We are Sara O’Shea and Michael Curran, an Irish couple from Co. Kerry who decided to jack in “good pensionable jobs” twice now to travel and explore the globe!
First was 2013/2014 when we travelled through South America and South East Asia for 6 months each. After that we returned to Dublin, got jobs and worked for a while then decided that life was too short so we decided again to scratch that itch and travel some more!
So, on 15th August 2016 we flew to South Africa with a view to travelling from Cape Town to Cairo overland and then onto India, Nepal, China and Central Asia, Turkey, Iran, Israel and Jordan. The trip was meant to be roughly a year but now it has been much longer than that and we are still no closer to reaching the end of our journey. I really don’t know where that year has gone! Oops!!
We arrived in China on 24th June 2017 and as we were hiking in Yunnan Province to Tiger Leaping Gorge we were chatting. It was on a whim really that we decided we’d look into cycling back to Ireland. The main reason for the change is that we wanted to make our journey more challenging, adventurous and rewarding and to experience something new. We did some research, sourced bikes and gear from a Chinese company that specialises in touring bikes and set off on 17th August 2017 from Kashgar in Xinjing Province, China.
Neither Mike nor myself are majorly into cycling; especially not cycle touring… but if I were to pick one of us who is more keen on it, it would definitely be me (Sara). Mike has cycled probably a total of 20 kilometres in the past ten years (that’s probably an exaggeration!!) and I would be more of a commuter cyclist who cycles to work every day. I have also done a couple of long distance cycles but nothing to prepare me for this!
This is our first (and last maybe!) cycle tour, we’re crazy excited about what lies ahead. We are under no illusions and we know that it will be incredibly difficult and testing at times but the challenge will be worth the effort (we hope!).
Ar Do Rothar (On your bike) 