PROFILE
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clockwise from top left:
1. cycling through california’ s death valley 2. tom eating noodles near linxia, china 3. sunset in arizona’ s grand canyon 4. a tibetan woman in xiahe, china 5. a yurt on the pamir highway, tajikistan 6. a georgian mountain top church
would be back in time for Christmas. I don’ t think she would have put up with me being away for more than nine and a half months.”
Modestly, it is only as a side note that Tom reveals the philanthropic element of his trip. He has currently raised more than £ 3,000 for SOS Children’ s Villages and continues to campaign for the orphan charity.
His reticence does not extend to the tales from his journey. However unremarkable Tom claims to be, the stories from his trip are anything but.
One that truly stands out, was crossing the Kazakh desert, an experience Tom says he simply cannot forget. Shortly after starting on the route across the steppe, a man ominously called out to him:“ Do you want to die out here? This road is like hell!” before driving away.
“ The road really was terrible,” Tom admits.“ It was basically made from chunks of melting tarmac mixed with sand.” With such poor conditions and 43 degree heat, progress was limited to just 10 mph for three days.“ It was absolute torture”.
Yet his exertions were exceeded by the rewards.“ The desert there at night time is simply incredible. The stars are the clearest you’ ll ever see them and I just rolled my mat out and slept right under them.”
Sleeping arrangements varied according to the landscape and people. Tom has bunked in trailer parks on the USA’ s route 66, yurts in Tajikistan, and abandoned Buddhist temples in China amongst others.
Perhaps the most unusual was actually a night spent in a hotel in Texas.“ I met a waiter at a Mexican restaurant who said he’ d sort me out with a place to stay for the night,” Tom explains.“ When I turned up, I found out it was the Hilton. I couldn’ t believe it! It was so bizarre because I’ d just been sleeping under railway bridges for quite a while before that.”
Instances of random hospitality shown by strangers proliferate throughout Tom’ s trip.
There was Petre, a Romanian farmer who brought a meal of pork fat sprinkled with chilli powder to his tent, before warning him to watch out for fleas and snakes.
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