From A French Petrol Station Parking Lot…

It’s March 22 nd, 2019, and we are huddled together inside our tent, pitched in the parking lot of a French petrol station. The hard, gravel floor means tent pegs aren’t possible. Instead, I’ve wrapped the guy ropes around rocks in the hope it will keep us erected through the coming wind and rain. More of a concern are the lorries which keep pulling in. Each one shakes the earth with its weight, blinds us with its headlights and parks what feels like right on top of us. But still, we’re transfixed.

Wrapped together in both sleeping bags, Sarah is feeding me cubes of cooking chocolate whilst I read Dervla Murphy’s Full Tilt out loud.

It’s the story of Dervla’s solo cycle journey from Ireland to India, in the sixties. And it’s incredible. Every page, every encounter, all the trials and tribulations, fill us with awe. It’s made even more inspiring knowing we have just begun our own cycle east, hoping to follow in her footsteps.

It was the first time I really appreciated the power of storytelling. From great pub stories to tales that can educate, empower, and enthral. As we spend our days passing through new lands, often in precarious situations, we often find ourselves experiencing what will be a good story. When we encountered lost Albanian villages in the mountains and found out why everyone left. When we met Ahmet, the honey farmer in the Taurus Mountains who rescued us from the cold…

On this page, we hope to share stories that can help inspire love for this fascinating world and the wonderful people within it.