{"id":357,"date":"2002-01-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-01-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2002\/01\/27\/cycling-from-england-to-new-zealand-by-chris-and-malcolm-kiwis-on-bikes\/"},"modified":"2002-01-27T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-01-27T23:00:00","slug":"cycling-from-england-to-new-zealand-by-chris-and-malcolm-kiwis-on-bikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/cycling-from-england-to-new-zealand-by-chris-and-malcolm-kiwis-on-bikes.html","title":{"rendered":"Cycling from England to New Zealand by Chris and\n Malcolm, Kiwis on Bikes!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n Globetrotting Kiwis, Christine and Malcolm Clark are a little over<br \/>\n 18 months and 8,759 miles into their epic cycling journey, from<br \/>\n England to New Zealand. Their trip is entirely self-funded and they<br \/>\n are also helping to raise money for the Gray Cancer Institute, a UK<br \/>\n based cancer research organization.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n Our route took us across France where we received much<br \/>\n encouragement from the French, hyped up by the recent Tour de<br \/>\n France. Picking up the Danube cycle path, we crossed Germany,<br \/>\n Austria, Slovakia and Hungary before leaving the river in Budapest.<br \/>\n Romania gave us a warm welcome and throughout our stay we received<br \/>\n honest hospitality and friendliness. This was in stark contrast to<br \/>\n the warnings we had received before entering the country. Bulgaria<br \/>\n was a totally different place to our experiences 13 years<br \/>\n previously. The two weeks there provided the opportunity to meet<br \/>\n many people and again be on the receiving end of much generosity.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n As we made our way through the city walls and down into the<br \/>\n backpacker settlement of Sultanahmet, Istanbul, the strains of<br \/>\n Crowded House blended in with the calls to prayer and the clink of<br \/>\n a cold bottle of beer contrasted with scarf clad ladies scuttling<br \/>\n along buying vegetables. The East of Turkey again showed wonderful<br \/>\n hospitality but also large packs of marauding dogs. These caused<br \/>\n many anxious moments but the Dog Dazer, an electronic device, saved<br \/>\n us from any serious maulings. It was with great trepidation that we<br \/>\n entered Iran and, for Christine, a whole new way of dressing. With<br \/>\n preconceptions of fundamentalism and chador clad women in our minds<br \/>\n we found instead a country struggling with its identity: desperate<br \/>\n to become more developed with a loathing of America idealism but<br \/>\n still coveting the American icons and materialism. However, the<br \/>\n people were welcoming and friendly, the hotels clean and the food<br \/>\n tasty and hygienic. The dual pricing system of all hotels and<br \/>\n tourist attractions was wearying but did not detract from the<br \/>\n stunning natural beauty of the country.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n It was a great co-incidence to cross into Pakistan on the same day<br \/>\n of the first cricket test between Pakistan and New Zealand. There<br \/>\n was more ribbing about the test results than any concerns about<br \/>\n border formalities. The ride across the Great Sandy Desert of<br \/>\n Baluchistan was stunning, isolated and contrary to what most guide<br \/>\n books say about the area &#8211; safe. With the right frame of mind and<br \/>\n appropriate dress code Pakistan is a truly enthralling destination.<br \/>\n A detour up the Karakoram Highway to the market town of Kashgar,<br \/>\n China turned out to be more complicated than we expected. The<br \/>\n events of the 11\/09 closed the borders back to Pakistan and we set<br \/>\n off across Western Tibet towards the Nepalese border. Crossing<br \/>\n passes of over 4,500 metres with temperatures often below freezing,<br \/>\n it was the most challenging cycling we had ever done. Nepal however<br \/>\n welcomed us with friendly faces and calls of &#039;Namaste&#039; rang<br \/>\n in our ears and we braved the rickshaws and tuk tuks of Thamel to<br \/>\n find our hotel. We are watching the events in India and Pakistan<br \/>\n carefully before we head down onto the plains.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n We are now using our journey to help raise money for a UK based<br \/>\n cancer research organisation, the Gray Cancer Institute. For more<br \/>\n details please see our website <a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.kiwisonbikes.net\">www.kiwisonbikes.net<\/a> brought to<br \/>\n you with the tireless efforts of Guildford based Mike Fisher.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n <i>Wow! The Beetle is truly humbled &#8211; this is so inspiring! If you<br \/>\n would like to contact the Kiwis on Bikes, visit their web site:<\/i><br \/>\n <strong><a HREF=\"http:\/\/www.kiwisonbikes.net\">http:\/\/www.kiwisonbikes.net<\/a><\/strong>\n <\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Globetrotting Kiwis, Christine and Malcolm Clark are a little over 18 months and 8,759 miles into their epic cycling journey, from England to New Zealand. Their trip is entirely self-funded&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-january-2002"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cycling from England to New Zealand by Chris and Malcolm, Kiwis on Bikes! - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/cycling-from-england-to-new-zealand-by-chris-and-malcolm-kiwis-on-bikes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cycling from England to New Zealand by Chris and Malcolm, Kiwis on Bikes! - eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Globetrotting Kiwis, Christine and Malcolm Clark are a little over 18 months and 8,759 miles into their epic cycling journey, from England to New Zealand. 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