Thirteen months, 24 000 km, two continents and 18 countries, this is the epic tale of two St Andrew’s men who cycled from Scotland to Cape Town. Grant Ross and Grahamstonian Sebastian Davies departed for Scotland on 8 July 2009 to embark on an overland, unassisted cycle expedition.
Thirteen months, 24 000 km, two continents and 18 countries, this is the epic tale of two St Andrew’s men who cycled from Scotland to Cape Town. Grant Ross and Grahamstonian Sebastian Davies departed for Scotland on 8 July 2009 to embark on an overland, unassisted cycle expedition.
“Let’s do something crazy,” said Davies and with this philosophy they were off into what seemed a wild world of opportunity, experiences and exploration.
“I feel out of sorts being back,” laughed Davies “on the trip the days and dates just seemed to fall away.” They had a set route but stayed longer in the places that made an impression.
The journey was not completely solitary, people joined in and cycled with the duo throughout different stages of the trip.
If Davies had to choose, Uganda would be his favourite stop. “The people are good-looking and always smiling,” said Davies, “plus the food and climate are great.”
This experience has opened my eyes to how spoilt for choice we are in South Africa, explained Davies.
The lack of money in Africa forces people to engage with each other and their environments. “Humanity in its rawest form is still alive there,” said Davies referring to the community-based way of life.
It was not all smooth sailing though. When they arrived at the Sudanese/Ethiopian boarder Ross was shivering and shaking.
Having suffered from malaria before, they hurried to the closest hospital where malaria was diagnosed and treated. As a part of their challenge, they decided that the expedition should be done for a good cause.
UK-based Action Aid charity had various projects and they decided to raise money for two specific projects run in Malawi and Western Uganda.
The main aim is to provide safe water, reduce hunger and sustain development in these areas. “Unfortunately our experience with Action Aid charity was bitter-sweet,” said Davies.
In some countries they were very well received by the charity branches and the publicity for fundraising was well arranged.
Regrettably there were some incidents where the support was appalling and as a result they withdrew funding from the Malawian project handing it over to Uganda instead. So far they have raised £5000 (over R 56 000).
Adventurers at heart, Davies and Ross have itchy feet and have already entered the Namaqualand Trail run at the end of the month.
