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Seek Travel Ride is an adventure travel podcast for anyone curious about travel and looking to bring more adventure into their everyday.
Host Bella Molloy chats with adventurers and everyday people about bicycle touring, cycle touring, bikepacking, long-distance cycling, and other human-powered adventures. You’ll also hear slow travel, cultural discovery and micro-adventure stories that show adventure can happen anywhere.
Expect travel stories, helpful advice and practical tips you can use to shape your own adventures, whether you’re dreaming of world travel, planning your first bike travel journey, or starting small with something close to home.
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Cycle Shorts: 1 Day of Your Trip: Muriel Zaccuri - China
•Muriel Zaccuri•Season 2
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What's the best part of taking a long distance bike journey? What are the moments you'd reflect back on the most if you were to ride across the world for two years?
Well in today's mid-week episode of Cycle Shorts we hear Muriel Zaccuri share just that.
I previously interviewed Muriel last year, while he was part way through his bike journey. At the time Muriel was in Central Asia and after speaking with him he continued to make his way across the continent, with an end destination of Japan. So it was lovely to receive this excerpt from Muriel and have him share 'one day of his trip' for listeners of the show.
Hello everyone, Bella Malloy here, host and producer of Seek Travel Ride. And for you today, we have another episode of Cycle Shorts where we share our listeners' experiences of what it was like for one day of their trip. This week's Cycle Short listener is Muriel Zakuri. Now, fans of the show may recognise that name because Muriel himself has actually also been interviewed as a guest of the show. I interviewed Muriel last year while he was making his way through Central Asia. He was about halfway through his journey, a journey which would take him from Europe through Central Asia all the way across through China, South Korea, Japan, and then a few weeks in Cuba as well. So quite a trip. After a journey so vast, Muriel will have lots of days and experiences to reflect back, draw on, and share with us. Needless to say, I was excited to see his response shared with me for this episode. Without any further ado, let's listen to Muriel and one day of his trip.
SPEAKER_01
Hi Bella, it's Muriel here. I'd been listening to other travelers describing one day on the road, and I find myself pondering which day I would choose after two years peddling across two continents and reaching Asia and Japan from Europe. I had amazing days and difficult days. Countless encounters with splendid people, people who often saved me from adverse circumstances or simply made my day special. I fought wind, rain, and hail, left in the desert with the tent filling up with sand brought by the wind. While they didn't really worry me, mechanical failures happened. I had too many events to choose one. However, at the end, I settled down for a day where nothing happened. Because I believe that these kind of days really represent the freedom that we had when we decide to leave everything behind and stop following the rules of normal society. I was in China, early autumn. The weather was amazing. I had an amazing time, good and easy days. I found an amazing spot for the night. A shepherd told me that it was fine and safe to sleep there. It was far from the road, flat, dry between uh trees with a nice meadow. Just perfect. I pitched, had my dinner, and went to sleep. In the morning I woke up and it was pouring down. I had coffee in the tent without getting out, and then stopped thinking. Nobody was waiting for me very soon. I didn't have anywhere to be. I was not in a rush. And even if I found myself short of time in the following weeks, I could have always catch a train or a bus without any problem. I checked and I had enough water and enough food. So I decided to just turn the other side and snug him down in my zipping bag. I spent the day resting, reading, writing without any problem. I spent another night in the same place. Nobody came to bother me. And the day after the sun was shining. The road was waiting for me for more adventure. So I went.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you so much, Muriel, for sharing your experiences of one day on your trip. Listeners, I especially loved this reflection from Muriel because, as he says, it really brought him back to the feelings of why so many people travel for so long in this manner. On a bicycle, slow travel through the landscape. And that idea that it's the freedom which comes with that form of travel as well. No deadlines, no expectations, no set itineraries. As the host of the show, it's definitely a trend which I have seen amongst many of my long distance bike touring guests. It's that they don't have really a detailed itinerary, a deadline of where they need to be at the end of each day. They may have an end point in mind and a sort of time frame of which they need to get there by, but the structure of their days remain free. And so what Muriel's hinting there, that spirit of freedom of oh, I don't need to be anywhere, I can take my time, I can enjoy a lazy day in my tent. I really love that notion. Thank you so much, Muriel, for sharing it with us. And for those of you who are new to Seek Travel Ride, I will provide a link to the episode where I interviewed Muriel last year in the show notes so you can catch up a bit more on his story as well. I once again want to give a special shout out to those of you fans who have personally supported me on Buy Me a Coffee. I get stoked when I see those emails come through of more support coming my way for the show, but also especially to read the messages of support that are attached with your lovely contributions as well. I just wanted to take the time to read a few of them out now. The first one, I love this. It's from Ulalolo. I love your podcast, thank you. Thank you so much. I love your name and thank you for your support. I'm glad that you enjoy tuning into the show. The next one is from Brandon, and Brandon says, Bella, you are an awesome facilitator of adventure conversations. I'm hooked on the podcast and went on my first trial bike pack ride recently. It's giving me the final drive to get on to do the GDMBR, which has been a dream for a bit now. Thank you. Well, thank you, Brandon, for getting in touch and supporting the show as well. My goodness, what an adventure you have got planned out for you there on the GDMBR. Please do me a favour, when you do embark on that adventure of yours, get in touch with me. I'd love to sit down and chat about that experience and feature you for your own episode as well. The next supporter is Sebastian Poole, who says, inspiring show, inspiring guests, and an inspiring host. Thanks. Thank you, Sebastian. I wonder what bike adventures you two have been on. No doubt drawing inspiration from listening to my guest stories. It often is the case that many listeners and supporters of the show have themselves undertaken some pretty inspirational adventures too. Once again, thanks for supporting the show. Now, if you too would like to support the show and help keep Seek Travel Ride rolling, it's pretty easy. Just hit the link to support the show in the show notes and it will take you to Buy Me a Coffee where you can make a small financial contribution, buy me a virtual coffee, and help keep me producing these lovely weekly episodes for you. Until the next episode, my name's Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.
