The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015
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58<br />
OLD SALOPIAN NEWS<br />
Cycling across Europe in a superhero costume<br />
Will Hodson (Rt 1990-95)<br />
Yes, I have just spent the last four and half months of my life cycling over 8,000km from London right<br />
the way across Europe to Istanbul…in a superhero costume. I’ve also been carrying a cuddly toy worm<br />
with me. He even has a name. His name is Dave the Worm and he is in fact the mascot of the charity<br />
Parkinson’s UK. My father was diag<strong>no</strong>sed with Parkinson’s shortly after I left school and part<br />
of my world cycle is about raising £100,000 to help them and a number of<br />
other charities continue their life-changing work.<br />
Istanbul is <strong>no</strong>t the finishing line for<br />
me though. In fact, I’ve got around<br />
a<strong>no</strong>ther 92,000km, six more continents<br />
and five more years of pedalling to go.<br />
So this really is just the beginning.<br />
This first leg of my<br />
#7ContinentsWorldCycle (everything<br />
has to have its own hashtag <strong>no</strong>wadays,<br />
doesn’t it?) has been a complete blast.<br />
From the moment I left Tower Bridge at<br />
the end of May to the day I touched the<br />
water of the Bosporus river in Istanbul<br />
in the middle of October, this has been<br />
a whole lot of fun. A dream trip in fact.<br />
And if this trip is about anything, it’s<br />
that with a bit of hard work, you can<br />
achieve incredible things.<br />
This is the main message I talk<br />
about when I visit different schools<br />
on my travels; the idea that<br />
#WeCanAllBeHeroes (there’s that<br />
hashtag again!) - whether it’s <strong>no</strong>t giving<br />
up when things get tough, or a simple<br />
act of kindness. Heroes come in many<br />
shapes and forms.<br />
I used to be a primary school teacher<br />
in London and engaging children from<br />
all over the world with the journey is<br />
really important for me. At the very<br />
least, by the end of the five years of<br />
the adventure I hope children will have<br />
learned the names and locations of the<br />
seven continents. I also hope they’ll<br />
have picked up some confidence and<br />
see that if I can make my own personal<br />
dream come true, then they can in turn<br />
realise their own dreams if they put the<br />
effort in. I also hope people might see<br />
that the world is <strong>no</strong>t primarily full of<br />
dangerous people who are ‘different’<br />
and pose a threat to any visiting<br />
foreigners. Sure, there are some bad<br />
guys everywhere in the world, but the<br />
vast majority of people in every single<br />
country (that I have been to so far<br />
anyway) are kind, helpful and tolerant<br />
– hopefully like you and me.<br />
I regularly post stories and pictures<br />
online featuring the kind people (or<br />
everyday heroes as I call them) I have<br />
met in each country I have visited.<br />
Most recently in Turkey I have been<br />
given a house to stay in for a few days<br />
after just a 30-minute conversation<br />
with a guy on a ferry boat across the<br />
Bosporus. I was also given a Toblerone<br />
and a can of RedBull by a<strong>no</strong>ther guy<br />
in a car through his car window later<br />
on that same day. This is the kind of<br />
stuff that happens pretty well every<br />
day in my strange world. <strong>The</strong> best way<br />
I can describe it is that it kind of feels<br />
like it’s my birthday every day. It really<br />
is amazing how kind people are…<br />
everywhere. This is what I experience<br />
anyway as I cycle from A to B each<br />
day. Maybe it’s the bike, as I think<br />
people appreciate the effort you are<br />
going to. Maybe it’s the superhero<br />
costume, which is undoubtedly a<br />
good ice-breaker, especially with any<br />
slightly moody border guards. But<br />
I like to think that anyone visiting<br />
these countries would get this kind of<br />
treatment. Just learning a few words (I<br />
try and learn at least ‘hello’, ‘thank you’<br />
and ‘please’ in each language) goes<br />
a long way, and a smile… everyone<br />
understands a smile!<br />
So, I’ve <strong>no</strong>w got a couple of weeks<br />
off the bike in Istanbul. I am doing a<br />
few repairs and upgrades to my bike<br />
- appropriately called a KOGA World<br />
Traveller. I’ve also got to buy some<br />
warmer clothes for what I’m calling this<br />
‘hilly and chilly’ next section across Asia<br />
from Turkey to Tokyo that will start<br />
towards the end of November. A pair of<br />
thermal superhero pants are top of the<br />
shopping list.<br />
Stay tuned via my SuperWebsite<br />
www.supercyclingman.com to see<br />
how the ride across Continent No.2<br />
(Asia) goes. <strong>The</strong>re is a live map on<br />
the website which shows exactly<br />
where I am in the world.<br />
You can also follow the round<br />
the world cycling adventure on<br />
Facebook and Twitter. And if you<br />
would like to donate to help me<br />
towards my fundraising goal of<br />
£100,000 for Parkinson’s UK and<br />
several other charities, my website<br />
includes a link to my Virgin Money<br />
Giving donations page.<br />
Stay super and remember…<br />
#WeCanAllBeHeroes!<br />
Will / SuperCyclingMan<br />
and Dave the Worm
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