After a short delay of a month I’m now all set to begin my next adventure, walking the length of Bangladesh. I’ve completed some week-long walks along Hadrian’s Wall and around the Isle of Man in the past, but this is going to be a huge challenge both physically and mentally. A lot of my UK training has seen me roam the wild spaces of south London with a rucksack weighed down with copies of my first book!
Roughly the same size as England and Wales, but with a population three times larger, Bangladesh is facing just about every challenge the twenty-first century can throw at it, from Islamic terrorism to sea level rises, questionable working conditions to rapid urbanisation.
Yet this modern face of Bangladesh is all too readily overlooked because of its geographical location wedged between the might of India and the issues of neighbouring Myanmar (Burma).
In walking the length of the country on a roughly defined 1,000 mile north-westerly path from the islands of the extreme south to the country’s northernmost point, I hope to uncover the stories of another of the world’s hidden destinations. Further than the distance between Land’s End and John o’Groats, I’ll be walking roughly 3 million individual steps.
Setting off in the next few days, I hope to have completed this self-supported trek by the end of March. I will, of course, be sharing my immediate thoughts via social media.
