- K
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Hey everyone! More than three years ago I embarked on a life-changing journey, my mission was to travel by bicycle to all 54 countries and independent territories in continental europe, on one single journey, later venturing into Asia and Africa, going as far as China, as south as the Sahara and as north as the Artic circle.
After years cycling, 69 countries and around 65.000km I successfully cycled to very country in Europe, most of Asia and parts of Northern Africa. I started this journey when I was only 19 (Yes! It's unbelivable how time flies so quickly, I'm now 23)
And after finding purpose and so much beauty in this world I decided to become the first human to do every single country and territory on earth only by bicycle, human powered.
My goal is to reach the coldest places on earth in Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and Antartica to the tallest mouintains on earth in the Himalayas and Andes; From the hottest places on earth in the Sahara, Gobi desert, Arabia and the Australian outback to the most unstable countries like Sudan or Congo; From Alaska to Patagonia, From Mongolia to Nepal, From Egypt to South Africa to Morroco, From Afganistan to Australia, etc. The world is out there and I want to see it all, even if it takes my whole life, there is no better life in my eyes
How I'll use the money:
Every penny you donate will be used to help fund the trip. Whether it is to have a hot meal in Siberia or to buy a warm jacket in Nepal, all the money will help me live while on the road and keep me going. If I get enough donations, I can afford better camera equipment, better gear, and other things that would help me improve the quality of the content I want to make while on the journey! Any donations will be greatly appreciated and put to good use.
Finishing thoughts:
During my Journey so far I’ve come across many challenges and experiences. For instance, helping in a war zone and almost getting killed by a bomb; Cycled Iceland on Winter; Cycled through Central Asia in Summer; Attacked by a Bear while Camping and other encounters with wolves in Armenia. Volunteered at a Buddhist Temple; Almost imprisioned in Uzbekistan for carrying a drone, where sentences can go up to 3 years; Spent 3 days without any water in the sahara with temperatures of +40 degrees; Took care of wolves and other rescued exotic animals at a animal sanctuary in Hungary; Climbed 3000m from sea level to the peak of mount Olympus while covered in snow and without proper climbing gear; Cycled to the Artic circle and NordKapp (the northern most point in the continent) in winter, spending 2 months without seeing the sun; Volunteered with the sami people; Experienced the kindness of strangers like being invited to a local wedding in Kyrgyzstan and to another wedding in Georgia by locals, and being hosted in the house of locals in over 60 countries for free; cycling through deserts, rain, snow, wind and mountains over 3000 meters, and experiencing the most beautifull parts of the world.
I started this journey because I was broken. I had the dream of seeing the world, of understanding what is out there since I was a kid, I needed to find a meaning to life.
In the beginning I feared I wouldn’t be able to do it, that it was to much, and I had times were I thought “how am I going to do this every day” doing 100km a day with a 60kg bike, waking up at 7 am, start cycling at 10 am, finish cycling at 8 pm, almost without stopping, and then put the tent or find a place to spend the night, every day. But after so long, after facing the worst, the coldest days where you can’t sleep because the cold is so intense that your feet and hands are freezing and can’t move them, or when you must cycle up a 2000 metres mountain at 40 degrees or more just to keep cycling afterwards, or those days where it rains and you cycle through it with all your clothes soaking wet and you don’t have a way to dry it, so you are forced to sleep with wet clothes. After that everything becomes simple, everything looks great and you see the positive of it all, knowing that it could be much worse and realising that at the end it’s a beautiful process, overcoming fear and pain. Also, traveling through the most beautiful sceneries that you could imagine and the random kindness of strangers gives you energy to continue. During my travels I’ve been hosted and helped by thousands of strangers, I’ve travelled through all terrains, and I got to experience the culture of countless countries. Each day I wake up in a new place, I eat when I am hungry and sleep when I am tired, I meet new people, entering the life of complete strangers who end up being part of my life and I overcome new challenges, but overcoming the mental process of it was the most important and difficult thing I did. The best example I can give is one night in the artic, while cycling at -30 degrees, it was 10pm and I spent all day on the road, cooking snow to drink and not eating, I was freezing but I keept cycling anyway, at one point my body was turning off, my eyes started closing while pedaling and I started to see blurry, I couldn't feel my legs but they were moving anyway. Then the road sudently became brighter and I looked up and the northern lights apeared over my head iluminating everything, I felt warm, I knew I was going to be okay and I saw the beauty of the situation, I stopped and put my tent on the snow. I fell asleep with a smile, not because I saw the northern lights, but because I understood that life is beautiful.
In the future as I go along this jouney to cover every country, I will try to make the most of it by also acomplishing other life challenges along the way, a kind of goals that I will put all my heart and energy to complete, some of which will be; crossing the Atlantic ocean by rowing boat, complete the Pan-American Highway; ride on Horseback from Mongolia to Nepal; live for a month in the peruvian amazon; drive a tuk-tuk through all India; motorbike the length of vietnam; cross the entire length of the Andes from Patagonia to Colombia without motorised vehicle, study Shaolin and Buddhism in China; learn Muay Thai in Thailand; run the length of Japan; cross the Sahara from coast to coast by camel; climb the tallest mountain of each continent; complete the OceanSeven; circumnavigate the planet with a light aircraft; walk the entirety of the great wall of china; Cross New Zeland from south to north by Paramotoring; Circumnavigate the globe by sailing boat; and more.
I would like to share my journey because the world is a beautiful place, because life is the most powerful thing there is, and because I believe in people and how much love there is out there. And I can say with certainty that the experiences I had during my journey made me understand who I am, the world, how to find happiness even in the smallest of things and how to love, how to love life and everything in it. Everyone is capable of doing great things, no matter the physical barrier as long as one can overcome the mental one. In a metaphorical sense, we are writing the book of our life, painting the white canvas, paving the road of our own life with every decision we make, and we must strive to live a life that will reflect who we were, a book that was written with our thoughts and actions and that when we are not longer here we could look at it and feel peace and relief.
Thank you for reading my story, and If you would be interested by any chance in donating or helping out with the upcoming journey expenses, the development of the documentary/film and the book I would be eternally grateful; It would mean the world to me, to put your trust in me, to support this amazing Journey and make the road ahead easier in every way.
You can also purchase any of the photos on my gallery and have them professionally framed and delivered to you at any size.
Gallery: https://charleswinmar.com/work
But not all support comes from that! By just following my Journey through my Social Media with daily posts on Instagram at “Charles T. Winmar” and by sharing it would be amazing!
Thank you,
Charles T. Winmar.
Organizer
