My three-year bike ride around the world

In April 2022, Andreas Graf left his industrial engineering job in Norway and set off on his bike, says Rachel Dixon in The Guardian. His goal was to reach India within nine months, cycling through Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Iran (he had to fly over Turkmenistan, which was still closed for Covid), Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan. By the time he made it, he realised "he had no intention of stopping". He continued through south-east Asia, Australia, New Zealand, most of South America and a chunk of Africa. Some 55,000km, 50 countries and five continents later, he returned to Oslo, three years and eight months after setting off.

The trip was by no means plain sailing. It took Graf two months to cross the Australian outback in the height of summer, during which the temperature dropped below 40C on only one day. In the Sahara, it hit 51C, and his bike, thanks to the 38 litres of water strapped to it, weighed a whopping 87kg. Graf survived a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in the mountains of northern Chile, and endured 95% humidity in Vietnam's monsoon season. One night in a rural part of India, he was woken at 2am by a bunch of men wielding knives and machetes. When Graf explained why he was camping there, the gang dropped their weapons and invited him to breakfast the following morning. In Australia, after a couple had seen his adventure online, they gave him the keys to their house for a weekend of respite while they were away. Travelling without a phone for most of his trip, Graf tended to get up and go to bed with the sun. Once, a woman wished him happy new year in a petrol station. "He had no idea it was January."

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