In 2024 Me and my friend Joe cycled home all the way from Istanbul in Turkey. We Bikepacked for almost 50 days. through 15 countries, the journey ended up been 2500 miles long. We went through Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Italy, San Marino, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and England in The UK.
[Music] most 18-year-olds holiday with their friends in Megalof or Athera there can’t be too many who decide to cycle 3,000 miles across Europe for charity instead but that’s exactly what Leo Breton and Joe Brown did they cycled all the way from Istanbul to West Yorkshire and all to raise money for cancer research our [Music] journey begun from Europe’s most populated city Istanbul where the Bosparus Strait separates geographical Europe and Asia we wanted to escape the city traffic as quick as we could so I found a route that would take us out into this hilly forest which we would later refer to as the jungle taking the long way mhm got to punch you [Music] [Applause] in the first week of the bike ride a lot went wrong i had a lot of punches and a lot went wrong with the bikes joe’s bikes the brakes were not working they were constantly scraping because the disc was bent and um I just kept getting punches it’s all gone wrong the bike breaking down my racks came off completely on this side so got this rope and a strap my shoes over there should be on there [Music] hello from from Turkey [Music] under above shelter cuz otherwise you got to go
it’s raining constantly and it’s like this for another 4 hours at the end of the second day of the bike ride we decided to change our route after two days of horrible trails and dense um forests and mud we decided to change the route to road cycling and we found this road called the D20 which would take us from where we were all the way to the Greek border to Adern [Music] think my tire’s flat they all use squat toilets
campsite this is hilarious [Applause] [Music] look at this location [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what are you filming later the world’s biggest pan 600 kg look at that is it a
lot of pan there get it on your bike we can fill the rice
a lot of rice and beans in there couple of miles from Greece turkey is coming to an end in Greece just cross the border
unlimited data
20 miles to Bulgaria
bulgaristan [Music] [Music] hello all right are you at work can’t see anything i just see a picture of me
can you Can you not see anything can you see me
yeah look at that send me the call get back on the road get back on the communist road [Music] rubbish [Music] hey ladies [Music] [Applause] [Music] communist bush shelter [Music] i don’t know if that boy holds up or [Music] Oh communist road [Music] it’s day seven of cycling from Istanbul back home to Yorkshire today we did about 45 miles now we’re in Bulgaria in the mountains so to haven’t done bad because there’s some big mountains here as you can see got our tents pitched up all ready for bed already eating beans and rice good night from Bulgaria [Music] oh what a beautiful day [Music] [Music] welcome to camp [Music] [Music] look at these guys kicked us up all night they sure did i hate them let’s go heat heat [Music] heat heat [Music] all right come back down [Music] disappear [Applause] [Music] [Music] while we eat while we’re on the road look at that breakfast got cookies [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello hello [Music] [Music] this is the best pitch yet what a good pitch
what a great pitch yeah you stole it you stole my great joke
yeah I just had better delivery pal i don’t know about that pal you said from Stan B not Constantinople i know and he’s still idiot
what an idiot i should have
everyone knows met the conqueror took Constantinople in 1453 [Applause] heat heat heat up here [Applause] thank you right [Music] 10 miles to North Macedonia [Music] back on the road we’re heading into the proper mountains today in North Macedonia got 1,000 m elevation which is like 3,000 ft and we’ve been going uphill for 4 miles already but we’re still in the valley good views though [Applause] [Music] at all times and make sure it’s like a walking piece of poop [Applause] what is that we’ve just been up one mountain now there’s another just about to be on our way home on our way home we’re blitzing this we’re about to go at the highest point on the entire route
of part one
of the entire first part of the route nearly halfway through the first half of
We’re We’re halfway through the first part of our route oh look at this delicious food we have meetings it’s so nice this is what fuels our journey we’re now going to descend to Lake Off [Music] we made it to Lake Ored over there somewhere is Albania our fifth country it’s now a root making good progress [Applause] oh what a feast hey guys we’re at Lake Offred we’re about to head into Albania got another big mountain today but I’m looking forward to it i can’t wait i’m eager got my cameraman here filming for the video i got some Oh there’s a dog hello well didn’t Albania well not quite nearly at the border [Music] what is this view of Lake Offred from Albania just come past the border and this is it’s one of the few the first views we get to the other side it’s not bad either [Music] that was a big descent what is this place i don’t know it’s painted with ladybugs [Applause] i don’t know why pretty weird [Applause] [Applause] albania is nice we’re just going through all the mountains very cool though we might make it to Toronto today the capital city of Albania this great nation oh yeah we’re up on the storm right [Applause] what a weird place we’ve arrived walk there
we’re about halfway up this massive mountain but what a view come from Elbasan down there i think so and uh now we’re up here in the clouds [Music] look if you stretch out like that it doesn’t look that bad you mean if you look at it and like
you stretch out it’s flat it’s flat
it’s flat
you like get to a place and you look over at that and you’re like “Oh we’re really high up.” And then you get a little bit further up and you’re like “Oh we load out.” Wowee what a view an abandoned petrol station let’s have a look inside if we get in here well Albania our fifth country on our route home across the European continent look at this place is there any chocolate left in there very mountainous region of the world very hilly just got one of the biggest Well we’re not actually at the top yet one of the biggest hills
there’s no chocolate left
on our entire route we’re in the clouds one of the highest peaks uh on the entire route this in Albania just come from Elbasan which is down there in that valley heading to Tana capital of Albania look at that mountain in the clouds oh there’s a dog made it to the top finally look at this albania what a place now we can do the massive descent and get to Tana hopefully before the massive rainstorm that’s coming we got a little friend following us [Music] [Applause] scanderbe square when we got to Tana the capital of Albania uh you were told the Croatian coastline was not very good for cycling there was lots of traffic and it was all main roads um and we thought oh if we went through Bosnia it’s just all mountains and then we’d be going through the Alps after Bosnia and Croatia and Selini which is all mountains so instead we decided to get the ferry from Jurz in Albania to Bari in Italy huh [Music] so we decided to go to Italy heat [Music] heat [Music] [Applause] lot of good cycle paths in Italy so far oh it’s it’s pretty deep it’s really deep just the shoes are all solen now so this is uh this is the the road went to the battle of uh Khan this is the river near the battlefield and uh about to go through it how do I zoom in how do I zoom in yeah we can get through i made it across now it’s his turn we just got 1,650 miles it’s day 20 on the road just got to some slot some more
mhm where’s the top here i only got one top here i just see out there can’t pause the video now so I’m just going to keep going yeah it’s all very nice as well i think the I bought these in Macedonia [Music] along the coast today cool little house this is a very good cycle path [Applause] [Applause] beautiful Adriatic [Music] this is what we want this is easy [Music] forever road lead me home got beans m [Applause] camp for tonight couldn’t find a campsite so I might be going in the tunnel down there or the toilets over there just currently um browsing all the uh properties big comedy series big comedy series
this is uh where we’re thinking of staying tonight find one of these difficult to get a place here have to make reservations years in advance
mhm see view we’ve uh decided in the tunnels
we’re going to sleep in the tunnels this will do just nicely we’re going to sleep right here look at that sea view hidden away down there
right in front of the port
right in front of the port but when it gets dark no one’s going to see us this is camp for tonight have to there we go oh do you want to see the picture [Music] early morning in Italy this is the best cycle I ever been someone in the bushes [Music] this is a cycle path pizza shop not really many places to camp along this coastline it’s very very um populated lots of cycle ways though very easy cycling it’s just we just struggle to find a place to sleep at night this was camp last night just sleep on the floor on the beach [Music] just doing some rain bathing here in Italy getting some rest after that horrible night’s sleep on the beach i was fine with that it was okay actually well not bad i don’t know it was okay it better yeah you had the best position
yeah I did
our navigation system has failed us it’s taking us down here and it’s really thick rocks that can’t push tires through it’s just really annoying the pump’s broken and all the air has come on the tire so I have to walk for 2 miles to shop just came up this absolute behemoth [Music] still more to go though so far
yeah yeah peace and quiet so from this prick [Applause] that’s some marina [Applause] [Applause] heat heat we made it to San Marino big hill there was a big hill it was bad i went to the supermarket today and look what I found 500 g of chocolate going to bring it all the way home when I get back I’m going to eat it all after cycling along Italy’s Adriatic coast for 350 mi we are now in the small but beautiful country of San Marino [Music] next we head in into the also having a rest day in San Marino oh that’s a step there’s a lot of steps my business [Applause] back on that road just doesn’t look steep on the camera so our last last stretch along the Adriatic coast and then won’t see the sea again until the British channel the English Channel I mean [Music] thought we couldn’t get over but looks like we got a ride is this free it’s probably free isn’t it it’s like a whole delta or something this is a structure but we’ve got our buddy to camp with we might wake up to him chewing on the tent in the morning this is camp for the night got some friends in the field with us €13 each a night could get two nights in a hotel in North Macedonia for that but we’re doing it the right way absolutely nothing for miles flamingos in the nature reserve so many miles miles and miles of nothing Porto Magior not many people come here visit this place it’s absolutely in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields of wheat dvd vending machine joe’s just left his phone at the supermarket [Music] it’s only been 5 minutes hopefully it’s still there this is the time when we look for somewhere to camp and can’t find anywhere nice river though the river Poe that tower’s leaning let’s build them all like that in Italy finding a place to camp isn’t always easy but wherever you can pitch a tent you can camp sun is setting and there’s flies everywhere so this is where we browse for for real estate could this be it just don’t know what this is it’s this ugly thing i don’t think anyone’s in there hopefully not this ground’s quite hard maybe the ditch will be uh not as hard cuz this is like dried mud i think the ditch will do to be honest we ain’t really got much much of a choice it will have to do perfect in here nice and hidden with a hill oh there’s so many bugs ready for this parkour [Applause] look at that athleticism it looks looks all right in the ditch oh it’s warm so warm in this tent [Music] sunrise went to sleep with the midgetes woke up to bloody everywhere nice sunrise [Music] just about to wash our clothes in this laundry place and we’ve been shouted at by an old Italian woman no idea why it’s a self-service one as well we’re now heading into the Alps for 300 miles almost 400 and once we pass the Alps it’s the home straight the last 800 miles [Music] heat heat [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] nice and hidden in a flat field it’s perfect this is camp for tonight nice secluded field got beautiful views of the mountains [Music] [Music] it’s not too bad through the Alps so far now it’s just weaving through the valleys on these flat cycle paths we’ve got some big mountain ascents coming um but for now just in the valleys you get all the views but none of the pain [Music] clarity I was looking for these are the real Alps got a big ascent tomorrow heat heat [Music] we found the pitch on Overlander [Music] pretty good not bad nice and flat got to get the tents up before it starts raining just realized that the ski lift runs right over our campsite but no no one cares no one cares i mean there’s a picture of a guy over here
with a tent
with a tent it’s clearly some kind of memorial in memory of this guy
tony rest in peace tony yeah look at this guy this guy probably camped right here just like us so we got off this morning bright and early about half 5 camped in a field just like this then we continued along the aage cycle way which goes along the river and um done about 60 mi it’s It’s been raining and quite heavy today only for like an hour or so but it’s about to start thundering again we’ll soon be in Austria just got to go up a massive mountain pass and then we descend down into the valley and we’re in Austria our eighth country on the route the sun’s come out no way eighth country out we’re uh quite over halfway now um got about 1,100 miles to go so we’re back home feels like we’ve come so far and we have that feels like we’ve got so much left so just down there down that one that path down there is our campsite [Applause] we got the magnificent mountain right here [Applause] going to head to Andy’s bike shop to retrrew my wheel as it has buckled [Applause] oh yeah heat heat heat up here ice cold glacial water coming cold water in so long the Alps [Music] [Applause] [Music] this one’s a struggle i think we’re going all the way up jesus Christ i change gear while holding the camera we’re going all the way up to 1,600 m which is a lot oh my god this is steep just come from all the way down there and still quite a bit more to do this is very steep i’m struggling to walk down it look at this sign 19% still climbing oh almost at 5,000 ft it’s the highest I’ve ever been on a bicycle we’re officially Well I think so at the top 4,950 ft of brutal climbing and we made it we’re at 5,000 ft right now we’re in a valley finally going downhill after all of that tomorrow even bigger hill this is now Austria just cycled on through straight over the border the eighth country on our route honestly [Applause] I I think you could I think you’re ready for the toilet brands wow that is incredible it’s massive [Applause] quite an intense road we’re on the trails in Austria that’s Switzerland over there over the river i’m sorry to announce it guys but we’re not coming home you know it’s been a good journey but we can’t we’re stuck that’s it that’s the end guess it’s all over guess we could just move the tree out of nowhere line is about a meter to the left in those trees absolutely beautiful main roads up there it’s so stable wow look at this it’s so beautiful perfect camp there oh I forgot that mountain was behind us wowee about to find C my favorite part of the day just kidding sleeping is it’s quite loud at camp but got background it’ll become white noise eventually white it’s pretty hidden actually all this benches here as well right Yeah heat there’s the kitchen now we’re in Australia just left camp down by the river i am heading on the road favorite part of the day we’re leaving Tossins [Applause] it’s looking cloudy think it’s going to rain again i’m not going to crash i’m very um technically skilled look at this oh yeah quick update we’re on the home stretch we’ve got 1,000 miles remaining still in the Alps should be out the Alps by the end of the day yeah by the end of today it’s breakfast time still raining a little bit the road has collapsed over there we have to go over this muddy field and there’s even more down here that’s collapsed let’s hope it doesn’t happen well we’re on it we’ll see now the fun begins we ascend into the clouds we’re in flush pretty cool flash that was so easy climb
oh no
yeah we’re not allowed to cycle up Alberg Pass uh we’ve just been told by the guy that runs the shuttles over for the cyclists apparently it’s illegal when you can get fined by the police we didn’t see any signs or anything didn’t know so we just sight pulled up and we’re about 1,000 ft from the top and the sec the taxi man just stopped
it just says just go up here
yeah it says on Google Maps and everything that and commute to go up here [Music] so easy
i mean yeah
some guy offered us a taxi and we said “No we’ll do it.” Yeah we We’re up in the clouds it’s about 6,000 ft there is snow in the clouds i mean it’s cool mountain over there as well calories equal kilometers the highest point on the entire route Alber Pass descend down that mess lot of traffic but should be going about fast as them so hopefully we won’t get in anyone’s way want to look it’s going to be really cold going down this Alpine Center it’s already cold now but the wind when we start going like 40 40 mph down there it’s going to be freezing on to the cycle way now no more trucks raining a little bit but we’re going downhill so hopefully it gets a little um little warmer once we get further down not sure though cuz we’ve already come down a lot and it’s not going any warmer we’ll see it’s warmed up a little bit oh the fog these are the perfect kind of roads no cars smooth asphalt brilliant [Applause] you imagine you can just jump up let’s go on the bike install a bike you can see that there is a gap in the hills besides really that mountain yeah I think it might be actually but there is a gap somewhere in those hills where the Alps are coming to an end chickens Just searching for camp now found a spot on Overlander again brilliant stuff now we’re just getting to that location good location though look at that so this is camp quite well hidden actually it’s currently raining unfortunately got cool views though up there i have no idea if this camera’s waterproof but try a few spits won’t damage it it’s quite a wet bush to get through but pretty well hidden who needs a bench when you get one of these got the pan and the pasta boiling balance on my electronics bag it’s perfect absolutely brilliant i mean what more could you want really
it’s falling over it’s just fell over just dinner is ruined don’t worry I’ve got us covered came up with this little concoction
it’s so sloppy the bastard it’s all gone in the bushes now
um
but now we’ve got honey peanut butter nature valley bars and dried bananas look at that it’s got the protein it’s got the nutrients bit dry [Applause] got plenty of sugar and it’s absolutely delicious isn’t it Joe yeah great i think he likes it
a bit dry
it’s a bit dry bit of a late one this morning 18 minutes past 6 just about to set off on the road set put all our stuff away back to camp and we’re excited to get back on that road to Likenstein leaving camp for getting back on the road oh yeah look at this cycle path absolutely incredible [Music] there’s the train what a shot so unstable [Music] [Applause] we’re 10 miles from Likenstein what a place wow we’re in Likenstein the ninth country on our route in and the other side Switzerland he’s having a break off the saddle oh there’s a guy on a horse and car over there i don’t know if the camera will even Oh yeah it will he’s just just going along the track fair enough this massive loaf of like bri bread is absolutely delicious 600 g of the smoke i’m siphoning power from the sun i have I have the solar panel on the back we’re leaving the Alps now no hills we just crossed the bridge of the river R we’re now in our 10th country Switzerland goodbye last view of the Alps i think it is like a picture of an alien
yeah I haven’t got a a a good enough a big enough lens we’re at a free campsite in a little fire pit uh outdoor shower here which um you know I might get up bright and early get in there got a little hut here and the nice flat pitch and Lake Constance got a nice bin look at this bin we’ve got It’s in the bin my god we found this camp spot um but there’s just like so many people coming here like it’s like 9:00 now i don’t know why it’s so many people coming here cuz we’re in the middle well we’re not in the middle of nowhere but there’s like only a couple of houses around here just everyone’s been down here we’ve been waiting it out graded finally left now we’re getting all the tents up we’ve also almost ran out of power so I’m trying to get the last little bit of sunlight not even it’s very cloudy so getting like drops of energy into the power bank but we’re going to need it for the next few days through the German forests um because there’s not really anywhere we can charge up or stay so need power for our route it’s 10 6 up bright and early again on the road heading to Germany today germany looks like the Lake District here looks like Conniston Water now we’re north of the Alps it looks a lot more like England we’re in the south west of Germany now Deutseland um and tomorrow should get to Straussburg in France we’re on the bicycle autobond journey [Music] big rolling hills in Germany this one’s quite big surrounded by forest look at that this is hard one-handed absolutely brutal up here it’s short but really really steep absolutely knackered all in this up here wow huge forest what a beautiful descent towards the huge huge forest can we go to this shell cuz I really need a poo we’re just having a browse for a spot to sleep tonight plenty of options in here i think decent spot in this forest nice forest soft ground as well this is the gravel track um that’s where we are so there’s so many midgetes over near the tents so we’re we’re going to go cook the food in this tower over here shouldn’t be as many midgetes up there hopefully yeah yeah there’s not as many midgetes up here beans thought beans have loads of calories in them but they don’t i have protein but there’s barely any calories in them we need calories escape the midgetes oh there was so many my legs been feasted on [Music] they had more dinner than us back on the road well it stopped raining a little bit but apparently it’s raining pretty much most of the day stopped in a little for about an hour it’s great now I’m through the forest for a while we’re in the wild in the wild [Music] no idea if this track’s private for the farm or what just saw the farmer coming down as well we’ve entered the valley and there’s a small amount of civilization these houses are absolutely massive after 500 or so miles more than that 1,700 miles or something i finally learned how to ride my bike with no hats probably about to crash we’re just in Straussburg looking for somewhere to stay tonight on warm showers but no one’s responding yet hopefully we can find somewhere cuz we really need a rest day it’s been almost 2 weeks just leaving Theo’s house now last night stayed in Strasburg uh with a guy who found warm showers and yeah it was really interesting uh you made pizza as well that’s a big phone what is that oh there’s cars ferraris it’s a car garage cool going to be seeing this a lot for the next 300 miles or so probably through France Luxembourg and Belgium there’s a lot of this all these canal ways [Music] that was actually surprisingly quite a hard climb just placed a Minecraft block in real world in the real world what the hell is this building it literally looks like a glitch on the camera that is absolutely disgusting doing some rain bathing in France northern France obviously it’s raining getting closer to England now look at this content wow yeah got about 760 mi left which um yeah that’s still quite a lot uh but we’ve got less than 400 miles to England now is there some [ __ ] behind me he’s been following me all the way from M East and Mall just been like there the whole time well we found camp and we’ve pitched up all our stuff in bikes are there uh we’ve been along this canal path down here just in there in that little hole in the bushes the other side of this canal is Germany we’re in France right now and uh tomorrow we should tomorrow morning we should go through Sarukan which is in Germany uh and tomorrow at the end of the day we should get to Luxmbourg [Applause] a there’s so many flies another night in the tent it’s raining this morning and it’s going to be raining pretty much all day everything’s sudden we’re in Suken now all right we’re back in Germany just gone through there absolute rebels this is Sabuk what a beautiful place just outside Sabukin it’s been raining for a while still cloudy it’s probably going to continue raining but not far off Luxembourg are we 30 minutes
30 minutes to look a familiar site with a bike uh the tire is flat i just replaced the tubes can’t be bothered to patch it up be
fair it was a quick change
um it was it’s I mean I’ve had some good practice with it had about five or six punches on this thing
okay got the tire back on now on the road let’s go we are in the 13th country on our roots luxembourg haven’t learned any Luxembourgish yet it’s quite hilly in Luxembourg more exhausted than we were on the alpine climbs don’t know what’s going on need a rest have a rest at home oh the countryside of Luxembourg we’ve just stopped uh at the side of our route [Music] there’s so many slugs in my tent i woke up this morning and they were in my in my shoes we’ve gone through 13 countries now and we’re about to enter the 14th Belgium look at this and we’re in It’s raining again we’re in Belgium now and it’s raining next to the stream Belgium yeah it does look like it’s going to rain and the sky is quite um quite gray there ice cream right now huh that’s weird [Music] yeah well let’s hope we survive the rainstorm and Pennywise [Music] just putting all the stuff away it’s 5:30 in the morning up at this time every day roll call just having a little break a little pit stop eating our style of bread it’s absolutely lovely m wow this is delicious what a beautiful day [Music] not really look at this hill this is Belgium one of the lowland countries supposedly this is the worst road for cycling oh my Windows XP all right it’s day 40 on the road still in Belgium got the tents up great pitch so many midgetes next to the main road over there yeah we’ve reckon we’ve got about nine more days till we’re home [Music] back on the canals [Music] watch trail wow this wheel is going to fall out yeah it’ll be fine we’re out of the deprived countryside of Belgium and into Flanders just got to this nice camp we’ve done big day today 85 miles and it’s 20 to 9 and uh got to camp and just got a puncher pushing my bike to camp so that’s I don’t know maybe number 10 we got to get that sorted before I go to sleep this is where we camped last night we’re done with Belgium now back into France 38 miles to Calala and tomorrow we’ll be in England that’s the sea we’ve crossed continental Europe once we got to England
there are the home straight
we only have 300 miles left there [Music] stone so our first night in England camping of course just past Royal Tumbridge Wells [Music] on our way to slow today the nation’s cultural and business capital the most exciting moment of the trip we are so close to the cultural capital business hub of the nation slow slow my cat town wow egypt it’s got another puncher on the back wheel this time just camping on the village green tonight right next to the road bit exposed got two days left and then we’re home good morning lovely day though can’t complain another bloody puncher two days in a row that Oh this is the last camp of the entire trip the last night
camp of the entire trip
the worst and the last
the worst camp was the dogs
yeah we’re in a ditch tonight just outside of Nottingham uh there’s a train track right there where that gate is where that fence is um and yeah tomorrow we’ll be home six just less than 60 miles to go and we’ll be home we’re about 14 miles from home and uh just came up this massive hill uh just come out of Sheffield [Music] that’s it then [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] [Music] michael from Istanbul to West Yorkshire to raise funds for cancer research leo Bretherton and Joe Brown finished their A levels in May and then flew over to Turkey to start the 3,000mi challenge they arrived back in Yorkshire on Wednesday night they’ve raised almost 1,500 pounds for charity in honor of family members who’ve been affected by cancer well done to them
3 Comments
Wow so cool those guys are real athletes
Let’s go lads
I approve.