Charlie Walker

On a second-hand bike costing just £100 nicknamed 'old Geoff', Charlie Walker set off to cycle to Mongolia on a route that took him 43,000 miles through 61 countries and the equivalent of twice round the World!

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Charlie grew up in a small Wiltshire village and studied English at Newcastle University before training as a journalist. After a stint on a national newspaper, he undertook a 4.5-year bicycle journey covering 43,000 miles in 60 countries. It was a shoestring budget expedition with simple kit and on a second-hand bicycle costing only £100.

Charlie has also walked 1,000 miles across the Gobi desert and ridden a horse solo 600 miles through the Mongolian steppe. In 2014 he descended a little known tributary of the Congo River in a hollowed out tree trunk dodging crocodiles, hippos and rapids along the way.

His expeditions are a combination of physical endeavour, cultural discovery and self-exploration. He has survived a -40°C winter in Tibet, lived through an Ethiopian village mob attack and cycled across the Sahara twice. However, his biggest challenges have often been within himself; he believes that when one sets themselves a seemingly impossible task, sometimes the most important question is not how to stick at it but why.

Voted "Blogger of the Year" in 2013 by the Association of Independent Tour Operators, Charlie's writing and photography have appeared in numerous papers and magazines including The Times,The Daily Express and Wanderlust. He is currently writing his first book, sharing his remarkable experiences of the trials and tribulations of exploration.

At school, Charlie was never the strongest, fastest or best at sport. He uses his adventures to show audiences that we can all surprise ourselves if we identify what we desire in life, set outrageous goals, and stick doggedly at them.

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