Sebastian Zealand - Our very own crazy guy on a bike

We get a lot of incredible people doing incredible things for us here at Children on the Edge, but even we were knocked off our spinny office chairs when we got an e-mail from Mr Seb Zealand saying he had just set out on a sponsored bike ride for our work, from his home town in Yorkshire to ..... Sydney Australia. 


The reason?

"The more I thought about it” says Seb, “the more it seemed a good idea. I had some money saved, I told work I was leaving and before I knew it, I was setting off for Australia. No training, not a lot of planning but I felt confident. I’d pick it up as I went along. Mr Zealand has always wanted to travel and he’s really looking forward to experiencing different cultures, eating new foods and meeting new people.

Why Children on the Edge?

“I chose Children on the Edge because I wanted to do something for less privileged children. My childhood was filled with an abundance of opportunities and lots of happy memories and I just felt that now it was about time I gave something back. That way I could travel the world but also try to benefit someone else as well. There were plenty of children's charities to chose from but the bit on your website about returning childhoods to children really caught my eye. "

The route? (You might need a cuppa and a map to plot this out).

Seb lays it out like this: "The plan is to cycle from my home in Yorkshire, down to London and then on to Dover. Then it’s a three month trip across Europe, crossing France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Austria, going down the coast through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Finally I will cross Macedonia and Bulgaria before arriving in Turkey. Following the Black sea coast line I will travel through Turkey continuing on into Georgia and Azerbaijan. Then it is a trip across the Caspian Sea and into Kazakhstan following that I travel through Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan finally arriving in China. From China I travel through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia before finishing the Asian leg of my trip in Singapore. From there I fly to Perth in Australia and finish my trip by cycling the coastal road all the way to Sydney. If all goes to plan it is a journey that will take me through 24 countries, 3 continents and 15,000 miles of road."

Onto the adventure....

By last week Seb has already made it to Budapest and travelled a stupendous 2,154 miles. His sister Victoria is heading out to meet him for his birthday this weekend and will be bringing us some more news, but in the meantime you can follow Seb’s adventure by going to his blog and you can sponsor him through is Justgiving page.

We’d like to say a hearty Happy Birthday to Sebastian and a huge thank you for choosing us to raise money for through this unforgettable adventure. Watch this space for more crazy bike guy updates!

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