MT Lawley bar manager Leigh Timmis resumed his ambitious plan to cycle around the world last week, after a seven-month layover in Perth.
Since leaving the United Kingdom two years ago, Mr Timmis has cycled through 25 countries and covered 23,600km in a bid to raise £10,000 for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, a charity that provides holidays to underprivileged children.
The 30-year-old said he had been struck by how kind and generous people all over the world were.
“In Nepal I met a man who left his home on his bike with 100 rupees in the 1990s and went on to cycle 150 countries in 11 years on the kindness of others,” he said
“I am regularly inspired by the incredible people I meet.”
One of his most memorable experiences so far was spending his first Christmas on the road as the guest of honour at a traditional wedding in Tajikistan.
“I had to address everybody on microphone, on stage, for the pre-dinner speech (luckily nobody spoke English),” he said.
The former Clarences employee said he had woken up with a scorpion next to his face in an abandoned house in Cambodia, eaten a bag of dried maggots in Laos and had machine guns pointed at him in Uzbekistan, but the hardest part of the journey was leaving people he had formed tight bonds with.
Mr Timmis will pass through Margaret River and Esperance in the first stages of his four-month journey across Australia.
To follow his progress or make a donation, visit pedal360.com.