A PAIR of plucky Irish adventurers are cycling from Dublin to Australia in
tribute to some very special ladies in their lives.
Aidan Murphy and Paul Quinn are coming to the final leg of their mammoth
journey — after cycling 13,800km through 15 countries.
Now, with only 1,500km to go, the best pals are hoping to hit Sydney on April
20 for a massive party.
And they feel it will be the perfect way to pay tribute to Aidan’s beloved mum
and Paul’s doting granny.
Aidan revealed: “I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was five years old.
“She was a very sporty and active person and I wanted to do something in
memory of her and hopefully raise some funds for the Irish Cancer Society.
“Paul’s grandmother suffers badly from Alzheimer’s and his mother is a
full-time carer for her.
“She is provided with little or no support and he wants to help raise some
badly needed funds for his grandmother’s local Alzheimer’s care centre.”
And the 25-year-old explained that Ireland’s recent blight of emigration also
inspired their trip.
Aiden said: “We were fed up of hearing all our friends leaving Ireland and
heading for Australia so we thought we would do it by bicycle and hopefully
raise some funds for the two charities.
“We have never taken on a challenge like this before and we are learning as we
go. We have no support crew, no sponsors — just two fellas, two bikes, two
tents and a road map.”
Since they left Ireland last September, Dubliner Aidan and Paul, also 25 and
from Co Tyrone, have travelled through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, UAE, India, Vietnam,
Cambodia and Thailand.
The lads, who spend an average of seven hours a day on their bikes and cycle
about 130km, will hit Malaysia and Singapore before ending up in Oz.
Aidan said: “The first night sleeping in a field in Wicklow, it started to hit
home the challenge we had talked ourselves up to do.
“But as the weeks passed by we became stronger physically and mentally and
just helped each other to keep going.”
Turkey and Iran in winter proved difficult.
Aiden said: “The average temperature was about 5°C — freezing cold — and we
didn’t know that them countries are all mountains!”
And although nervous of cycling through Iran, the pair found the people there
to be the friendliest — apart from one sticky moment.
Having camped in an old disused building out in the wilderness, they bedded
down for a freezing night.
Aiden recalled: “But by 9pm we heard Iranian voices angrily shouting at the
foot of our tents. Seven of them were soldiers with rifles aimed at me
shouting, ‘Terrorist!’ The oldest man without a rifle in front seems to be
the head man. I, for some reason, remained fairly calm and just shouted with
my hands up, ‘We are from EERRLLAANNDDAA, WE COME IN PEACE!’, and pointed to
our bikes behind our tents.
“They seen the bikes and they all burst out laughing. They realised we are not
terrorists.”
Aiden added: “The best part of the trip for me has to be seeing Paul’s face
when he saw the size of the ‘Cycle to Oz’ tattoo on his ass after a crazy
night on the Khao San Road in Bangkok!”
When they return home, nearly nine months later, Aidan will go back to his job
in Sanbra Fyffe Plumbing Supplies in Dublin and Paul to Chieftain Trailers.
And while the adventurers’ look forward to recounting their amazing
experiences to family and friends, there’s one thing they won’t miss.
Aidan laughed: “For us we just can’t wait not to have sore bums for the first
time in months.”
AIDAN and Paul have already raised €24,000 for the Irish Cancer Society and
the Alzheimer’s care centre.
You can donate via their Facebook page facebook.com/cycletooz.
fiona.wynne@the-sun.ie
Two guys, two bikes and two tents on 15000km charity trip
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