Alain Gorrand and Daniel Cresswell at the Taj Mahal en route to Bankok

AN amateur cyclist has completed a 15-month mission to ride from Islington to Bangkok with his best mate – on a 34- year-old second-hand “granny bike”.

Alain Gorrand, 26, who lives near Rosemary Gardens, De Beauvoir, and his friend from university, Daniel Cresswell, reached their destination on Saturday.

“It was 15 months of just pure adrenaline,” Mr Gorrand told the Tribune. “We weren’t cyclists before and we didn’t have the most expensive gear. We picked up a second- hand bike each and decided to do this journey.

“My bike was second- hand off a granny in Nottingham — it’s 34 years old and I’m 26, so the bike is older than me.

“But having old-school bikes meant we had no problems. I got mine serviced in a rural village in Pakistan and they had all the pieces.”

The European leg of their trip was “easy mode”, with accessible roads and borders, but when they crossed from Turkey into Egypt, it was a different story.

“The police were with us the whole time,” he said. “They didn’t want us cycling through on the roads so they put us in police vans, pick-up trucks and trains.”

Mr Gorrand and Mr Cresswell ended up crossing the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia at the start of this year, when US and British warships were shooting down missile attacks by Yemeni militia group the Houthis on ships in the channel.

Perhaps it was for the best that these geopolitical tensions were unknown to the two cyclists, who usually had no phone service.

According to Mr Gorrand, Saudi Arabia was “probably the best country on the whole trip”.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “It’s a desert but there are also volcanoes and mountains.

“There would only be a city about every 1,000km, so for a good two to three weeks we would just be cycling across the vast emptiness.

“They have only recently opened up to tourism so people are very hospitable – we probably stayed in around 25 different people’s houses.

“We were cycling across the desert for nine weeks but I actually ended up putting on weight.”

It was Ramadan by the time they reached Pakistan, which meant they were unable to buy food or water while cycling all day in blistering heat.

“You have to be respectful – you can’t just be guzzling water surrounded by people who are fasting,” Mr Gorrand said.

Like in Egypt, they were escorted through Pakistan by police, including at night when their hotel rooms were guarded by armed officers.

From Pakistan, they pedalled 2,000km across northern India only to find themselves at a dead end – civil war-torn Myanmar was too dangerous, so they Alain Gorrand and Daniel Cresswell cycling through Saudia Arabia.

The pair are pictured on page 1 in Pakistan travelled down to Singapore and through Malaysia to Thailand before reaching Bangkok.

“Our biggest worry was war and conflict,” Mr Gorrand said. “There’s a lot going on in the world right now, which is sad because on this trip we have seen the beauty of humanity.

“Everybody gave us such a positive image of their country. I wish people would just get on a little bit better.”

Mr Gorrand and Mr Cresswell have been raising money for Islington Food Bank, as well as the Chesterfield Community Trust – a charity local to Mr Cresswell – and suicide prevention charity CALM.

Mr Gorrand hopes their journey will inspire others to be more active.

“I’m not saying everyone should get a bike and cycle the world, but just have something to work towards.”

You can still donate by visiting https://givestar.io/ gs/ER79M30