Bristol2Beijing

Sorry for the delay! Here's my latest offering of the Bristol2Beijing-soon-to-be-called-something-else podcast. What are my impressions of Denver? What was it like to be in the endurance capital of the US? And what did Princess Anne say to me in Windsor Castle? Listen to find out!

Following the realisation following a run in the Peak District that 50K is quite a long way, I reflect on my running journey over the last couple of years and particularly on my recent selection for the GB squad for the European Trail and Mountain Championships.

Now back in the UK, I reflect on some of the differences between the UK and Kazakhstan, what took me there in the first place, a typical day in Almaty and why it felt like I had a home there.

In this unique episode, I record a special podcast to mark my winter in Almaty and to say happy birthday to Dasha, who was the reason I recorded this special pod. Why did I go to Kazakhstan in the first place?What makes Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, a special city? How long did I expect to stay in Almaty? And why is an airbed and two cats the secret to happiness? Listen to find out!

I'm back in the UK! Why is London a miracle? Why are Virgin Atlantic babes? What is the new ending of my expedition to Beijing? Listen to find out!

This week, surprisingly, befuddlingly, anticlimatically, disappointingly, I hit the end of the road of my expedition to Beijing at a state border in north east India. But the ending is not as clear cut as I thought - sometimes in life we have to choose our own endings.

Tom's bum has been very sore, and Tom, understandably, has been unhappy. Find out how we put a smile on Tom's face and what I learnt along the way (about 2 years too late).

I'm back in India! Tom is joining me on the tandem and is thrown in at the deep end as we climb 1500 metres over less than 40 kilometres. It also gets very wet, so find out if Tom sinks or swims...

This week I cycle from Dhaka to Sylhet with Kaye, a Brit living in Bangladesh. It is a journey which includes escaping the chaos and flooded roads of Dhaka, takes us through the tea estates, and leads me to the discovery of a surprising language spoken in Bangladesh.

This week I reflect back on a busy week in Dhaka, and realise that sometimes the best way of unwinding isn't to avoid people, but to throw myself into things.

This week, Tanvir, Neda and I make the impromptu decision to cycle to Dhaka in one day rather than two. We get lost, get a ferry and race to reach Dhaka before my special birthday treat.

This week I talk about my crossing of the India/Bangladesh border, and where we can get energy and motivation from - and sometimes it's necessary to be more ambitious, not realistic and safe.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, just before I'm set to depart Kolkata I discover my wheel rim is broken and discover a remarkably effective side of India.

In this special episode I recall the experiences I had in Mariupol 15 months ago; a snapshot of a place and time that no longer exists.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, I recount a little episode of my taxi ride back from Kolkata airport.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, I meet Alex, an Aussie in India, who runs a gem and jewellery business. He tells me about gems, Jaipur, and an unintended causality of the lockdown and fearmongering in India.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, Luke, Sunny, Nikesh and Gautam leave the peace of Murshidabad and tackle the part-road, part-building site on the way to Kolkata. It's not pretty.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, I find one of India's hidden gems: the palace of Bari Kothi, a place where the walls literally tell stories.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week I unexpectedly find myself playing a game of rugby in the ruins of a former university of Buddhism. Do I find my inner peace?

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, I discuss my somewhat bemusing visit to the recently renovated and religiously and politically important Shri Kashi Vashwanath temple in Varanasi.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week, hear about the encounter my nose had with a motorbike. Yes, it's exactly as you imagine...

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. If you're interested in my Bristol2Beijing expedition, please listen and enjoy! This week: I recount my on-the-bike experience of something that affects every traveller who comes to India: the infamous Delhi Belly.

Welcome to Stories From The Road! One of my new year's resolutions was to improve my storytelling. So I decided to record a story each week from my journey. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself, so I kept them to myself for a while, but now... well, if you're interested, please listen and enjoy! They're less polished but I hope the stories make up for that! In this episode: how I met Dev Mukharjee, the CanLiver who cycled 1000km with me across India in jeans and a jumper.

This week TJ Mitchell and I reflect on our 900 kilometre journey through Pakistan - including bumpy roads, police escorts and giving a talk at Malala's school. Listen to find out why I "threw TJ under the bus" and what TJ feels about his Pakistan journey now he's back in the UK. It's a good'un!

Bristol2Beijing is back! After a break in the UK, Chris and I are again cycling towards Beijing, and now we are in Pakistan. Joining me for this leg of the journey is TJ, a friend from uni. We discuss our first impressions of Pakistan, the sights from the Khunjerab Pass, and what makes the apples so special. Enjoy!

This week Luke recounts the difficulties he faced in Dushanbe airport. Would he be able to get Chris the tandem, his five bags - together weighing 70kg - and himself back to the UK?

I'm trying something new here! This episode I'm telling a story, about a time in mountainous Kyrgyzstan when my brakes didn't work. Enough said. Enjoy!

Over the last week cycling has been replaced by coffee. As we prepare to leave the city of Almaty and say goodbye to Kazakhstan, we reflect on the people we have met and the places we've visited since arriving in this city. Plus, as we celebrate the half-way point of the ride listen to our thoughts on the B2B Challenge over the weekend.

Tune in to listen to tales from our travels between Shymkent and Almaty in Kazakhstan, plus our first impressions of this city - once the capital of Kazakhstan - nestled in the mountains!

Kate joins Luke in Tashkent and together they cycle across the border into Kazakhstan, and reach Shymkent, discovering a world very different from Borat. We discuss our impressions of Tashkent and Shymkent, what happened to Luke's guest traveller and how Kate has found cycling in Central Asia's summer heat!

Find out who's joined me on Chris the tandem over the last couple of weeks! I've cycled from Bukhara to Tashkent, and at last it hasn't been solo! Kate's on holiday so find out from me about my initial impressions of Tashkent, the surprising guest who's joined the ride and why I was so impressed with 17 year old student Sunnat from Bukhara.

Haircuts, timings and the silk road... Download this week's episode of the Bristol2Beijing podcast to find out the highs and lows, challenges from the road, and the experiences of Luke Grenfell-Shaw as he rides from Bristol to Beijing on his tandem bike.

Last week I spoke about how I had 500+km to ride through the desert, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees and no water supplies en-route. Listen to this week's episode to find how one of the 'hardest' stints on the tandem went, and the contrast between the town of Nukus and the emptiness across the Kazakh/Uzbek border! Also I answer some key questions including how far am I cycling each day and what the best cycling shorts are! If YOU have questions that you'd like answered, send them to Bristol2Beijing on social media or email to contact@lukegrenfellshaw.com. We hope you enjoy this episode!

What's it like cycling a tandem in 40 degree heat? What physically hurts the most? How am I feeling about travelling along 500km of sparsely populated road across the Uzebkistan border? Find out the answers to these questions (and more!) in this weeks episode of the Bristol2Beijing podcast

I've made it to Kazakhstan! After several weeks of waiting for a ferry I crossed the Caspian Sea last week and now am back on Chris and continuing to cycle east!

Listen to this week's episode to find out whether the ferry has arrived - and what happens if you MISS the ferry that you've been waiting for for over a month. Plus tune in to find out my thoughts on learning languages, dealing with disappointment, and how I'd deal with the hypothetical scenario of money being endless.

Having had a little break from the podcast for a few weeks we catch up again - and Luke is still in Baku. Tune in to hear about the frustration of waiting for visas to be issued, a ferry with no timetable, and how Luke has dealt with these challenges.

This week we chat to Luke in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, as he waits for visas to be sorted for his onward travel. We answer questions from the audience ranging from which city does he prefer - Batumi or Baku, to the route ahead and future plans. Plus, tune in to hear how Luke faced up to a cycling challenge of a different sort to usual last weekend...

After a fortnight on the road travelling, we catch up with Luke to hear about his journey cycling 700km from the capital of Georgia to the capital of Azerbaijan. We're also joined by Pippa, who was on the back of the tandem, to hear her views about the visibility of women around whilst travelling through Azerbaijan, what it is really like joining the Bristol2Beijing trip, and how Luke can improve!

In my final week of exploring Georgia listen to this episode for the story of my trip to the Pankisi Valley, a visit to the EuroClub Kvareli, and you can hear a chat with the inspirational Nazy Dakishvili who is helping to bring opportunities to the Pankisi Valley. Nazy's guesthouse, where I stayed in the Pankisi valley can be found online at: https://nazysguesthouse.com Bristol2Beijing kit is available at: http://saddledrunk.com/bristol2beijing

This week I'm not cycling, but instead am exploring some other sports that Georgia has to offer. Plus, I answer questions sent in by our listeners.

We're joined by Jenny Grenfell-Shaw, who has spent the last week on the back of the tandem. Listen to find out my first impressions of Tblisi, plus to hear what it is really like spending a week travelling with my mum.

Welcome to Georgia! This week hear about my experiences crossing the Turkish-Georgian border, what it's like being possibly the ONLY tourist in a country, and my initial thoughts on visiting a country that's been on my bucket list for a long time...

This is the final episode from Turkey! After spending two months in Turkey it's time for me to cross into Georgia. Listen to this episode to hear about my week on the road and also to hear my reflections on the time spent in Turkey, people I met, places I saw and experiences that I had.

Yet again I'm back in Ankara! In this weeks episode listen to Kate and I chatting about the occasional bike maintenance struggles and the fantastic people that I've been able to meet due to having such bad luck recently with keeping the tandem roadworthy. How does trusting people that I've only just met work when I'm travelling? I also chat to Suna Yilmaz, who I stayed with in Ankara at the start of the week. With her teammates Suna was part of an expedition where the first Turkish women summited Everest - and she was one of them! Since then, she's continued being active and alongside working at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Technical_University (Middle East Technical University) in Ankara, she now competes in half-ironman triathlon races.

After a week of rest and recuperation in Cappadocia, I headed back to Ankara to pick up my tandem bike before hitting the road again. Tune in to this episode to hear what happened over the last weeks journey!

This week I arrived in Ankara and jumped on a bus to Cappadocia to stay with Adam Oliver, the head of Robert College in Istanbul - one of Turkey's leading schools. Listen to this episode to hear about my week and to hear Adam and I chatting about what he thinks is most important for the current generation of pupils that he teaches. See below for the poem that Adam Oliver told me about: The Bright Field - R.S.Thomas I have seen the sun break through to illuminate a small field for a while, and gone my way and forgotten it. But that was the pearl of great price, the one field that had treasure in it. I realize now that I must give all that I have to possess it. Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

Back on the road for the first time in 2021! Hear about Luke's impressions of Istanbul and Ankara; and his journey, on Chris the tandem, between the two.

What is the Bristol2Beijing podcast about? Find out more about Luke Grenfell-Shaw and his journey from Bristol, UK to Beijing in China.

Josh Day cycled from Bristol to Beijing between 2017 and 2019, an odyssey that saw him cross the Pamir highway in winter and later cycle through Siberia in -25C conditions. In this podcast we go beyond our shared physical journey, discussing self-reliance, our mindsets during difficult periods and the purpose of goals. We also discuss what led Josh to leave his grad scheme for Beijing and how he's adjusted to life back in the UK. See below for Josh's favourite: Place: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kamchatka+Peninsula,+Kamchatka+Krai,+Russia,+684405/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x5904e2b2a6a01f69:0x4cc0fcba86bbb18d?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNp66opuvtAhWmk4sKHariDDMQ8gEwHnoECC0QAQ (Kamchatka, Russia) Piece of Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jmmHB3K69A (Zvezda Po Imeni (A Star Called the Sun) by Kino) Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Walk-Hindu-Kush/dp/0007367759 (A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby )

"When the ideal is not available the available becomes ideal" Until recently there were only two centres in Ghana that could treat children with cancer. This meant that children from the Central and Western regions of Ghana had to make a journey of up to ten hours to receive treatment; In November 2019, Ella was able to use her expertise to set up a childhood cancer satellite unit at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, as part of World Child Cancer’s shared care programme. Yet Ella is still training as a paediatric oncologist. What difficulties did she encounter in creating a new treatment centre with minimal resources and staffing? To find out more about World Child Cancer, click https://www.worldchildcancer.org/ (here)