The Planning - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 10

Chapter 2: The Planning
Choosing the Charity
I was thinking big. With no experience in marketing, I did a lot of stumbling but
managed to keep moving forward. I knew from the very start that I wanted this cause to be
for children keeping in mind that girl in Lyon, France. The question I then asked was which
charity? I decided that it was best to find a charity that was easily identifiable to people all
over the world. The first one that came to my mind was UNICEF- the United Nations Chil-
dren's Fund. So with great excitement, I began to put together a 'public relations' kit.
Planning My Route
First I had to plan a route. I bought a world map for my room which I hung above
my desk. I then looked at where I wanted to go. All I knew was that I wanted to finish in
Canada. Since I was living in the United Kingdom, I decided that it would start in London
on Canada's birthday, July, 1 st .
Oneofmygoalswhenvisitingthesecountrieswastovisitprojectsrunbythecharity.
I felt this was very important especially when I did any public speaking. I could then speak
about what I saw rather than what I read. So, after a couple of days I finally chose my route.
I would start in the UK and head south to South Africa via continental Europe. From there,
I would head to Uruguay by air or sea and then cycle north to Canada (western half). I
wouldthegothroughAsia,RussiaandEasternEurope.AftergoingthroughWesternEurope
I would fly to Newfoundland, Canada and cycle to Toronto.
In order to calculate the distances, I used my world map and a piece of string. Then
I averaged 100 kilometres per day to establish the time needed to cross each country. In all,
it would take me two years and three months. In hindsight, I didn't include any days off for
rest, for mechanical breakdowns, for waiting to get visas or for lost days due to illness. It
would have been better to set up weekly goals instead.
I must admit that I didn't research in detail any of the countries I wanted to cycle
through. However, I did read other people's travel accounts and the consensus seemed that
political unrest in African nations fluctuates. That is, a closed border reopens after calm is
restored...and vice-versa. Here is a quick example of what happened to me:
My preferred route from Congo to South Africa was via Angola and Namibia.
However, because of the ongoing civil war in Angola, I planned an alternate route through
Zaïre (DRC), Zambia and Zimbabwe. In essence, I was to cycle around Angola. When I