George and Josh Kohler like a challenge.
The father and son duo, from Norfolk, are currently on a mission to circumnavigate the entire globe on two wheels.
Their epic 30,000km route will take them through 30 countries across four continents over the course of a year, and they’re aiming to pick up the Guinness World Record as the first father and son to complete the challenge.
And along the way, they’re raising money for two charities; UNICEF and Bicycle Links, a local Norwich charity that provides bikes to children in need.
Speaking to MailOnline from their 15th country, Kyrgyzstan, 56-year-old George says: ‘A few years ago we’d decided to cycle across America and then a couple of years later Joshua came up with the idea to cycle home from Singapore. And then we thought “if we’re going to do that, we may as well do the whole thing”.
‘When we looked into it we realised that’s nobody done it before as a father and son. So all of a sudden we’ve got Guinness World Records on board.’
The pair will travel through Europe, Asia, Australia and South America in their attempt but so far, it’s Turkey that’s stood out.
Joshua, 22, reveals: ‘Turkey was probably my favourite. I guess you have kind of an idea of what it’s going to be like from the media.
George and Josh Kohler like a challenge. The father and son duo, from Norfolk, are currently on a mission to circumnavigate the entire globe on two wheels
LEFT: Josh and George in Uzbekistan which has so far been the most challenging country to cycle RIGHT: George is pictured above in very hot conditions in central Turkey
‘But then it was so different in real life. The locals there were so friendly and kind. We got invited to breakfast by a shepherd and just the landscapes throughout the whole country were stunning.’
And his father agrees, saying: ‘Turkey was a real eye-opener for us. We had had a few days off in in Cappadocia in Turkey, which was the most amazing place that I think I’ve been to in my lifetime. It’s up there for me with the Northern Lights and the Grand Canyon.’
The pair’s hardest cycling so far has been in Uzbekistan where they faced daily temperatures above 40 degrees.
‘There was a sort of 450km stretch of single straight road through the desert,’ explains Joshua. ‘So we were waking up at 2am in the morning to get good distance in before the sun came up and the heat rose, but there’s 50km periods without anything.
‘We had to stock up on water but of course the water bottles turned hot within minutes. All you want is a cold drink and it’s pretty impossible to get out there. We did have a couple of trucks stop and give us water but that was the hardest week of the trip so far.’
There have also been technical challenges, the most serious so far when a crack appeared in the frame of Joshua’s bike in Turkey.
He explains: ‘Our bikes are made of aluminum so you can’t really weld them back together. Because of shipping and customs we couldn’t get the frame sent to us in time.’
A solution eventually came in the form of Joshua’s mother who flew out to Tbilisi in Georgia with the new frame.
Turkey has been the pair’s favourite country so far (Josh is pictured there taking a break on the left). The pair will travel through Europe, Asia, Australia and South America in their attempt
George describes Cappadocia in Turkey as the most ‘amazing place’s he’s ever visited
Next stop on the journey is China which George explains is ‘going to be so different to anything either of us have experienced before in terms of language, culture and scale.’
The pair aren’t fazed though and are looking forward to the challenges to come.
‘It’s either been good, really good or incredible [so far],’ reveals George. ‘The people that we’ve met have been universally hospitable. We’ve had nothing but goodwill from everyone we’ve met.’
Find out more about Josh and George’s UNICEF fundraiser here and follow the pair’s journey on Josh’s Instagram (@joshpkohler).
