Richard's Travel Blog

Cruising The Commonwealth

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28 year old Scotsman Sean Newall is in Belize, one stop on a twenty- five thousand mile bicycle expedition. He plans to visit all 72 countries in the Commonwealth Group of nations in four years. The end of his epic journey is timed to coincide with the start of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in his home country, Scotland.

True, the narrative behind Sean Newall ‘s odyssey is a little involved, but for the man who calls himself a human baton – his stop in Belize is is just another leg on a journey as wide as the equator.

Sean is at eighteen thousand miles, with 10 commonwealth countries in his rearview mirror. Sean Newall told us about some of the places he’s been and what he’s learned from them:…

Sean Newall
“I am now up to 18,000 miles so far in the world. The Common Wealth – I have been so far to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand and now I am in Belize. By the time I get back to Glasgow by July 17th I’ll be doing 360, I’ll be going around the world and i have done a 360 of the world 25,000 miles long which is the length of the equator and I have visited all the Common Wealth nations. After that I take a rest then I go to Africa and visit all the Common Wealth there and then it goes on like that over and over. It’s like a baton really, I’m the baton and I’ve visit all the Common Wealth in four stages.”

Jules Vasquez
“Have you learnt anything? is there a distillation of your experiences?”

Sean Newall
“The similarities between the Common Wealth – it’s unbelievable how alike we are. Like Scotland and New Zealand is the same and New Zealand is very similar to here, all the culture, the food, the laws, the school – we are actually very similar. You wouldn’t believe the similarities – you would have Belize and India but it does or like India like Australia. The Common Wealth is a bit like a family. I have followed summer for 9 months now, I left Scotland in the summer and cycled all the way to India in the summer and I went down to Australia in the summer and I’ve gone back to the equator in the summer again and go all the way back to Scotland in summer, so it will be one long year of summer so I’m used to it.”

Jules Vasquez
“Do you ever just want to give up?”

Sean Newall
“Yes, oh yes all the time. Every day is a new challenge. But you just got to keep going, knowing what you are doing it for and that keeps me going. That’s the drive, I am almost there, only 7,000 more miles.”

From Belize, he heads to Canada.

And while it was hot to us today, Newall told us that Belize’s dry season is not nearly as hot as the Australian summer. The ride also has a charity element and you can find a link to unveil the matrix of his mission at 7newsbelize.com.
http://thecommonwealthchallenge.com/

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