I recently had the absolute pleasure to speak with Peter Gostelow and learn more about his experiences from taking long distance, multi-year bicycle tours. In 2004 first started out with a trip around the Island of Kyushu, in Japan and then promptly followed it up in 2005 with a trip spanning 3.5years from Japan all the way back to his home in the UK – the long way!
Since then he has kept touring, through many places off the beaten track, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Indeed when I spoke with him he was getting ready to begin another tour. We also spoke about how he funds his trips – Peter has taken time out to work between longer bicycle tours. He is a teacher and spent time working in Tanzania, Japan and also Saudi Arabia.
I appreciated the candid nature in which he spoke, highlighting the changes that have occurred since he first started in 2004, to now. In the beginning it was all paper maps for navigation and conversations with locals to find out more about services nearby, where to buy food from, eat and stay. Now technology has made things easier, with the availability of smart phones, GPS and digital route mapping. Peter has reflected that his interactions with the locals have become less with each subsequent tour. It’s not that he doesn’t welcome interactions – quite the contrary – but his dependance on it is not as it was before.
He also spoke of the tradeoffs of choosing to take long bicycle tours and the feeling of not having a place of belonging within a community. I could tell this was something Peter has done a lot of reflecting on, and no doubt many long distance cycle tourers will be able to relate to this too.
You can listen to the full interview I had with Peter – available now as episode 55 of Seek Travel Ride. It’s a long episode but I hope you appreciate the relaxed nature of the conversation, one which I think helped facilitate the topics Peter opened up about as well. It’s Available now in all podcast players or via this link – [https://www.seektravelride.com/podcast-ep-55/](https://www.seektravelride.com/podcast-ep-55/)
It was a real pleasure to be able to share this story – especially knowing Peter has been the inspiration for many to embark on their own trips as well. Pictures shared below are just a small selection from Peter’s many trips. Right now he is making his way through Saudi Arabia, having just completed a mainly off road route through Jordan. You can check out his account on insta where he goes by the username petegost
[Cyprus](https://preview.redd.it/0ntslfu4ihfc1.jpg?width=6000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=415612242f7d4f062220be52ec58c24a44141d0e)
[Germany](https://preview.redd.it/y4foodu4ihfc1.jpg?width=4864&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ebc913f345c65c9b58bbf433194d13de6677e5d)
[Tibet](https://preview.redd.it/1nefjcu4ihfc1.jpg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5341bb8dce4d2c4add849b7736ab6bd4317ed32b)
[Tibet](https://preview.redd.it/drhngcu4ihfc1.jpg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37a2927da1425725e581bc4ab2efaa1949be5ddb)
[Central African Republic](https://preview.redd.it/o0ntbcu4ihfc1.jpg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4c45ae61b9ad4ac47e1a94e08e46369eb449454)
[Lanzarote](https://preview.redd.it/d8ruifu4ihfc1.jpg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d16c0e4570cf520b501fe7c02fa787342d397a8)
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by elbearo_BM
1 Comment
Excellent. Thank you!