10 things we’ve learned from cycling 24,000km around the world

Cork journalist Ellie O’Byrne and her partner Mark Graham have cycled over 24,000km in 24 countries so far in their bid to circumnavigate the globe by bike. They’re currently pedalling across the US on their way home to Ireland

Mark and Ellie crossing the Vietnam border.

“If I kept doing this I’d reach India,”Dervla Murphy once said to herself while cycling up a hill near her home in Lismore, Co Waterford.

Murphy put that epiphany into practice, not only cycling all the way to India from Ireland, but also writing her first book, Full Tilt, about the journey and propelling herself into the ranks of Ireland’s most intrepid and best-loved travel writers.