Hi, my name is Curtis Dillon. I want to start this blog by
sharing a dream I have with you. I am just an ordinary guy who has got that
adventure spirit inside of him and I think I’m not the only person out here
with this spirit. Ok, this is my adventure dream:
I need to give you a bit of a background first. In 2005 my
wife bought me a second hand book “A Walk Across America” by Peter Jenkins
which was published in 1979. This book changed my life. I couldn’t stop
thinking about doing something like that. Then I thought, “A Walk Across South
Africa”. Then reality set in, I live in South Africa, one of the most beautiful
countries in the world but one of the most crime ridden countries in the world.
How could I do it?
Then I thought maybe I could “Cycle Across South Africa”.
The problem with that is, cyclists in South Africa get mugged, high-jacked,
attacked and hit by motorists. With the distance I would like to do and the
remote areas I would be travelling through would just make the chances of
something bad happening so much higher.
Many times I would be travelling from one town to another
with my pickup and I would see cyclist travelling along these roads. After
speaking to them I find that they have had a few encounters but nothing so bad.
Then life took over and I had to put this adventure on hold
for a few years and a few years turned into 11 years. Unfortunately in 11 years
a lot has changed in South Africa. Crime has increased the economy has
decreased L
so planning something like this will take much more.
I plan on sharing everything with you. From day 1. I want
you to share all the planning stages, the high’s and the low’s. The training to
get fit for this adventure. I will need sponsors, I won’t be able to do this
alone. I want 5 people to do the cycle with me. They should be able to take 1
year off to do this. The route I worked out according to Google maps is about
14 493 kilometres long which will take us 302 days to complete. An average of
48 km per day which includes 50 rest days. 6 days of cycling then 1 days rest.
There are 15 days where we will have to do over 100 kilometres in that day. If
we do over 100 km then we rest the next day. The most we will have to do in 1
day is 177 km. That’s going to be a hard day.
Each star below indicates where we will be camping.
The route I have planned on will take us to a campsite every
night. This is so we will not sleep next to the road, which makes it more
dangerous. I would like a vehicle to travel behind us for safety on the road.
Our clothes, food, spares, sleeping bags, tents and water will be with us on
the bicycles.
What I still need to work on is how we will get more food
along the way and more important, water.
In the meantime, while I start with the planning I must work
on my fitness. Its important for me to do this because I turned 50 last year
December. So there is not much time left. The biggest joke of this all is that
I am a runner and not a cyclist. I don’t even own a bicycle. So the first thing
I need is to find a bike. I will keep posting at regular intervals my fitness,
the progress on the planning and when we will start the interview process for
those who would join me on this expedition. Before that starts, many other
things have to be in place first.
Watch this space!
