Alastair Humphreys explains how he was just an ordinary kid and like most boys, he loved to ride his bike. One day, inspiration struck, and he decided to cycle around the world.
I'm going to tell you what life is like as an adventurer. My first big adventure was when I cycled all the way around the world. I did it on this bike, which I named Beryl.
When I was at school, I wasn't the strongest or the fastest or the cleverest boy in my class. I liked games and being out in the woods, I liked riding my bike, but I wasn't particularly good at any of those. The only difficult thing that I've ever really done was coming up with these ideas, thinking, "I want to go do this adventure."
When I got on my bike outside my mum and dad's house on the first day and I had to say goodbye to all of my friends and my family, it was one of the most frightening, lonely moments of my life. As I pedalled down the road away from my house, I had no idea then that it was going to take me more than four years to get all the way around the world and that I would cycle over 46,000 miles through 60 countries.
I didn't have very much money for this trip, so everything had to be as cheap as possible, so I slept in my tent. I'd always make sure to try the foods in all of the different countries, but there were a few places where the food was not quite what I was used to—barbecued guinea pigs in Ecuador and boiled mice on a stick.
If you imagine the world, I set off from my mum and dad's house in the north of England and then cycled all the way across Europe and through the Middle East to Africa before crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a sailing boat and then cycling right from the bottom of South America… Whee!.. all the way to Alaska. Finally, I crossed the Pacific Ocean on a boat and cycled through China back home to England, back to my front door and the end of the adventure.
I met so many people along the way, and people helped me out in all sorts of strange places around the world. The further I went, the more the kindness of strangers became important to me. Rich people, poor people, all different religions, different countries. People would stop their cars, give me food, invite me to stay in their homes for the night, and it was just amazing how kind people were. That really helped me around the world and was definitely one of the best things about the whole experience.
What adventures would interest you? Why don't you have a think about things you would really love to do and how you're going to go about starting them, because adventures can be such a wonderful part of your life, and you'll never know unless you try them.
Video summary
Alastair Humphreys explains how he was just an ordinary kid and like most boys, he loved to ride his bike.
One day, inspiration struck, and he decided to cycle around the world.
Mind made up, the adventurer got himself a bike called Beryl and left his parents’ house for the big adventure.
Forty six thousand miles and four years later - he was back.
He shares his experiences and describes the kindness he was shown on his travels.
Alastair also talks about what he ate, including guinea pigs and mice!
His message, "what adventures can you come up with?"
Teacher Notes
Alistair ends this clip by asking pupils, "what adventures can you come up with?
This clip could be used as a way to encourage pupils to plan their own worldwide adventure.
By offering pupils the time and facilities to plan their own individual adventure, teachers will allow pupils to think carefully about what they really want to do.
This in itself would be a creative task and ideas could be shared.
However, from a careers perspective, after they have planned, teachers could encourage pupils to work together to debrief their adventure and consider why they chose what they did, and what skills they would need to do complete the adventure.
Pupils could then look carefully at their own skillset and consider what excites them.
This clip will be relevant for teaching KS2/KS3 PSHE and Citizenship in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 2nd level Health and wellbeing in Scotland.
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