Record-breaker makes his Mark
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EVEN a record-breaking globe-trotting adventurer like Mark Beaumont can find a challenge on his own doorstep.
Famous as "the man who cycled the world" after completing the fastest pedal powered circuit of the globe in 2008, Beaumont has not lost his appetite for travelling,.
However, if an interesting opportunity comes up a little closer to his Perthshire home, then he will be happy to say yes. These include riding non-stop around the North Coast 500 route around the north of Scotland, taking a penny-farthing around the Grampians and earlier this month cycling through the Outer Hebrides from Barra to the Butt of Lewis to promote the area as an adventure tourism destination.
"I’ve visited 125 countries in the last 10 years, but I always come back and realise what an amazing place we live in," he said.
His latest major adventure saw him return to his Perthshire home as the new holder of the record for fastest north to south cycle crossing of Africa.
While it might only be a third of the round the world journey, Beaumont points out that its toughness means that it tends to be left out of the itinerary of round the world cycle trips.
"You have the Ethiopian highlands, the Sahara, the great savannas and there are problems in terms of border crossings and security, so it’s not easy," he said.
"The logistics and planning in many ways were more complicated than they were for the world trip. And I was trying to go a heck of a lot faster.
"The record was 59 days. I set the new time at 41 days, 10 hours and 22 minutes. There was no compromise. It was an out and out race."
Yet even at that pace, Beaumont returned with some enduring memories, from cycling past the Pyramids in Egypt to passing within a few metres of wild elephants in northern Botswana or having a giraffe gallop along beside him as he sped through the African savannah.
"People think you miss the value of the trip because you are going so fast. I argue the opposite," he said.
"There is an intensity to my journeys that means that I have to be in tune with the world around me. It would be different if I had a support team, but I was completely on my own.
"There’s a whole list of places I want to go back to with my family, but I am still at an age when I can be an athlete and push records.
"There are still things I want to do in terms of speed and endurance. I have the rest of my life, hopefully, to go back and explore some of the highlights."
• Mark Beaumont will be speaking about his Africa Solo expedition and other adventures at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on Sunday March 27 and The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, on Tuesday 29.
