Alain Gorrand, right, and Daniel Cresswell, who set off on their bikes in June, are raising money for charities along the way

WHEN Alain Gorrand got bored of his assistant veterinary job, he did what many twenty-somethings do: he sat down with his best mate to plan a round-the-world trip.

But while others may look at backpacking through Asia or a working holiday in Australia, Mr Gorrand, 25, and his friend Daniel Cresswell, decided they wanted to cycle 6,000km to Bangkok.

“We just thought ‘What are we doing?’ We didn’t like our life situation. We didn’t like where we were going and we thought we need to just do something big, because if we don’t we’re just going to have a mundane life we don’t really enjoy,” the former St John Evangelist Primary School student said. “It was like a ‘now or never’ moment. We either carry on doing stuff we don’t enjoy, or just take the jump and just go for it,” he added.

Croatia

Setting off on June 4, Mr Gorrand left from his home near Rosemary Gardens in De Beauvoir, with Mr Cresswell meeting him there.

The pair, who plan to complete the trip next September, are fundraising for Islington Food Bank, based in Highbury, alongside the Chesterfield Community Trust and mental health charity CALM.

They will head to China next through the Silk Road from Izmir, Turkey, where they are currently.

Being on a saddle for 60 to 70 kilometres a day is not easy, Mr Gorrand said, with challenges for the duo coming in the form one of life’s more mundane aspects: the weather.

The Alps

Rain can make for a “miserable” day, while extreme heat can see the men change their shirts more than twice a day and struggle to wash them.

But the real mental toll comes in the shape of battling tiredness, he said, describing how cycling for six to seven hours straight has forced him to dig deep at times to “push through”.

Other sticky situations have included dogs “who hate cyclists and chase us”, along with a pack of wild dogs that surrounded their tent one night while they were wild-camping in Bulgaria.

“They kind of started sniffing around us and howling and barking, and we had no idea whether they were going to go for us, but in the end they left us alone,” he said, in an anecdote that will no doubt fill his mother with confidence.

Turkey

Life on the road also brings its share of surprises, he said, describing how while in North Macedonia a family invited them to sleep in their limousine before plying them with chicken sandwiches, after expressing concern about the boys camping in their garden in the middle of “bear territory”.

But the biggest message he will bring home with him, he said, was “people are just people”.

“We all at the end of the day just want to eat, sleep, and have dinner with friends and family or just want to have a good laugh,” he said.

Encouraging others to take up cycling or running, he said: “Get out of your comfort zone.”

• To support their fundraising, go to www.givestar.io/gs/ER79M30