Western Morning News (Plymouth), UK
September 13, 2006 Wednesday
A lot was riding on strangers’ kindness
Edward genochio has cycled across 25 countries, from the Westcountry
to China and back again.
But ask him why he did it and the 28-year-old initially says he can’t
quite remember.
However, as a plane soared over the sun-soaked Exeter Quay on Monday
morning, he recalled quite clearly his reasons for embarking on such
an epic journey. The idea of cycling to the Far East and back began
with a desire to prove that not all long-distance travel has to be
done by air – plus he doesn’t like to fly.
Aged just 26 when he set off in February 2004 Edward, from Topsham,
only ever intended to cycle the substantial distance from England to
China. But when he arrived, there only seemed one way to come back:
by bicycle.
"Initially, I thought, ‘Now what?’ I figured I might as well turn
round and head back to England.
"I did think about trying to get on a boat and then cycling across
America, but I didn’t want to do that."
In all, he covered a staggering 26,000 miles, a little further than
the distance round the world, and inevitably did a substantial amount
of soul-searching along the way. And so determined was he to use the
ride to renew his faith in humanity that he overlooked being robbed
of his bicycle by a Mongolian horseman and being held up by
highwaymen in Kazakhstan.
During the journey, he realised one thing: that he could get by on
the kindness of strangers.
"People kept buying me stuff. Lorry-drivers would stop and hand me
money or gifts. I’d say to them, ‘I can’t take this from you for
nothing’.
"In Kazakhstan a lorry-driver told me, ‘When you get home, you can
tell people about the Kazakhstan lorry-driver who gave you money’.
"There was a lot of this in several of the countries I went to. They
wanted people to realise that despite the bad press they receive,
there are decent people living in these countries too."
But, of course, he suffered more than his share of incidents. One
night he awoke to find his tent being dragged off, with him inside
it. In fact, it wasn’t the tent which was the thief’s target, but his
trusty bicycle.
A Mongolian horseman was making off with it; Edward had attached it
to his tent in a bid to deter would-be thieves. Luckily, the kindness
of strangers ensured he wasn’t without a bike and a tent for too
long.
Another of his favourite tales, which wouldn’t sounds out of place in
a novel, involve young Armenian thieves in the Russian town of
Yershov.
"Initially they seemed quite friendly, but when I returned to my
bicycle and headed off I realised my mobile phone was gone. It was my
only means of communicating with people back at home; there was
little e-mail or Internet access in Russia," he said.
The police’s response was that he should be more careful in future.
He told them he would find it himself and bid them farewell. The
police, amused by his determination, nicknamed him Sherlock. As he
searched, he came across an Armenian family; he told them what had
happened, and they welcomed him into their home.
They sent out their two grandsons to find out if they could get the
phone.
A short while later the boys returned to announce that they had found
one of the perpetrators boasting that he had the phone.
Edward said: "The family let me stay that night. They wanted to show
that not all Armenian people were like this.
"They gave me food, drink and we even watched the Portugal-England
game in the World Cup."
Immensely generous hospitality was something Edward came across on a
regular basis. Even the time he was robbed by three men in a car in
Kazakhstan, it wasn’t all bad.
He explained: "I was so used to people stopping to shake my hand that
when these guys pulled up, my instinctive reaction was to do just
that.
"Soon after, I realised they wanted my wallet, and being just one
bloke on a bike compared to three men in a car I wasn’t going to
argue."
He handed over the wallet and then realised he would have no access
to cash for about another week and a half.
He said: "I stopped the guy before they drove off and explained my
situation. The man gave me half my money back and then left. It
restored my faith in people – even robbers."
For Edward, people have proved themselves to be decent.
Their desire to show willing no matter what the circumstances has led
him to believe that most people are generally well-intentioned.
Not so with the establishment. He was arrested five times.
In Russia he found that lone cyclists were arrested for not being in
a group, or for not having the right kind of visa.
He said: "There was one occasion when the police took my fingerprints
and then told me to stand against the wall so they ‘could shoot me’.
I thought that was it; then I realised they only wanted to get my
mugshot."
The most absurd incident, for Edward, was when he was killed off on
his own website.
Throughout his journey, he regularly updated his online diary – but
suddenly those stopped. A regular contributor to the public section
of his site, which anyone could update and use to ask him questions,
began to worry.
The contributor from Norway, known as Pink Gloves, "initially started
to say where he believed I should be on my journey", said Edward.
"Then he started to say that people should fear the worst. Eventually
he killed me off, writing quite graphic details of how I met my
demise."
Edward had, in fact, been celebrating Chinese New Year in a remote
part of the country where there was no Internet access. It was only
when his mother was contacted by a local paper that she became aware
of the potential death of her son. Thankfully, he was able to put her
mind at ease.
The entries remain on the website so that people
can fully appreciate everything which happened on Edward’s immense
odyssey.