20 TyroneHerald HeraldLife Monday, January 14, 2013 ...
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20 TyroneHerald Monday, January 14, 2013 HeraldLife Monday, January 14, 2013 TyroneHerald 21 HeraldLife BY MARK McKELVEY I ntrepid Dungannon duo Aidan Murphy and Paul Quinn are currently making their way through India on their epic cy- cle adventure to Australia. The brave cy- clists departed Ireland on their bikes in Sep- tember last year, before weaving their way through Europe and Asia, including a few weeks enjoying the Iranian hospitality before catching a boat to the United Arab Emirates to celebrate Christmas. The Tyrone men (both aged 25) are just over half-way through their eight month jour- ney. While most of the time their daily routine is cycle, eat and sleep, they have also found time along the way to make an appearances on Euro- pean TV, take part in a prestigious Turkish cycle race and are on course for breaking the record of vis- iting the most ever Irish bars. Having overcome visa problems in Turkey, had guns pointed in their faces by angry Iranian soldiers who thought they were ter- rorists, and battled mon- soon rains and heavy win- ter weather in eastern Eu- rope, Aidan and Paul have now reached the sub conti- nent of India, the twelfth country out of 18 they in- tend to visit in this 15,085km journey. Having enjoyed the pristine tarmac sur- faces through Ireland, France and Italy there has been a gradual deterioration of the roads the further east they have gone. While they said the scenery didn’t change much as they moved from Croatia into Bosnia, they started to get a lot more interest (stares!) from the locals as they passed through small villages on their overloaded bikes on their way into Serbia. It was also at this stage of the trip that they started to encounter their first signs of winter and frosty weather. Usually at each border crossing Paul and Aidan stop for a few ‘cheesy snaps’ but this proved to be impossible at the heavily armed Greece/Turkey border - the ninth country they entered. “We got past all the guns and loud barking, vicious looking dogs and saw a sign saying ‘Welcome to Turkey’ and we thought we will have a snap with that. But mid photo shoot we heard ten armed Turkish soldiers roaring and waving and clearing the fence to get at us! No photos allowed they said, can’t take a joke we said,” laughed Aidan “It was good to be in Turkey. Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria are all different and beautiful places to see but when we entered Turkey we got that exciting feeling as we crossed over the bridge into the town of Edirne and realised this place is mental! Straight away the sounds, the smell, the colour, the people and the animals just hit us! It was great!” They reached Istanbul on Thursday, October 25 ahead of schedule, complet- ing the first chapter of their trip by reaching the end of Europe, and by this stage they had covered a total distance of 4,400km. Aidan said, “We were happy to be there as our bodies were very tired and sore, so we stayed there for about ten days to relax and recover and take in everything the city had to offer before moving on to Iran” “WHEN we are finding it tough and just want to catch a flight to Sydney, what keeps us motivated is thanks to the generosity at home!”, Aidan explained The Dungannon duo have currently raised over EUR21,000 for the Irish Cancer Society and Alzheimer’s Society UK, two charities very close to their hearts. Aidan’s mother, Monica Murphy taught at the old St Patrick’s Girls Academy in Dungannon but died with breast cancer in 1992, when he was only five years old. Paul’s mother Geraldine is a full time carer for Sarah Cunningham (90) in Pomeroy who has had Alzheimer’s for about ten years. Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cycletooz Charity page: www.mycharity.ie/event/cycle-to-oz THE CHARITIES MASSIVE THANK YOU... to Colm McLoughlin of 'Dubai Duty Free' and Dave Cattanach of 'The Irish Village Dubai' and all their bril- liant staff for the fantastic donation of $2,000 US Dollars and the free spuds on Christmas Day! Unbelievably, delighted! “NATURALLY when we thought of Iran we were slightly apprehensive as we were going into the complete unknown! And it didn't help when our spiritual and all things Middle East advisor, Ben Mc- Quaid from East Tyrone warned us - 'Boys fight in Iraq but men fight in Iran.' “We passed through the border controls very quickly on the Iranian side and we rolled down the hill buzzing with adrenaline into the border town of Bazargan. We met a man there who said, 'Welcome to Iran, you will love it here but re- member: No whiskey and No women'. Our two favourite things. “But he was right we did love his country. Without doubt the friendliest people out of any country we have been to and by some distance. In Ireland we are a friendly bunch but the Iranians take it to a new level.” Mentally amazing Iran Just over half-way through their journey, Paul Quinn and Aidan Murphy have already appeared on European TV, took part in a Turkish cycle race and are on course to break the record of visiting the most Irish bars. 'Welcome to Iran, you will love it here but remember: No whiskey and No women'. Our two favourite things. EPIC CYCLE ADVENTURE “ON OUR second day cycling in Iran It started to get dark at 4pm so we looked for somewhere to camp. With no towns or villages 40km either side of us we saw an old concrete shell of a building in the distance and we decided it would be perfect. We were in complete isola- tion, no one would annoy us, sure what would they be doing out here? “But come 9pm and there were a few Iranian voices angrily shouting at the foot of our tents. “It took a while for us to wake up, we started to panic trying to get out of sleeping bag, find head torches, unzip the tent and get out to face the angry shouts. I stand up and face into the blinding lights of the men. Eyes readjust and I can make out eight men in the tiny concrete shell. Seven of them are soldiers with rifles aimed at me shouting 'Terrorist, Terrorist'. The oldest man without a rifle in front seems to be the head man, I for some rea- son remained fairly calm and just shouted with my hands up, 'We are from EEERRRRLLLAAANNNDDDAA, WE COME IN PEACE!' and pointed to our bikes behind our tents with my head torch. “They see the bikes and they all burst out laughing. They soon realised we are not terrorists and they want- ed us to go to the next town 50km away to a hotel. They think it would be too cold here. I reassured them we were fine, we have all the right gear and they eventually let us stay there and headed away. I got my breath back and turned around to see Paul standing there. 'Where were you?' Trying to get out of his tent is the story he is sticking too, some mate he is.” We come in peace! Eyes readjust and I can make out eight men in the tiny concrete shell. Seven of them are soldiers with rifles aimed at me shouting 'Terrorist, Terrorist'. “EVERY day someone pulled in to get a few pictures with us and gives us some fruit or water. Our favourite gift from a passing car happened on a long flat road in complete wilderness when a man and woman slowly pulled up be- side us and handed us out a bunch of flowers each. “They all want to know where we are from and how we like Iran. They are very concerned about how we feel about their country and are delighted to hear us talk about how friendly the peo- ple have been to us. “They always think our flag is Italian or that we are from 'Olland' not 'Erland' but once they have the country correct we always get the standard: ahhh Robbie Keane? Yes! Roy Keane? Yes! U2? Yes! Do you know Gerry Adams? Not personally! Or one guy came out with 'Chris De Burgh!?' Yes that's us! Supposedly he didn't leave a dry eye in the house in a gig in Tehran last year, Chris has still got it! “Iran was an amazing ex- perience. The cycling has been brutally tough and there have been some really hard days and some low mo- ments but overall we have loved the experience of it. The food isn't great and the standard of living is very ba- sic but the people have been absolutely amazing to us and that has more than made up for any of its shortcomings. “We loved Iran and will al- ways remember our experi- ences here but we were de- lighted to get the overnight ferry from Bandar Abbas to Dubai to spend Christmas there and bring in the New Year with a bit of Cham- pagne. Gotta love the Irish... ...Ahhh Robbie Keane? Yes! Roy Keane? Yes! U2? Yes! Do you know Gerry Adams? Not personally! Or one guy came out with 'Chris De Burgh!?' Yes that's us! The old concrete shell campsite in Iran. Aidan poses infront of a stunning scenic view in Italy. Our two intrepid cyclists at the Serbian border crossing. Turkish TV interviews the Dun- gannon duo Aidan blends in with the crowd in Turkey The grapes grow big in Serbia - Paul and Aidan are well looked after! Paul and Aidan pose in front of an Irish pub in France to celebrate Arthur’s Day - all in a cause of a new world record!
Transcript of 20 TyroneHerald HeraldLife Monday, January 14, 2013 ...
20 TyroneHerald Monday, January 14, 2013HeraldLife
Monday, January 14, 2013 TyroneHerald 21HeraldLife
BY MARK McKELVEY
Intrepid Dungannon duo Aidan Murphyand Paul Quinn are currently makingtheir way through India on their epic cy-cle adventure to Australia. The brave cy-
clists departed Ireland on their bikes in Sep-tember last year, before weaving their waythrough Europe and Asia, including a fewweeks enjoying the Iranian hospitality beforecatching a boat to the United Arab Emiratesto celebrate Christmas.
The Tyrone men (both aged 25) are justover half-way through their eight month jour-ney.
While most of the time their daily routineis cycle, eat and sleep, they have also foundtime along the way to makean appearances on Euro-pean TV, take part in aprestigious Turkish cyclerace and are on course forbreaking the record of vis-iting the most ever Irishbars.
Having overcome visaproblems in Turkey, hadguns pointed in their facesby angry Iranian soldierswho thought they were ter-rorists, and battled mon-soon rains and heavy win-ter weather in eastern Eu-rope, Aidan and Paul havenow reached the sub conti-nent of India, the twelfthcountry out of 18 they in-tend to visit in this15,085km journey.
Having enjoyed the pristine tarmac sur-faces through Ireland, France and Italy therehas been a gradual deterioration of the roadsthe further east they have gone.
While they said the scenery didn’t changemuch as they moved from Croatia intoBosnia, they started to get a lot more interest
(stares!) from the locals as they passedthrough small villages on their overloadedbikes on their way into Serbia.
It was also at this stage of the trip thatthey started to encounter their first signs ofwinter and frosty weather.
Usually at each border crossing Paul andAidan stop for a few ‘cheesy snaps’ but thisproved to be impossible at the heavily armedGreece/Turkey border - the ninth countrythey entered.
“We got past all the guns and loud barking,vicious looking dogs and saw a sign saying‘Welcome to Turkey’ and we thought we willhave a snap with that. But mid photo shootwe heard ten armed Turkish soldiers roaringand waving and clearing the fence to get at
us! No photos allowed theysaid, can’t take a joke wesaid,” laughed Aidan
“It was good to be inTurkey. Croatia, Serbia andBulgaria are all differentand beautiful places to seebut when we enteredTurkey we got that excitingfeeling as we crossed overthe bridge into the town ofEdirne and realised thisplace is mental! Straightaway the sounds, the smell,the colour, the people andthe animals just hit us! Itwas great!”
They reached Istanbulon Thursday, October 25ahead of schedule, complet-ing the first chapter of their
trip by reaching the end of Europe, and bythis stage they had covered a total distance of4,400km.
Aidan said, “We were happy to be there asour bodies were very tired and sore, so westayed there for about ten days to relax andrecover and take in everything the city had tooffer before moving on to Iran”
“WHEN we are finding it tough and just want to catch a flight toSydney, what keeps us motivated is thanks to the generosity athome!”, Aidan explained
The Dungannon duo have currently raised over EUR21,000 forthe Irish Cancer Society and Alzheimer’s Society UK, two charitiesvery close to their hearts.
Aidan’s mother, Monica Murphy taught at the old St Patrick’sGirls Academy in Dungannon but died with breast cancer in 1992,when he was only five years old. Paul’s mother Geraldine is a fulltime carer for Sarah Cunningham (90) in Pomeroy who has hadAlzheimer’s for about ten years.Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cycletoozCharity page: www.mycharity.ie/event/cycle-to-oz
THE CHARITIES
MASSIVE THANK YOU... to Colm McLoughlin of 'Dubai Duty Free'and Dave Cattanach of 'The Irish Village Dubai' and all their bril-liant staff for the fantastic donation of $2,000 US Dollars and thefree spuds on Christmas Day! Unbelievably, delighted!
“NATURALLY when we thought of Iran wewere slightly apprehensive as we weregoing into the complete unknown! Andit didn't help when our spiritual and allthings Middle East advisor, Ben Mc-Quaid from East Tyrone warned us -'Boys fight in Iraq but men fight inIran.'
“We passed through the bordercontrols very quickly on the Iranianside and we rolled down the hillbuzzing with adrenaline into theborder town of Bazargan. We meta man there who said, 'Welcometo Iran, you will love it here but re-member: No whiskey and Nowomen'. Our two favourite things.
“But he was right we did love hiscountry. Without doubt the friendliestpeople out of any country we have been to andby some distance. In Ireland we are a friendlybunch but the Iranians take it to a new level.”
Mentally amazing Iran
Just over half-way through their journey, Paul Quinn and Aidan Murphyhave already appeared on European TV, took part in a Turkish cycle raceand are on course to break the record of visiting the most Irish bars.
'Welcometo Iran, you
will love ithere but
remember:No whiskey
and Nowomen'.Our two
favouritethings.
EPIC CYCLE ADVENTURE
“ON OUR second day cycling in Iran It started to getdark at 4pm so we looked for somewhere to camp. Withno towns or villages 40km either side of us we saw anold concrete shell of a building in the distance and wedecided it would be perfect. We were in complete isola-tion, no one would annoy us, sure what would they bedoing out here?
“But come 9pm and there were a few Iranian voicesangrily shouting at the foot of our tents.
“It took a while for us to wake up, we started to panictrying to get out of sleeping bag, find head
torches, unzip the tent and get out toface the angry shouts. I stand up andface into the blinding lights of themen. Eyes readjust and I can make
out eight men in the tiny concrete
shell. Seven of them are soldiers with rifles aimed at meshouting 'Terrorist, Terrorist'. The oldest man without arifle in front seems to be the head man, I for some rea-son remained fairly calm and just shouted with myhands up, 'We are from EEERRRRLLLAAANNNDDDAA,WE COME IN PEACE!' and pointed to our bikes behindour tents with my head torch.
“They see the bikes and they all burst out laughing.They soon realised we are not terrorists and they want-ed us to go to the next town 50km away to a hotel. Theythink it would be too cold here. I reassured them wewere fine, we have all the right gear and they eventuallylet us stay there and headed away. I got my breath backand turned around to see Paul standing there. 'Wherewere you?' Trying to get out of his tent is the story he issticking too, some mate he is.”
We come in peace!
Eyes readjust andI can make out
eight men in thetiny concrete
shell. Seven ofthem are soldierswith rifles aimed
at me shouting'Terrorist,Terrorist'.
“EVERY day someone pulledin to get a few pictures withus and gives us some fruit orwater. Our favourite gift froma passing car happened on along flat road in completewilderness when a man andwoman slowly pulled up be-side us and handed us out abunch of flowers each.
“They all want to know
where we are from and howwe like Iran. They are veryconcerned about how we feelabout their country and aredelighted to hear us talkabout how friendly the peo-ple have been to us.
“They always think ourflag is Italian or that we arefrom 'Olland' not 'Erland' butonce they have the country
correct we always get thestandard: ahhh RobbieKeane? Yes! Roy Keane? Yes!U2? Yes! Do you know GerryAdams? Not personally! Orone guy came out with 'ChrisDe Burgh!?' Yes that's us!Supposedly he didn't leave adry eye in the house in a gigin Tehran last year, Chris hasstill got it!
“Iran was an amazing ex-perience. The cycling hasbeen brutally tough andthere have been some reallyhard days and some low mo-ments but overall we haveloved the experience of it.The food isn't great and thestandard of living is very ba-sic but the people have beenabsolutely amazing to us and
that has more than made upfor any of its shortcomings.
“We loved Iran and will al-ways remember our experi-ences here but we were de-lighted to get the overnightferry from Bandar Abbas toDubai to spend Christmasthere and bring in the NewYear with a bit of Cham-pagne.
Gotta love the Irish...
...Ahhh Robbie Keane? Yes!Roy Keane? Yes! U2? Yes!Do you know Gerry Adams?
Not personally! Or one guy came outwith 'Chris De Burgh!?' Yes that's us!
The old concrete shell campsite in Iran.
Aidan poses infront of a stunning scenic view in Italy.
Our two intrepid cyclists at the Serbian border crossing.
Turkish TVinterviewsthe Dun-gannonduo Aidan blends in with the crowd in Turkey
The grapes grow bigin Serbia - Paul andAidan are welllooked after!
Paul and Aidan pose in front of an Irish pub in France to celebrate Arthur’sDay - all in a cause of a new world record!
