Woman pedals from Somerset village to Singapore

A woman who has cycled from Somerset to Singapore, says she “cannot believe it” and the time has “absolutely flown by”.

Esme Moore has spent a year on the road and pedalled about 15,534 miles (25,000 km), since cycling out of her parents driveway in Shipham in March 2024.

She has raised more than £10,000 for the mental health charity Body & Soul, which helped her after she tried to take her own life.

She said she has “fallen in love” with her “ride of a lifetime” challenge so much she is now making Australia her new goal.

With just her bike, tent, stove, and a few necessities, the 28-year-old has crossed European mountains, circled the Caspian Sea and crossed a variety of Asian countries including China and Kazakhstan.

“It’s been a real rollercoaster to be honest,” she said. “There have been so many different cultures, so many different landscapes from the desert to the massive mountains and then to the tropical rainforest.

“I went through countries I never expected to enter and I saw things I never thought I would. That’s all part of the adventure and the challenge.”

She said the incredible hospitality she received on the road and the overwhelming kindness of strangers has made the journey so special.

“One thing any long distance cyclist will tell you is the number of invitations into people’s homes you receive,” she said.

“It reminds me that if everything breaks, if I don’t know what to do, if I run out of water – if there’s a person around, everything will be OK.”

Mainly travelling alone through Turkey, Bulgaria and the “vast expanse of nothing” of the deserts of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekista, Ms Moore said her bicycle tyres have held up well.

“I didn’t have any punctures for more than six months,” she said.

“The complete wheels are still the same and I’ve only changed my tyres twice.”

Now, after a year on the road, she has reached her “original” goal of Singapore but said getting back to normal life is “going to be one of the hardest parts of the journey”.

“I’ve never spent more than a few days in one place and so to do that again will be a big shock to the system,” she said.

“My original goal was to cycle across Europe and continental Asia and get [to Singapore] but I’ve fallen in love with it and now Australia is the goal.”

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