More than 6 months after leaving London, Sarah Outen has reached Japan by human power alone! She’s cycled, kayaked (& occasionally walked) all the way. I’ve been with her for over a month now, my  main role being to kayak with her as she island hops from Russia to Honshu (the largest island of Japan) but also to film, edit, & generally help out with cooking, setting up camp and whatever else needs doing. Right now, Sarah is cycling down the northernmost island of Japan (Hokkaido), heading mostly down the pretty, cliffy, incredibly windy and occasionally very tunnel-ridden west coast. She’s drawing near to wrapping up Stage 1 of her mammoth round the world voyage. She’ll overwinter on Honshu and prepare for a 4-6month solo row across the North Pacific.

She’s tired – she’s been exercising for 6-10 hours almost every day for 6 months, with a few 200km+ even longer cycles thrown in there. I’ve been cycling with her for a few hours on the last couple of days and I was tired last night after much less exercise! As I write this, Sarah is on her bike Hercules trying to reach the South end of Hokkaido by Saturday and kayak with me across the Tsugaru Strait to Honshu on Saturday. According to our trusty forecaster, Karel Vissel, bad weather is due on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so there’s a bit of pressure to try to get there before the window closes. It’s about a 245km cycle over 2 or 2 and a half days.

The last kayak crossing is 10-12 nautical miles across a channel with a very strong easterly current. The current will probably be the strongest that we have paddled in on this journey but at least it’s only half the distance of our last crossing and we will be crossing closer to the middle so it’s fine if we are carried east a bit. We need good weather though because the strong currents and shallow channel will be really rough if it’s windy. After the final crossing, Sarah cycles south to Tokyo and I head home, hopefully in time for the UK storm gathering on my doorstep in North Wales.

Thanks to Leon from Japan Adventures for lending me a bike and panniers so I can join Sarah cycling for part of every day. Leon specializes in guiding multi-day treks & snowshoeing on Hokkaido for anyone interested. And while I remember, thanks to Vladamir from Khabarovsk, Russia for efficiently helping Tim & I support Sarah . His company, World of Adventures, helps people wanting to do hiking, kayaking, off-road 4×4 driving and other outdoor adventures in Far East Russia.