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A Land of Doubts & Dreams: The Balkans (Video)
In November 2024, Joshua Kian and Sarah Morgan left the UK with the dream of slowly cycling to India. Their latest video documents their time crossing the Balkans, three months into their trip. Read a short update from their travels, and watch the video here…
Words, photos, and video by Joshua Kian and Sarah Morgan
“It’s turning to sleet!” I shout behind to Sarah as we both fly down the valley.
Heart thumping, another lorry speeds past, shaking the world; its airpull dragging me into the fast highway. I swerve to avoid lose rockfall. Towering peaks overhang the road on the right; tarmac immediately giving way to thundering rapids of the flooded River Vrbas on the left. Boxed in with a violent stream of cars blindly speeding through the deluge. Legs autonomously pumping through a turbulent wash of filthy water spray, flashing lights and deafening noise.
“We’ve got to get off this road!” I call to Sarah. But Bosnia’s infrastructure gives us little option but to endure. Our destination is forgotten. Just trying to get away. Eyes blinded by grit, sodden waterproofs sticking to our skin, this constant roar, ground shaking below, elements pulling at us. Sensory overload that can’t be escaped. We sing to drown out our surroundings but each close call with a speeding ton of metal clenches our teeth shut, silencing us. I sway to avoid more rockfall, van hooting behind. And it all becomes too much.
After three months of cycling through the winter, and with another cold front just coming in, I crumbled. The world went dark, filled with dread and panic. I’d never felt like this in my life, and now, the furthest from home I’d been in five years, fear fills my body and mind. I didn’t feel like I could be on a bike. Couldn’t be outside in the winter elements. I just couldn’t take any more of the cold.
The next parts are an overwhelming blur, filled with confusion and mental conflict. How was this happening? A trip 10 years in the making. Overcoming cancer and failed attempts together, but now this gut-wrenching feeling, I couldn’t move ahead.
Our latest video, In a Land of Doubts and Dreams, covers our time crossing into the Balkans on a trip we’d built our life around but didn’t know if we could continue. It’s n honest tale documenting the beauties and battles of long-haul cycling. Watch it below.
Further Reading
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