Follow Friday: Rob Lilwall

I’ve met Rob a few times now and he must rank as one of the nicest people I know. He’s got a real gentle demeanor but behind his eyes you know there is a determination of steel. This is a guy who looked at a map and wanted to get to the end of the earth. He chose Madagan in Russia and met up with his friend from teacher training college Al Humphreys and cycled through Siberia in winter camping rough at minus 40degrees. From here he left Al and headed south through the jungles of Papua New Guinea, did a loop of Australia, cycled through Afghanistan, was robbed at gunpoint, caught malaria and met his wife to be.

I emailed Rob when I was about to cycle through Afghanistan and I followed his advice and route from the Khyber Pass to Kabul and then north through the Salang Pass to Mazir-Al-Sharif. He’s also been a great help along with Al Humphreys in planning the Siberian part of my next trip. Since finishing his trip Rob has written a book, had a six part National Geographic documentary made about his trip, walked a lap of the M25 and walked the length of Israel. You can follow him on his website here and his twitter here.

These are four videos highlighting the issues with cycling through cities, through Siberia and on your own:

Hanoi:

Siberia 1:

Siberia 2:

Self filming!

Previous Follow Fridays:

Al Humphreys
Helen Lloyd
Lewis Pugh
Pete Gostelow
Mark Cooper
Sticky Parkour