Episode Details

Dreaming  about taking a huge bike adventure? Then this episode is for you.

Ellie Mitchell-Heggs shares her insights from her solo journey where she cycled 10,000 kilometres  across Africa from Rwanda to Cape Town. All up her trip was nine months long and took her across ten countries. It was also a ride that was layered with both a personal family connection to Africa and loaded up with a huge sense of purpose as well.

Alongside the cycling, Ellie spent time in every capital city meeting with over 100 local NGOs, social enterprises and community organisations working in education, youth empowerment and gender equality. Ellie shares how those conversations, got her through the toughest stretches on the road.

In this episode we cover:

• How Ellie got into bikepacking starting with the Vélodyssée down the west coast of France
• Why she chose to start in Rwanda and ride south 
• The communities and landscapes that shaped each country, from Uganda's warmth to the brutal isolation of Botswana's flat roads
• 70 kilometres being swarmed by tsetse flies in a Tanzanian national park
• Canoeing four days down the Zambezi river as a mid-trip reset
• Grieving her father on the road 
• Cycling through Namibia with two fellow bikepackers.
• Food poisoning two days from Cape Town, and the unicycle escort into the city
• What made those NGO conversations so energising 

Find Ellie on Instagram: @ProjectCycleAfrica

Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.

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