Tumbles and triumphs as Andrew nears goal

Six months after embarking on an epic cycling journey across the world, Andrew Crompton is finally nearing his final destination. His trip, which sees the Bolton insurance broker aim to raise money for Carers Trust and the Bolton Lads and Girls Club by travelling from Manchester to Melbourne, spans three continents, through 18 countries and 14 time zones. In recent weeks he has braved his first (and hopefully last) nasty fall, been treated like a celebrity by selfie-loving locals in India and put in his longest day of cycling so far. Carers Trust caught up with him in Cambodia just before he headed to Vietnam and on to Australia.

Beaming on a Zoom screen from his budget hotel in the Cambodian town of Ta Keo, 60km from the Vietnamese border, Andrew Crompton seems surprisingly spritely for someone who has been spending up to five hours every day of the past few months on a bike in sweltering temperatures. The Bolton businessman set out on his bike in July last year for the challenge of a lifetime and has been in the saddle ever since.

But cycling 12,500km is not without its hazards, as Andrew discovered when he set out from Mumbai very early one morning in an attempt to beat the heat. “It was a stupid thing to do,” he admits. “In India, they’ve got these huge speed bumps. I mean, they're just incredible - hit these things and you're in a world of pain if you’ve not seen them and it was dark when I set off because I wanted to get cool mornings. So I hit one about 10 minutes in and it literally took me straight over the handlebars.

“It was a bit painful. I faceplanted the tarmac. I sprained my wrist - that’s still not too good. I got a big hole in my hand, one on my wrist, one on the other wrist, the other hand, the shoulder, a really bad one down the arm and the knee. And then of course I split my eye open as well so I've ended up with a scar across my eyebrow. It took a little bit a while to recover from that.”

I ask if he took he rest of the day off after that and Andrew is incredulous. “Oh, come on. No, just 20 minutes - we had a ferry to catch!” he replies, before describing how he patched himself up with plasters and bandages that proceeded to come off as the heat took its toll during the morning. The injury to his palm, in particular, made gripping the handlebars difficult but he cycled on and insists everything was fine, despite the pain.

The general state of the roads on the west coast of India from Mumbai to Goa, some of which had been washed away by monsoon rains, coupled with steep hills and sky-high temperatures made for some of the most difficult cycling conditions so far. One day saw him climb continuously for 60km, pushing him to his physical limits. India brings the challenge of sharing its roads with a sea of other vehicles, people and assorted cows, buffalo and monkeys sauntering down the street.

“There's just animals everywhere walking down the highway,” said Andrew. “They’re just walking towards you and there's no traffic laws, really, there's just guidance, so you're on the main highway and cars are coming at your head on. Drivers overtake, look at you, hit their horn and expect you to move and the only place you can go is into a ditch. You don't remonstrate, you don't get angry. That’s India, that’s what happens, everybody just carries on. I never saw one episode of road rage which is staggering with what I've seen over there in the last few weeks.”

Andrew also seems to have taken on something like celebrity status during the Indian leg of his journey, getting stopped four or five times a day by drivers wanting to know about his journey and why he’s doing it. On one occasion, after pausing to look at the stunning Jog Falls, which sees water from the mighty Sharavati crash down 830ft, Andrew was ambushed by a school bus of 30 children and their teachers, all picture with the exhausted cyclist who had just sweated through a 5,000ft climb. At one hotel he was even made guest of honour at the birthday party of a 75-year-old man who had been tipped off about Andrew’s feat. Other people insisted on giving him free tea and other refreshments as he made his way through the country.