ONE MAN, TWO WHEELS, MANY BUMPS IN ROAD AND A LIFETIME OF ADVENTURE
▶ Irish cyclist on a mission to see the world from his saddle crosses Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran on an enlightening journey from India to the UAE, writes Hannah McCarthy
In an era of air travel and short weekend breaks, Tomas Mac an t-Saoir has taken a longer and less travelled route to see the world by bicycle. For his most recent adventure, he pedalled from India to the UAE, passing mountains and Taliban strongholds, as well as deserts, which he travelled through with a broken chain.
For the past eight years – on and off – the Irishman has cycled around the world taking in parts of the US, journeying from Egypt to South Africa and tackling the breadth of Australia and New Zealand.
In November, he flew to Hanoi to collect his bicycle then headed to New Delhi to begin his journey to the UAE.
From “the madness” of the Indian capital, Tomas hopped on his bike and went northwest, cycling to the Pakistani border. There, he headed for the Swat Valley, famed for its alpine-like mountain peaks and for being the site of a Taliban takeover that lasted several years. While in northern Pakistan, he took the opportunity to cycle part of the Karakoram Highway – a road that connects the Gilgit-Baltistan region with the ancient Silk Road and was built by Pakistan and China’s authorities as a symbol of the two nations’ economic and political ties. It’s one of the highest paved roads on the planet and Tomas calls it as “the stuff of legends”.
Because it was winter, his stay in Pakistan was shorter than he originally anticipated. “The reality is I picked a bad time to visit, not the time of year to visit the mountains. Nonetheless, I had a wonderful, if short, stay,” he says.
Unplanned detour
After speaking to other seasoned travellers, he decided to take an unplanned land detour through Afghanistan to reach Iran, following in the footsteps of the late Irish adventurer Dervla Murphy, who cycled solo through Afghanistan in 1961 in a trip she chronicled in Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle.
“I was told the Taliban had full control over the country and that it was safe again for travellers to visit – even on a bicycle, going across the country,” Tomas says, although many governments continue to advise citizens against travel to the country.
After picking up a visa at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar for $100, he travelled along the Khyber Pass with a local police escort to the Torkham land crossing, in the Khyber District, where he passed into Afghanistan.
Along the border, he saw dozens of tents with people living in them. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned to the country since the Pakistani government announced in October that it would expel undocumented migrants from the country.
Tomas’s route in Afghanistan was also limited by the season, with heavy snow and the risk of road closures in the mountainous north. In Kabul, he secured travel permits for a trip to the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and to the western city of Herat, which lies near the border with Iran.
“From Kabul to Kandahar, it took five days on the bicycle – 65km the first day, then 77km, 105km, 140km and 120km,” he says. After the gruelling ride, he travelled on main roads to reach Herat, where he saw signs of the intense earthquake that hit the land last year.
Dangerous drivers were one hazard he had to endure. “The roads, at times, can be chaotic, with some dangerous driving and awful road surfaces,” he says. “Buses seem to rule the roads there. They absolutely fly along and everything must move out of the way.”
On his travels, he secured accommodation in the homes of Afghans, at restaurants and even at roadside petrol stations, which often have small rooms where staff sleep. “Due to all the conflict, there is no real infrastructure for tourism right now,” he adds.
Even in rural villages, the Taliban would typically question him when he arrived to stay the night. Despite those encounters, he felt safe travelling through the country and says the Afghans he encountered were “helpful and hospitable”.
He did, however, avoid taking photos of any sensitive sites because the Taliban checked his phone several times.
The already fragile Afghan economy has declined since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, when foreign aid was heavily cut and international sanctions were imposed, partly in response to severe repressive measures the group imposed on women.
Tomas found that Afghan opinion of the Taliban varied, while the country is certain to take a long time to recover socially and economically from the effects of the war. But he says the people he met seemed
I prefer to travel with an open mind and accept that our views in the West aren’t always right TOMAS MAC AN T-SAOIR
content that the conflict and killings had largely stopped.
“We have no economy, but we have peace,” a man from the Hazara Shiite community in Ghazni told him.
Tomas adds: “I’m still wrapping my head around Afghanistan. If I’d listened to 99 per cent of people I wouldn’t have gone … I prefer to travel with an open mind, and a willingness to accept that our views in the West aren’t always right.
“Often the reality of places is very different to the images generated in the western world.”
Broken chain
After covering 1,300km in Afghanistan, it was onwards to Iran, where he cycled through snow and desert and had to tackle a broken bike chain along the way.
Fortunately, a fellow cyclist from China was able to give him a spare and Tomas took his chance to speak to Iranian civilians who, he says, “took me in and treated me as one of their own from day one”.
To see more of Iran’s culture and visit the historical cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, he completed part of his route by bus – he was charged a small fee to put his bike in the hold.
Tomas says he was impressed by the beauty of the ancient sites in the country.
“The history is insane, the food is great and the people are among the friendliest,” he adds.
Tomas’s latest cycling escapades ended with a ferry from the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas to Sharjah.
After arriving in the middle of the night, he hopped in a taxi to Dubai where he has now left his trusty bicycle with a friend and returned to Ireland.
But the adventure isn’t over. Tomas plans to collect his bike next winter before embarking on another expedition – a journey through the Middle East, taking in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan and finishing in Turkey.