Beyond the Horizon. The Great Race to Finish the First Human-Powered Circumnavigation of the Planet

308 Pages·2007·1.41 MB·English

by  Colin Angus

PRAISE FOR BEYOND THE HORIZON
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK
COMPETITION, ADVENTURE TRAVEL AWARD
“The same incidents that have always made Angus so loveable and funny
continue to occur.… Descriptions of wicked storms and delightful marine
creatures encountered along the way brim with enthusiasm.”
The Globe and Mail
“[Angus] paints vivid pictures of obscure places and cultures while slowly
travelling through vast landscapes.… Encounters with locals bring the
armchair adventurer around the world. It feels like you’re with Angus as
he cycles past Russian mafia who are hanging a petrified man over an
overpass by his ankles, or when he stays with friendly Siberians who spend
a week’s wages to feed him, or makes nice with strangers who fix his bike
for free after reading about his expedition on the Internet.”
Calgary Herald
“The achievement is a remarkable testament to a tenacious will,
extraordinary endurance and pure obstinacy.… He makes Winnipeggers
feel like wimps, complaining as we do when it’s a mere −50° C with the
windchill. There’s no shortage of agony and near-death experiences in
Angus’s narrative. Forest fires, drowning, freezing, drunken Siberian truck
drivers, Mexican banditos … are all well-documented.”
Winnipeg Free Press
“The thrill of this book lies not in the suspense of whether or not Angus
makes it to the end of his journey, but rather in the details of his
seemingly impossible quest.”
Georgia Straight
ALSO BY COLIN ANGUS
Lost in Mongolia
Amazon Extreme (co-author: Ian Mulgrew)

To Julie
CONTENTS
Prologue
1: TAKING THE PLUNGE
2: SETTING OFF
3: PADDLING TO THE BERING SEA
4: BY ROWBOAT TO ASIA
5: INTO SIBERIA
6: FLAT ON MY BACK IN ANADYR
7: LOST IN CHUKOTKA
8: ON THE ROAD OF BONES
9: ALONE
10: SMOOTH ROADS CYCLING TO IRKUTSK
11: SIBERIAN SOLILOQUY
12: THE POWER OF TWO
13: FROM RED SQUARE TO THE DANUBE
14: VIENNA TO LISBON
15: TO SEA IN A RED ROWBOAT
16: HURRICANE VINCE
17: WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
18: FROM DELTA TO EPSILON
19: A BIRTHDAY AND A CHRISTMAS AT SEA
20: INTO THE TROPICS
21: ON DRY LAND AGAIN
22: HEADING HOME
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Photo Credits
PROLOGUE
N SEPTEMBER 6, 1522, a lone and tattered sailing ship ghosted into Seville
O
Harbour, Spain. On board the Victoria, 18 ragged crew members rejoiced at the
end of their long voyage. Three years earlier, the expedition had departed from
this same port as an armada of five ships and 270 men. During those three years, the
crew had endured starvation, bloody combat, mutinies, shipwrecks, scurvy, and other
disease. The captain of the expedition, Sir Francis Magellan, died in battle. The
remaining crew struggled against all odds to make it home to Spain. In doing so, they
completed one of the most notable maritime achievements ever: the first journey around
planet Earth.
I first learned of Magellan’s remarkable voyage in grade seven. What must it be like, I
wondered, to embark on a journey with so much uncertainty and danger? The men must
have known when they left that they most likely would never see their families again.
From my sheltered North American upbringing, such hardship seemed beyond
comprehension. I could imagine, however, the magic of exploring new lands;
discovering peoples, places, and natural wonders that we now take for granted; seeing
strange creatures, such as elephants, or devouring tropical fruits for the first time after
months on the unforgiving seas.
It’s easy these days to dismiss the hardships that early explorers endured. Modern
“adventurers” only have to save a few months’ wages from waiting tables to purchase a
round-the-world airline ticket. With a few expedition supplies—a backpack, a swimsuit,
a digital camera, a pack of condoms—they are ready to explore the world. Six months
later, the modern explorer returns to beaming parents and regales them with tales of
traipsing up Ayers Rock, trekking through tropical rainforests and bungee-jumping into
deep gorges.
Travelling around the world has become an activity now marketed as a honeymoon
excursion. Still, the goal of circumnavigating the globe has fascinated explorers for
centuries. Many notable twentieth-century expeditions included attempts at circling the
planet using different modes of transportation. Globe-girdling odysseys now account for
firsts by airplane, balloon, helicopter, orbiting spacecraft, and even by Zeppelin.
The consensus is that the greatest explorations have all been accomplished. The tallest
mountains have been climbed, the most distant poles reached, the deepest ocean
trenches visited, and the longest rivers navigated. Expeditions making headlines these
days tend to be subtle, sometimes comical, variations on what has already been done:
First Muslim Woman Ascends Everest, First African-American to Row Atlantic, First to
Trek to Both Poles in Back-to-Back Seasons.
With the arrival of the new millennium, modern expeditions seemed a matter of
adding personal footnotes to more famous firsts. So, in 2001, it was with great surprise
that I learned, after a quick Google search, that one of the most basic quests remained
incomplete: nobody had ever circumnavigated the Earth solely by human power.
While riding my bicycle or going for my daily jog, I idly imagined what such a
journey would be like. How would it feel to reach the spot from which you started after
years of toil—rowing across vast oceans and trekking and cycling over the continents? I
never seriously thought of undertaking this journey. Such wild imaginings were in the
same category as how to spend the proceeds of the winning lottery ticket or which
restaurant to take Angelina Jolie to when she asked me out.
The concept of such a journey was simple: travel around the world using only your
own steam. The planning and execution of such a feat, on the other hand, would be
complex, expensive and precarious. The expedition would involve crossing at least two
oceans in some type of paddle craft. Three continents would have to be traversed by
foot, bicycle, or another mode of human-powered transportation. Funding such a multi-
year expedition would be staggering. Even more daunting was the back-breaking work
that would be required to pull off such a feat. Essentially, whoever did it would have to
run a marathon or more—every day, week after week, year after year.
No, although it was an extraordinary concept, such an expedition was beyond my
limited means. Although I had completed a few smaller adventures in the past, I was in
no way qualified to pull off a first of this magnitude. Someone would do it one day, I
was sure. But it would be one of those special people we hear about so often in the
media—a visionary with unlimited finances and superhuman abilities.
1
TAKING THE PLUNGE
YEAR AFTER MY GOOGLE DISCOVERY, in 2002, I was feeling
A
philosophical. Like so many people, I was struck by the paradox
that the human struggle for advancement was killing the planet
that sustains us. The scientific community agreed that global
temperatures were rising as a direct result of human intervention. If this
pattern continued, within decades climatic conditions on our planet
would change at an unprecedented rate. Coastal cities would flood from
the rising oceans, lush agricultural land would turn into desert, and
storms would increase in both strength and number. Millions would die
from displacement and starvation.
Despite this apocalyptic forecast, the solution remains simple. Humans
need to reduce their emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. The one
hitch: such conservation may result in a short-term dip in the global
economy. Quality of life—as defined by economists—might decline,
especially for those who prefer driving their SUV to fetch a carton of
milk rather than walk or ride a bicycle. The immediate benefits,
however, would be less air pollution, a healthier population and a rise in
innovative technologies and industries that cater to a less destructive
society. Most important, a reduction of emissions would ensure
atmospheric equilibrium and ultimately benefit all of our children, and
their children, and their children’s children.
These are the facts.
Although the appropriate course of action is clear, our society has
chosen a different route. Total greenhouse-gas emissions increased by 50
per cent between 1970 and 2000. This trend is not changing.
Like many socially conscious citizens, I did what I could. I used my