“I adopted Yak from the streets of Shanghai when he was just three months old,” Ben explained. “He has always been full of life and vigour and it soon became clear that he loved to run and had excellent endurance.”
Ben is no stranger to physical challenges and came back to Guernsey to run the equivalent of ten marathons in seven days over the summer.
Pictured: Ben and Yak on their tour.
“Cycle touring is always an intense experience with your day’s fortunes tied to chance encounters, unpredictable weather and bike/trailer malfunctions,” he continued. “Being tied to a dependent pet 24 hours a day also brings its own share of considerations! When you step back for perspective it becomes clear that our rollercoaster ride has definitely had many more highs than lows.”
So far, the duo have ridden down through the Balkans to Athens and Crete, taken a ferry to Bari in Italy and cycled south to Sicily and then on to Sardinia.
Ben’s highlights include taking time to enjoy the scenery and meeting locals in each area, as well as spending time with fellow travellers and, of course, Yak.
“I have had the good fortune to meet many other travellers and a good few cycle tourists,” he added. “We have had the privilege to welcome many of them to ‘Team Yak’ for a stint!
Pictured: Ben and Yak travelling through Greece.
“Due to the time of year, most systole tourists we met were on big tours and either heading south to Greece for winter or on to Turkey for an Asian leg. This means we were able to meet some riders on numerous occasions over a period of months. It is always so nice to share experience like these with other like-minded adventurers.”
However, bad luck has played its part along the way.
“Inevitably there are days when it seems like everything that can go wrong does and you question why you voluntarily signed up to this madness,” Ben said. “Happily, these days do not occur often and they normally end up in just another funny story of triumph over adversary when looking back on it!”
Although the current goal is to cycle or run through every European country, the pair could extend that to continue through North Africa and Latin America if they can find the funding from sponsors.
You can follow their updates via Ben’s Instagram page and the ‘Yak on Tour’ blog.
Pictured top: Ben and Yak on the move.