The man who quit his job and escaped

Bored with his job and feeling like he was wasting his life, Harry Morris quit his job to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime. Here he tells us a little about what he's been doing...

On the whole I find my life day to day, week to week pretty dull; five days out of seven I sit at a desk or stand looking out of a window. I'm almost literally a weatherman. Those two days free at the weekend I really pride myself on making the most of them; mountain biking, climbing, running, long weekends in Europe and obviously drinking ample amounts.

I'm lucky enough that I've always been able to go on several adventure trips a year and have been grateful for everything I’ve seen and done. But still, I live to work and despite a generous proportion of my time dedicated to adventure I decided to act and shift the balance, at least for a time, in favour of living.

Fast forward six months, I’m sat in a lodge - Mushroom Farm - nestled into the Kipengere mountain range overlooking Lake Malawi. It's the first time I’ve acknowledged formally that after six years of gainful employment I’ve now packed it all in to achieve an ill-conceived dream of cycling around the globe with the aim of cycling on all seven continents.

After setting off from Cape Town just over a month ago I’m 5000km into this undertaking which sees me cycling solo through eastern Africa, following the trading route famed by Marco Polo - the Silk Road - from Istanbul to Beijing; tracing the tracks of backpackers down the Australian east coast to Sydney; crossing the Golden Gate bridge and following the Pan American highway to South America and with any luck reaching the Antarctic even if it's just to cycle just a mere one hundred metres or so to reach my final continent.

On a bike you see places from a unique perspective. Cycling roughly one hundred miles a day I’m breaking no records but with an average pace of around 12mph most afternoons as I search for a suitable spot to pitch my tent I find myself to be quite isolated; well, relatively so compared to western travellers driving from gated campsite to campsite in their 4x4s with all the creature comforts.

As I cycled north from Cape Town I was faced with blistering heat in excess of 40C and water became the biggest challenge. Cycling through the heat of the day as locals nap in the shade I was drinking nearly 15 litres of fluids, far too much weight to carry. With heat stroke being a genuine risk the long stretches between water holes couldn’t be underestimated.

In Botswana, cycling improved with temperatures dropping but with the land plateauing wildlife became the chief concern. In the Nax Pan National Park I cycled flat out, white knuckled with fear of big cats only to be nearly charged by an elephant as we came nose to trunk with one another as I rounded a bend; and in the Okavango Delta I explored the water ways at reed level punting through the delta in a handmade Moroko canoe. But the experience that outweighs all of these physical struggles and animal encounters is witnessing first-hand the hospitality and genuine kindness of the African people. The bar has been set and my next continent has a lot to live up to.

Some might say that sitting on a bike for 10 hours a day, fending off the rain, heat, cold and saddle sores sounds a lot like work but I wouldn’t be anywhere else!

Harry is undertaking this venture with the hope of raising money for Save the Children’s Emergency Fund. You can follow him on Instagram and check out www.ridingcontinets.com for more information and updates.