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End in sight for 13,000 km trip

Update 16 March 2023: Crompton is now closing in on the finish line, with an event to take place at 10:00am on Sunday 26 March at Melbourne's Yarra Yarra Rowing Club. More details are available here.

Andrew Crompton didn't consider himself a keen bike rider when setting out from his hometown in the UK with a 13,000-km-plus journey in front of him.

But with 10,000 km now on the odometer and only a final stretch down Australia's east coast in front of him, the British businessman's spirits remain high.

"Motivation levels are good, the finish line feels not too far away," Crompton said, having touched down in Cairns on Australia Day.

Crompton left the town of Bolton in Greater Manchester in early August with the aim of riding all the way to Melbourne to raise funds for young children in caring roles back home.

The trip would take him across 3 continents, 18 countries, and involve many twists and turns.

Among them were encounters with wild dogs in the mountains of Turkey, which would chase his bike and sneak up on him whenever he stopped, demanding his constant alertness.

Irregular road surfaces in India threw up another kind of challenge, causing the bike to "nearly fall apart."

Crompton said he and his support team had to do several checks a day to make sure everything was in working order.

It was during this leg that an unmarked speed bump knocked Crompton off his bike in what was the worst fall of the trip so far.

And smoother surfaces would prove testing in their own way. The straight, never-ending roads running through the desert of Saudi Arabia offered no discernible landmarks and therefore few ways for Crompton to get a sense of his progress.

Strong and sandy headwinds combined with 40°C temperatures to add insult to injury during this mind-numbing and mentally challenging leg.

Crompton is now enroute to Melbourne with around 3,000 km left to pedal, with hopes of crossing the finish line on the banks of the Yarra River on 25 March 2022, all going to plan.

In doing so, he will raise important funds for Carers Trust and Bolton Lads and Girls Club that support young carers in the UK, with more than £250,000 raised at the time of writing.

You can follow Crompton's journey on Instagram or over at his website

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