‘Cycling changed my life’
Approaching 60, Ann Wilson quit her job to cycle solo round the world and returned determined her first trip wouldn’t be her last
As she starts to plan her next solo cycling trip to South America, Ann Wilson has to stop and think when asked why she’s doing it – at 67. “Well, you don’t have to dust anything when you’re away…” she jokes as she ponders. Doing the housework may not be something she relishes, as she readily admits, but it’s hardly a reason for another daring escape from the Cumbrian hometown she’s so fond of. Even when greeted by relentless rain on her return from her first 14-month trip cycling round 20 countries at 59, she’d no qualms about arriving back in Ulverston. “Ulverston’s a really interesting little place. It’s the birthplace of Stan Laurel and there’s always some festival or other going on at weekends. I like it here. I miss quite a lot of events when I’m away,” she explains. Nevertheless, after a brave decision to get on her bike and see the world – when she wasn’t even a particularly serious or fit cyclist – she’s been bitten by the travel bug. Ann explains that it all started when a friend gave her a book by female author Anne Mustoe who cycled round the world in her 50s. Inspired, her reaction was: “If she can do that, I can do that!” At that time Ann was 57 herself with just one relatively big UK cycle trip behind her. At 55, she’d cycled 400 miles from Carlisle to Ipswich, staying at guesthouses along the way, after seeing a couple cycle from Scotland to London on the reality TV programme Castaway. “I didn’t think cycling was for me at all in my youth and I only got a bike in my 40s because I was living in East Anglia at the time, where it was so flat,” she recalls.
“It had never entered my head to cycle round the world before I read the book. Even then it took me a year to decide to do it and another year to arrange and plan it.” After securing an early retirement package from British Telecom, where she was a senior manager, she knew she could afford to fund part of the trip. By renting out a spare room in her home while away, she could pay the bills until her State Pension kicked in when she was aged 60½. “I was one of the lucky ones,” she admits. Splashing out £2,800 on a handbuilt bike, she set off from Cumbria in July 2009, without any serious training. “You only get fit by cycling and unless you’re in competition with someone, you can just take your time to build it up slowly,” she says. On the first leg of her trip, by express coach to Calais, she realised her first mistake. Arriving later than expected and in the dark, she struggled to find a B&B to stay that night. “It was scary,” she admits. This was to be the first of a series of hiccoughs as she travelled by plane and cycled through Europe, India, Asia, America and Canada, clocking up more than 10,000 miles. In Bulgaria she had her padlocked bike stolen and had to buy another, much cheaper one. In India she contracted a bug from a parasite which made her so ill she lost two stone and had to stay with a kind Chinese family for a month. Along the way though, she wrote a hugely popular online travel journal and made friends all over the world who offered support and beds for the night. “I met all sorts of wonderful people. It was amazing,” she recalls. So much so that when Ann flew home with all her incredible memories – including celebrating her 60th birthday in Tokyo, where her son Matthew (45) works as a lecturer – she knew she’d be off again soon. “I was ready to come home; I missed my family and friends,” she admits. But in no time, she was planning her next trips which have included cycle rides from Morocco to Paris; Canada to Mexico down the Pacific coast; Munich to Georgia and Estonia to Amsterdam. Her next stops are Peru and Ecuador and eventually she plans to visit Laos and Vietnam. Between trips, however, she’s always happy to return to her allotment and enjoy good old English fish and chips – and she’s the first to acknowledge you can be vulnerable as a lone cyclist in farflung places. So what’s the real attraction of doing it? “It’s the depth of human kindness that stands out for me. Don’t believe everything you hear; people all round the world are good. I firmly believe that and it’s wonderful to see. People everywhere are so generous and they always want to help you, and there’s always something new round every corner on every horizon. Everything is fresh all the time.” ’It is a life-changing experience and it gives you an appreciation of things. Life is so much simpler on the road; all you have to think about every day is where you’ll be staying that night. It’s very liberating. It’s exciting; it’s freedom.” Her philosophy is nothing new, she adds: “It’s simply make sure you don’t regret the things you didn’t do; only regret the things you did!”
Encouraged by the enthusiastic response to her travel blog, Ann has written a book about her first adventure. ‘Mainly by Bike: A Senior Cyclist Tours the World by Ann Wilson (ISBN: 9781999893606) is available from Amazon.
‘Make sure you don’t regret the things you didn’t do; only regret the things you did!’