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TRAVEL:In November, two Irish cyclists, Fearghal O’Nuallain and Simon Evans, set out on the first Irish circumnavigation of the world by bicycle. Here, O’Nuallain writes of the first five months of their epic journey.

OUR ROAD TO BOLIVIA had begun five months earlier on an uncharacteristically crisp, sunny November morning. More than 250 friends, family and well-wishers turned out on the main street in Greystones, Co Wicklow, to help Simon and I start our 30,000km expedition around the world by bicycle. The first stage of our route took us to Cork, then a wet and windy France, where we restored dampened spirits with cheese and dry cider bought on the roadside from red-nosed bon vivants. After crossing the Loire Valley, where we were given royal treatment at Domaine de l’Aujardière, we tackled the Pyrenees, which were under snow when we crossed into Spain. Here we discovered that, unfortunately, rain doesn’t fall only on the plains.