TravelTalk
Travelling on the cheap
In a world of rampant inflation , crazy fuel prices and rising interest rates life is becoming more expensive by the day . But you can travel much more cheaply than you realise , although I doubt I ’ ll entice anyone to do it at quite the level I ’ ve managed . After my 35,500 kilometre , pan-European bicycle ride , visiting 52 European capitals en route – as well as Nerja – my savings had been devoured . I wanted another adventure , but lacked the funds .
Around that time there was a charity initiative called Live Below the Line . Sponsored participants attempted to feed themselves for five days on just £ 5 ( about € 6.50 back then ). This amount of money was the Extreme Poverty Line , under which millions of people around the world were struggling to survive , and not just for a single week . As well as raising vital funds participants would learn a thing or two about the difficulties of living at that level of income . I thought I could take this a step further and convinced three others to cycle with me from Liverpool to Gibraltar on that same £ 1-a-day budget , raising money for Action Against Hunger .
We set off in the middle of June , all starry eyed , dreaming of the wonderful and varied diet we ’ d have , foraging and fishing as we went . It was just a pity that only one of us knew anything about either activity , and that wasn ’ t me . It was Hungarian chef Sabby , and , to make matters worse , his knee packed in a couple of weeks into the trip and he had to quit .
The remaining three of us , which included Joe , a recent graduate , and Dave , an absolute lunatic with Gandalf facial hair , continued . We stuck to what we knew , collecting apples , berries and plums , wading into marshes to snip samphire and liberating the very occasional fish from the sea but mostly living off bread and tinned lentils . We slept where we could . There wasn ’ t much showering going on .
We all lost weight . For me this was great news , having started the ride at a portly 103 kilos . But Young Joe was a stick insect at the outset and ended up seriously underweight .
After 66 days hugging Europe ’ s western coastline , clocking up around 5,000 kilometres and each spending £ 66 , we arrived in Gibraltar , all eagerly anticipating a target that had become something of an obsession over the previous weeks : Morrisons . Once there , the £ 1 budget was over and we could spend
The team - Dave , Joe , Steven and Sabby - on the day they set off
whatever we wanted . Young Joe had fantasised about Haribo , I had meat pies and whisky on my list and , for some unfathomable reason , crazy Dave hoped to snag Sherbet DibDabs .
But as I looked in my trolley at what represented at best a meal and a half as well as a lot of unhealthy rubbish I realised the value of money . That cartload cost over thirty quid , more than a month ’ s survival budget , and yet it all disappointed . It didn ’ t live up to the dream .
This adventure ruined me for buying absolutely anything again in the future . When I look at a menu and see a main course for £ 14 , all I can see is a fortnight ’ s budget . And that makes a single sea bass , no matter how well cooked it is , seem like a really bad deal .
I think we all learned a lot about ourselves , but the big takeaway for me was that , although it ’ s better to travel with money than without , if the will is there , life can still be fun on almost nothing . Of course , it just depends on what your idea of fun is .
STEVEN PRIMROSE-SMITH
Read more about Steven ’ s adventures . Hungry For Miles describes his bargain basement bicycle ride through England , France , Spain and Portugal . He has also written five other travel books as well as three novels . All are available from Amazon .
A bountiful haul of foraged fruit
Dave meets his intellectual match in Gibraltar
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