The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Travellers checks
RACHAEL DAVIS chats to this year’s Race Across the World teams to find out how confident they are ahead of a testing journey from Japan to Indonesia with a miniscule budget
RACE Across the World is an adventure like no other. The BBC travel programme, now on its fourth series, sees five teams of intrepid travellers take part in an epic race from one global location to another by foot, road, rail, bus or boat – no planes allowed – their budget being the cost of the equivalent air fare.
The competitors have to be prepared to rough it on the road, including extreme budgeting, taking on odd jobs, sleeping on the move and asking strangers for handouts to get to the finish line the fastest, and without running out of money.
They don’t have access to their smartphones, the internet, or bank cards, so they get to travel the world in a totally new way – and be in with a chance of winning a lifechanging cash prize of £20,000.
When Race Across the World returns to BBC1 for its fourth series, the teams will start their adventure in Japan. They set off from Sapporo, the capital city of northernmost island Hokkaido, and must make their way to Lombok in Indonesia via a number of checkpoints.
Ahead of the new series, let’s hear from this year’s travellers. There’s Owen and Alfie, both 20, best friends from Hertfordshire; brother and sister Betty, 25, and James, 21, from Yorkshire; mother and daughter Eugenie, 60, and Isabel, 25, from Barking and Birmingham; Kent-based mother and daughter Sharon, 52, and Brydie, 25; and retired couple Stephen, 61, and Viv,
65, from Rutland.
Eugenie and Isabel, you’re mother and daughter – why did you want to sign up?
Isabel: The past few years, we’ve not really had that time to spend with one another, so it’s about embracing that.
Eugenie: Our conversations could be a bit deeper emotionally. Sometimes we’re at loggerheads – I say sometimes, because it’s not all the time, but it’s about learning how to understand each other.
Isabel: I almost think we don’t know each other very well, so it’s an opportunity to actually get to know each other.
Eugenie: I think, for us, it’s more emotional, it’s more about understanding each other’s emotions and feelings.
Alfie and Owen, you’re the youngest racers this series. What do you think your biggest challenges will be?
Alfie: Finances and staying sane would be fair. Obviously, finances is the tangible one and I just think as time goes on we’re going to get more and more dragged down, particularly if we’re low on sleep, low on food, low on money, it’s going to add up very quickly.
We’re both quite young so we’ve still got that drive in us, but we’ll see how that looks in week six with no sleep.
Owen: I can work in a high pressure situation as long as I don’t let it get to my head too much. If I let it get to me that’s when it would be a problem, but if I can keep the pressure out then I can deal with it.
Betty and James, as brother and sister, what do your family think of you doing this trip together?
James: Mum and Dad, I know they will be excited for us, proud and nervous but it’s quite hard to grasp because they haven’t really said anything.
Betty: They said they think it will make us stronger. We’re not super close as brother and sister.
Brydie and Sharon, what kind of travellers are you? Do you like your creature comforts or are you happy to rough it?
Sharon: I’d probably be more at home roughing it!
Brydie: Yes, we can sleep anywhere, you can leave us on the floor with our backpacks on and we’ll sleep. We’re good like that. That’s a strategy right there! Also, we don’t belong somewhere like a five-star hotel.
Sharon: I’d feel a bit uncomfortable. Brydie: We’re quite close, some people would say we’re too close, but we don’t care if we have to even share a bed.
We’d happily share a bed in the race.
Stephen and Viv, have you picked up any tips for your race from previous series?
Viv: We’ve watched the series three or four times over and yes, I think there are lots of tips. I think you both have to trust each other, you both have to listen. Different opinions will happen, I think you’ve got to give a reason behind your opinion and I think we just have to listen to each other.
Stephen: I think talking to other people always seems to be a strength in the other series, certainly. So, people can listen to strangers, listen to friends and that gives them ideas that perhaps we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves.
I just think as time goes on we’re going to get more and more dragged down Alfie
Would you all say you’re adventurous?
Betty: Yes, I’ll try anything once.
Owen: I think we are, we put ourselves forward quite a lot. We don’t really shy away from opportunities, such as this one, and we don’t like wasting the time we spend in other countries. We try and see and do as much as we can whilst we’re there, maximising the time.
Viv: Yes, I think we’re a bit gung-ho and we don’t sit back and think: “No, I don’t think we can do that”... but we certainly do like to know where our bed is and where we can have a bath, so yes, this is going to be out of our comfort zone!
■ Race Across the World, BBC1, 9pm on Wednesday
One of the most fascinating things I’ve learned over the last few years is how the location of a vineyard is oh-so important in how grapes grow.
Let me take you on a little tour. In Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon is one of the main grape varieties in red wine blends, especially on the Left Bank (the western side, near the Atlantic Ocean). Here, gravelly soils soak up heat, releasing it upward into cabernet sauvignon vines, helping the grapes slowly ripen.
Without those stones, cabernet sauvignon could not ripen here and Bordeaux would be different. Try Asda’s Extra Special Château Leboscq Médoc (£11.50) which has a Cru Bourgeois quality classification from the region, tasting of toasty black fruits and vanilla.
Altitude makes a difference for grapes growing in warm places. The higher the vineyard, the cooler the air, which helps grapes ripen slowly, keeping their lovely freshness and acidity and patiently concentrating flavours.
Grapes for Zuccardi Valles
Torrontes (£13, online at hic-winemerchants.com), left, grow on vines planted at
5,905 ft altitude in Salta, in the far north of Argentina.
This delicious aromatic white grape grows perfectly here, developing subtle floral notes, and refreshing acidity.
The grapes for Esporão Monte Velho Tinto (£8.95, The Wine Society), right, are juicy and ripe thanks to the warm Portuguese Alentejo region; yet an altitude of 600 feet gives this red a fresh dimension alongside the black and red fruits.
Now to the Rioja region and the white, Ramón Bilbao Limite Norte 2020 (RRP £21, Great Wine Company), below. The grapes grow on a plateau at over 1,400 feet and the climate is so extreme that it is one of the last places in Rioja to be harvested. This white is an equal blend of maturana blanca and tempranillo blanco with a fresh balance of citrus with some ripe warmth of stone fruit.
Ocean breezes cool down hot places, creating the ideal conditions for grapes which don’t like heat. Instead, these grapes can thrive and develop the most beautiful characteristics. One such place is Sonoma in California, where pinot noir – which loves a cool climate – is at the heart of wonderfully delicate, cranberry and raspberry-scented wines. All because of the Pacific Ocean.
Try The Society’s Exhibition Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2022 (£14.95, online at The Wine Society) which trembles with red fruit expression.
■ Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.