Mark's Route: Interactive Map
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'..and then a spoke broke...'
Every day on this trip has had its ups and downs. Just two and a half days south of the finish line and this sentiment still rings true...
4 Days to go!
Mark has been pushing 12 and 13 hour days in a Herculean effort to make Paris on Friday. We caught up with Peter, his masseur and 'aide' for this final leg to see how Mark's holding up...
Interview on The Fred Show, Feb 6th
The Fred Show have also been following Mark on his incredible journey, and they caught up with him on Wednesday morning for a chat...
The Sunshine State
A week after the mugging, we caught up with Mark. Just three days left in the USA and things were looking good...
Highs and Lows, north of Melbourne
Starting just north of Melbourne and following him into New South Wales, Mark talks us through a slew of road-rage and the highs and lows of being on the bike.
The hardest day
The last 24 hours have been the hardest and most eventful of Mark's journey so far. Click and listen to his tale of being run over, then mugged by crack heads...
First interview from The States
To say that Mark's time in America has been different than the rest of the world would be an understatement. Click to listen about the highs, lows and crazy weather...
The Wind
The wind was so strong and relentless in Oz that Mark actually once commented that 'the story of Australia has been that of the wind'. Click to watch and find out why...
Snakes and Spiders
Mark talks about his fears with regards to dealing with the wildlife in Australia...
The Nullarbor
At 90 miles long, The Nullarbor Straight is the longest stretch of straight road in Australia. Mark had been looking forward to riding it ever since the race began, but as you can see, what initially seemed like a reasonably easy section, turned out to be one of Mark's hardest moments...
Straight Roads?
Mark eplodes a few myths about the Nullarbor straight and also lets us in on the rather strange dual purpose of the road...
The Journey So Far: A Retrospective
We thought it was time for a wee retrospective on the worst and best parts of Mark's adventure so far...
'I've been places mentally that I haven't been before...'
We finally managed to catch up with Mark when he was in New Zealand, where he spoke very openly about the psycological challenges that he's been facing over the last few weeks.
'I'd take hills over a head wind ANY day...'
Four days south of Brisbane, things are looking good for Mark. He's had company for the first time since he set off and despite a wee bit of road rage in Melbourne, he is ahead of schedule and doing grand...
Flies, spiders, broken wheels and drug-dealing convicts...
Over the past few days, Mark's had a few interesting encounters and a few mechanical set-backs. We got in touch and asked him to fill in the blanks a wee bit.
FINALLY a tail wind!
Mark's back in civilisation now, so we caught up with him a day before his first real day off of the whole trip!
'Everyone's on an adventure...'
Two weeks ago, we decided to start doing two interviews a week with Mark but were then thwarted by a complete lack of phone reception! All is not lost, however, as Mark is now back in civilisation, so we caught up with him to hear how he's been spending the last two weeks...
'He'll need to be carrying about 8-10 litres of water...'
Since we can't get hold of Mark, we phoned Sats - the mechanic who fixed Mark's bike in Perth. About ten years ago, Sats actually did the route that Mark's on, so he was well-placed to give us a few insights on what Mark will be going through.
'I saw my first snake...'
Mark's now in Australia and more importantly he's officially half way round! 9000 miles on a bicycle is no mean feat but he's still going strong and is now looking forward to just over a month on the southern coast of Oz.
'..I had this wee Thai lady running up and down my back!'
After the nightmare transition from India to Thailand, we caught up with Mark once more just outside Singapore. Listen on to hear about about riding in monsoons and yet more examples of our web producer's terrible grasp of geography...
Everything was on fire!
Mark just got into Thailand and after having 48 mins sleep in two days decided to do what anyone would do: oh no, wait a minute, no he didn't 'cos he decided to ride 100 miles. I would have gone to bed! Anyhoo, click here to learn more about the crazy exploits he went though between India and Thailand...
I'm ok, i'm just a little shaken up...
Before Mark set out, we all predicted that this stage (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India) would be the hardest and that's definitely turned out to be the case. We phoned Mark whilst he was staying in Lucknow to see how he's holding up
Back on the road
Leaving Lahore (with no beard), Mark was making good time and could pretty much see the end of Leg 2 (metaphorically speaking!), which was a huge boost.
Lahore
Mark had to really dig deep to get to Lahore and it shows. Although he still had to travel the whole width of northern India before Leg 2 was done, he really did feel like Lahore was a major milestone and that he'd 'done it'...
I've done it!
Riding through Pakistan has been the hardest part of Mark's journey so far, due to his problems with the police. He managed to leave with a smile on his face though...
Two months on the road
By the tail end of Pakistan, Mark had been through a lot. We caught up with him for a few words...
Lahore, India
Although it wasn't officially the end of a stage, Mark asserts that riding into Lahore certainly felt like one! Our TV crew flew out to meet up with him and shot these great photos. Check that beard!
I'm in a desert...
For the passed few days, Mark's been travelling through Iran. Despite western representations, he says the people have been very warm and welcoming, but for the final leg (going through Balochistan) he is being escorted for security reasons. While he waited for the guys to arrive, we gave him a call...
Ezurum, Turkey
Mark's still in Turkey and having a ball, but all those days of riding in dust and lorry fumes have taken their toll and so he was finally forced to make a brave decision...sleep in a hotel for a night and have a shower!
Interview with Mark, Mid-Turkey
All the latest news from the road, including getting broad-sided by a bus coming into Istanbul and how Mark spent his first two days off.
The End of Leg 1: Istanbul, Turkey
Who would have ever believed that Leg 1 was going to be so difficult? Well it's over now and here are some photos of a very relieved (and beardy!) Mark in Istanbul, where he enjoyed his first days off, before heading back out...
Bullit Cam take one!
Mark's carrying a standard video camera but also a 'bullit cam' (or 'Mark Cam') which he can strap to his head/bike or anything else that takes his fancy. Click here to see its first outing and see things from Mark's point of view
051° 10.126N"013° 28.353E"It's blisteringly hot...
Now that we've got the first load of tapes back from Mark we'll be adding more and more of his video clips. Here's one from Poland whilst on his way to Krakow. Check back for more soon...
+50° 6' 37.68"+19° 2' 43.26"'Good morning world!'
After the rain of Kassel and a low 'battery', Mark stopped at a bakery in a quaint wee village and ploughed into to some quality German food
+51° 28' 22.86"N+9° 11' 2.46"WFloods in Kassel
More video action from Germany. When Mark found his way into Kassel it was wetter than a rainy day in Glasgow in February...
+51° 28' 22.86"N+9° 11' 2.46"W'Like a scene from War of the Worlds...'
Whilst riding through a torrential (and somewhat boring) Germany, Mark happened on these wind turbines that cought his imagination...
+51° 36' 46.92"" N+8° 53' 39.06" WDay 4 - 'Cauliflower for Tea'
After travelling through Holland and Belgium, Mark got a room in a wee hotel 25km west of Wessell where he settled down to a sumptious feast and a massage...
+51° 33' 5.25N++8° 18' 59.94EDay 3 - Hiding from the police in Belgium!
Day three was the first day where Mark was on his own and he was finally getting into the swing of things. Coming into Belgium he got his first taste of twitchy police so he headed for the undergrowth!
+51 7' 33.37N+5 21' 55.61EInterview with a very tired Mark, Romania
The first 17 days on the road have been tough for Mark. From broken wheels to a lack of food (and then there's the vomiting!), Mark hasn't had it easy by any means and is looking forward to his first day off in Istanbul...
047 25.565N026 18.099EMid-Germany Phone-In
We phoned Mark whilst he was mid-Germany. Hear all about how his first week went and his musings on Bon Jovi VW decorations...
56 21' 1.41" N3 14' 19.76" WParis: The Start Line!
Mark began (and will end) his epic journey in Paris and if you're going to do it in Paris, you might as well start from the Champs Elysees. In 210 days he'll hopefully be back again...
+48 52' 25.32" N+2 17' 42.02" WInterview with Fred MaCaulay
Just before setting off for Paris, Mark was interviewed on the Fred MaCaulay Show
+56 21' 16.56" N-3 6' 26.69" WFilming and MORE Tests In Around Loch Fyne
The day in the lab was valuable because all of the conditions could be controlled, however, we obviously also needed some more 'real world' results, so we went up to Loch Fyne for some field tests.
51 28' 22.86" N9 11' 2.46" WTests at Glasgow University
Due to the extreme nature of Mark's journey, part of his support team comes in the form of Dr Niall McFarlane, a sports scientist at Glasgow Uni. On this day, we spent time in the lab, testing Mark's body in all kinds of colourful ways.
55° 52' 21.93 N4° 17' 26.51 W
