The daily route is planned out for all 594 days, one stretch at a time. Every stage was chosen to arrive in the right season, and the mountain passes were taken out wherever there was a way around.
This is the intended route, and it is still moving. A cyclist who rode the first stretch in 2023 told us there is no safe road for bicycles between Málaga and Algeciras, so those opening days are being replanned. We check every country before we go into it, and if it does not feel right we adjust. The number of countries and the distance may shift. The mission does not.
Every stage arrives in its own good season. Morocco in winter because the coast is mild. Turkey by the sea in summer. Southeast Asia split in two so the islands come in their dry months and the mainland in its own.
Out of Málaga towards Tarifa, then the ferry to Tangier. Down the Atlantic coast through Asilah, Rabat, Casablanca, El Jadida, Safi and Essaouira, then inland across the Haouz plain to Marrakech and on to Fès. Back into Europe at Melilla and up the Spanish Mediterranean coast to Barcelona.
The Mediterranean coast through Nîmes and Marseille, past Monaco into Genoa. Down through Siena and Rome to Naples and Bari, then the ferry to Greece for Athens and Thessaloniki. North through North Macedonia and Serbia, through Bosnia along the Neretva, and by ferry along the Croatian islands to Dubrovnik and south into Albania. Then back east across northern Greece to the Turkish border.
Across Thrace through Edirne to Istanbul, then the ferry over the Sea of Marmara. Down the Aegean coast through Bursa, Izmir and Ephesus to Pamukkale, and over to Antalya on the Mediterranean. All of it at sea level, because the Anatolian plateau in July is forty degrees.
The first flight, Antalya to Bali. Across Java to Yogyakarta and Jakarta, by ferry to Sumatra for Padang and Pekanbaru, then from Batam across to Singapore. North through Malaysia: Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, the east coast to Kuantan, back across to Penang, then the rice plain of Kedah and the ferry to Langkawi. The islands in their dry season.
Up the Thai peninsula through Surat Thani to Bangkok, across the Isaan plateau and north to Chiang Mai. The slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, then the new railway to Vientiane, which crosses the mountains without climbing them. Into Vietnam for Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang and Saigon, right through the only dry window the whole country has. Then the Mekong delta and Cambodia, ending at Angkor, and back to Bangkok for the flight.
The second flight, Bangkok to Minneapolis. Down the Mississippi River Trail from Minneapolis, then east to Chicago, on to Detroit and Cleveland, and along Lake Erie to Buffalo. The Erie Canal towpath across New York State to Albany and down the Hudson to New York City. Flat the whole way, no Rockies, no Route 66. Then the last flight home to Málaga.
Twenty thousand kilometres are on the bikes. For the water and the mountains that cannot be ridden, this is what it takes. We would rather list it than let you find it.
This map fills in as Samuel cycles. Every point will be a real place he has been. For his safety it always runs a few days behind, and we never post where he is today.
The map is empty for now. It starts filling in on 15 November 2026.