The Adventures of Tim Harvey

I blogged last year about my old, dear friend Tim Harvey and his incredible adventure from Vancouver to Moscow by human power. He cycled north from Vancouver, eventually reaching the Bering Sea which he rowed across. Then it was back to hiking and bicycling through the frozen wilderness of Siberia, until finally Tim reached his goal of Moscow a year after this great journey began. But this wasn't enough for Tim! He then bicycled from Moscow to Lisbon often cranking out 150 kilometres per day and completing this leg of the journey in just a month and a half. From here, Tim rowed from Lisbon to the Canary Islands, then jumped onboard another boat with a bunch of Swedes and rowed from there to Venezuela - yes, he sailed/rowed across the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Here you may think, wow - what a journey. But he's not done yet. Tim is now heading from Caracas (still by zero-emission power) to the very dangerous Darien Gap, which he will hike, eventually joining his brother in Panama for the final bike to Vancouver. In this journey he will have completed a true global circumnavigation because he crosses all lines of longitude, with a total mileage of at least 35,000 kilometres. Tim writes that his adventure "is a 42,000 kilometre, 26-month push west by zero-emission means, touching five continents and ending at the point where the journey began" where his goal is to "move himself without ever burning a drop of fossil fuel, to promote a lifestyle joyously free of the common automobile, the primary cause of global climate change."

I find it hard to put into words how impressive and inspiring this journey is and how much I respect Tim. And the best part is that he was been documenting this entire journey to be made into a film upon his return, so we will be able to experience by proxy this incredible feat he will have accomplished. You can follow Tim's progress by reading his dispatches and I have also posted his website on my blog sidebar.