South African cyclist De Bruyn Joubert set himself one of the biggest challenges in touring: to ride a bicycle coast to coast on all seven continents. He started his Around 7 Continents project in August 2013, with a plan to pass through about 70 countries in five years, and his first photographs from Australia and Europe show what that life on the road looks like.

De Bruyn Joubert posing beside his loaded touring bicycle on a road

Who is De Bruyn Joubert

Before the trip, Joubert ran a company in South Africa distributing ice cream and frozen vegetables. He told the Anchorage Daily News that he did not enjoy the work and wanted a real challenge. “I thought if I wanted to do something big, it has to be now,” he said.

Business Insider’s June 2014 report shared his early pictures and his plan: about 70 countries, seven continents and five years. He budgeted separately for food, accommodation, visas, insurance and promotion, and documented the ride on Facebook and Twitter.

A loaded touring bicycle beside the road during Joubert’s early journey

Cycling across Australia

Joubert began in Australia, riding the Sydney-to-Adelaide section via Macquarie Pass and small country towns such as Jugiong in New South Wales. He has said that he started out far from fully fit and grew stronger through the long days on the bike.

A river flowing through a wooded Australian landscape on De Bruyn Joubert’s route
A river flowing through a wooded Australian landscape on the route. Photo: De Bruyn Joubert.
Jugiong, Australia, photographed during the cycling journey
Sunrise beside a small roadside building on Joubert’s Australian route

The highlight was the Nullarbor Plain. Its name comes from the Latin for “no tree”, and it is the world’s largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, about 1,100 km across at its widest. The Eyre Highway runs along its southern edge and includes Australia’s longest straight stretch of sealed road, about 146 km. Roadhouses are often 100 to 200 km apart, and Joubert recalled other travellers sharing food with him. Along the coast, the Bunda Cliffs drop sheer into the Great Australian Bight.

The open Nullarbor landscape along the cycling route in Australia
Bunda Cliffs on Australia’s Nullarbor coast

Advice from people he met led him on a detour to Esperance and its white beaches, and at Lake King a stop for photographs ended with him stuck and struggling to get going again.

A pale beach curving around a turquoise bay in Joubert’s Australian gallery
Handlebar luggage in front of a wide salt-flat landscape
Two small tents and touring bicycles beside a bare tree

Through Europe by bicycle

In Ireland, Joubert hunted for camping spots and rode through the scenery around Aherlow in County Tipperary. In Wales he made a point of seeing Caernarfon Castle, the great fortress begun by Edward I in 1283, whose walls are often said to echo those of Constantinople. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hosted the investitures of the Prince of Wales in 1911 and 1969.

A narrow road passing beneath a canopy of woodland trees
The walls, towers and interior grounds of Caernarfon Castle in Wales

The Netherlands brought canal-side cycling around Leiden, along with disagreements over navigation with a riding companion. Later came Lindau on Lake Constance, Belgian fries at Christmas and the view over Dubrovnik from Mount Srđ in Croatia.

Trees and buildings reflected in a narrow Dutch canal
Joubert seated at a table with portions of Belgian fries
Joubert beside a stone building above the sea at Dubrovnik

The road to Alaska and Antarctica

By the time he reached Anchorage, Alaska, in June 2015, Joubert had completed Australia, Europe and Asia and covered about 15,000 miles. He had ridden in temperatures above 105 °F and below −35 °F, and had once been held for an hour by a group of people in Mongolia. From Alaska he planned to ride about 1,200 miles to Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories, then south through the United States to Panama.

His plans for the last continents were just as bold: a crossing of about 1,200 miles of Antarctica on a fat-tyre bike, with costs he estimated could reach $400,000, and a final ride from Morocco to Cape Town.

Planning your own bike tour

Most long tours start with a single weekend. Ride a familiar route with your full luggage first, so you learn how the bike handles when loaded, and carry offline maps and a way to call for help. Plan food, water and overnight stops before distance: on remote roads such as the Nullarbor, the gaps between services decide your day. Our guide to different travel rhythms, long-term travel framework and Budget-travel ideas cover the bigger questions.

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