer in Africa and when he returned he knew he wanted to travel more.

He said: “I wanted to see the world while I was young enough and fit enough to do it so I thought why not now.” Josh has always liked hiking and wild camping and an idea started forming.

“My grandad was quite active and he had a bike which he bought in 1999 or 2000 but after he died it just sat in the shed not being used.

“So I thought why not combine traveling and granddad's bike?”

On March 1, 2025 Josh set off on his adventure with the aim of getting to Istanbul.

After cycling to the port he got a ferry to Holland and then cycled down through Europe passing through Germany, the Swiss Alps, Italy, the Balkans then Greece, and Istanbul in Turkey.

He says throughout the journey he was met with hospitality and kindness by everyone but Turkey was his first place where he felt different.

“I’m blonde, fair skinned and blue eyes so people in Turkey were interested in me and chatting with me and rubbing my hair.

“I pitched up my tent one night just on the street but these lads spotted me and invited me in to watch the football.

“They went to buy me some beers and asked me how many I would like and I said three and they seemed shocked that I could drink that much.”

The 25-year-old said: “I had nothing to rush home for so I thought I’d just keep going and see how far I could get.”

His journey then took him through Georgia and he says the first difficult place he encountered was in Iran where fighting had started.

He then flew home from Kazakhstan in August for his brother’s wedding and spent a month sorting out visas for the next leg of his journey which had already clocked up 25,000kms.

Once he got his Chinese visa sorted he flew back.

“It was a bit touch and go as I’d left my bike in the shed of some man who had no phone so I just had to hope that it was still there so I hitchhiked back to the village and it was there waiting for me and off I went again.”

This leg of his journey was a long one with it taking him 80 days to cross China.

“Of all the countries I have seen, China was my favourite. It was so different from anything else I have experienced.

“Everyone was so kind and it was very safe.

“There is so much CCTV and a high police presence there is no crime so I never locked my bike up and there was no homelessness it was a very clean and welcoming country.

“The food was great. You could get a full meal for just a pound.”

Across his journey Josh was met with hospitality and villagers putting him up and feeding him.

“It restored my faith in humanity. You wouldn’t get people doing that in England and maybe we need to remember that not every stranger is a bad one.”

Josh cycled through Vietnam, Laos, to Thailand.

“It was in Thailand where I had my only negative experience.

“Across the country I had stayed at various Buddhist temples and had no bother but I arrived at a new one and a monk offered me a beer and to sleep in his room.

“Having had such positive experiences at other temples I thought nothing of it but he tried to get in bed with me and then his actions became rather more serious so I made a quick exit.

“That night I slept on a petrol station cafe floor.”

After continuing his South East Asia leg which included Malaysia and Indonesia where he went island hopping he booked another flight and cycled Perth to Sydney.

“That was a physically tough journey. It took me 55 days and I travelled 220km with no food or water.”

Josh then flew from Sydney to LA and he cycled across to New York.

“I’ve done so much, more than most people will ever do in their lives but I knew I hadn’t done any cycling in Africa so I flew to Casablanca and cycled up to the top corner of Morocco just so I could tick off another continent.”

He then cycled through Spain, Portugal then the northern coast of Spain and into France.

“Brittany was the only time that my granddad took his bike abroad and I had a photo of him there so I cycled to recreate it in the same spot which was nice and really felt like he was with me.”

From there he crossed back to England and cycled up the country to his front door taking his total distance to 41,000kms - the circumference of the earth is only 40,000kms and did it all on two sets of tyres.

He said: “This has truly been the adventure of a lifetime for me and I’ve got so many memories and stories that will stay with me forever.”

Josh’s journey has also been raising money for Hope for Tomorrow Global, a small UK charity working alongside hundreds of families in Burundi.

The charity works with families living in extreme poverty, helping them move beyond dependency towards dignity and long-term self-sufficiency through initiatives including sustainable farming, education and practical support.

He has raised £1,600 for the charity which he says does amazing work for some of the poorest people in the world.

To donate to Josh’s fundraiser visit https://hopefortomorrowglobal.enthuse.com/pf/joshua-howe-worldcycle