I’m in Baku, on the Caspian Sea, and I made it here by bicycle. It’s a long way from home. My journey here totalled 55 days of cycling, covered 6,718 kilometres (4,174 miles), and threw 58,360 metres (191,470 feet) of elevation at me – something like six and a half Mount Everests.

As a measure of how far east I now am, Turkmenistan is not far across the water from here – just a 287-kilometre (178-mile) ferry crossing. But, given the practical challenges of securing a visa to enter Turkmenistan, the better-trodden route for touring cyclists lies further north – into Kazakhstan via Aktau. I’ll be flying there, across the Caspian, on Monday night.

The ride today (from Şərədil to Baku) was tough. It was no longer than my other days so far on the journey from Trabzon in Turkey, and it involved no more climbing than any other day. But my body was definitely seeking details for the complaints department this afternoon! My legs continued to feel strong, but elsewhere there were various niggling pain points! As I navigated central Baku and experienced the euphoria of reaching the Caspian, the sensory signals from those areas of pain did seem to fade reassuringly. But perhaps that’s just the wonder of dopamine?! If you’d like to see my Instagram reel of today’s ride (or any of my other daily reels), do check out my Instagram handle: @ed_worldbikeride

When I set out initially to ride my bike from home in West Sussex to the top of Mont Ventoux in the south of France, I harboured very vague thoughts that the adventure, while at the time feeling like a big undertaking in its own right, might prove to be a ‘prologue’ to a grander plan. That plan never crystallised in a single moment of awakening, but through continual recallibration of what was feasible (and a few further trips that took me further and further east along an unbroken route from home), it’s a plan that’s grown in conviction. After leaving the Mediterranean coast of France, I wended my way through Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia, and latterly through Azerbaijan (thanks to some land border closure-defying logistics). Now that I’m on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, it doesn’t feel quite so intimidating as it did previously to eye the sea’s eastern shores and what lies beyond them.

Reaching this point, with the vast deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan next on the itinerary, certainly feels momentous. Tonight, I’m celebrating the journey that got me here. From tomorrow, my thoughts (and logistics!) will turn to the next chapter of this adventure – a chapter that will be very different from the ones that went before!