A RYEDALE woman who was recently returning home from Hong Kong opted to make the journey by bicycle.

Laura Ricketts, 29, who grew up in Wombleton and now lives in Fadmoor, said she decided to make the epic journey across central Asia because it “sounded like an adventure.” She is now giving two talks about the journey; one in Fadmoor and one in York.

Laura said she was working in Hong Kong as an outdoor instructor from September until December last year and had to decide how to get home again. “I try not to fly,” she said. “I wanted to cycle, but I didn’t want to go alone.”

She asked her friend Arron, who she had met while working out there, if he fancied coming along.

“I said it not really expecting anything from it. I’d met him at the job, we’d only known each other a month. He just said, ‘Yes, I’ll come.’ It sounded like a good idea. It sounded like an adventure.”

The pair didn’t have any equipment so they had to buy it all there. “Hong Kong is probably the best place in Asia to start out, but it’s also quite limited for outdoor equipment,” she said. “We got our tents very last minute and cobbled the rest together.”

They set off from the city, crossed China, went through Kazakhstan and Russia, then through Scandinavia.

Travelling through the winter “for a bit of an extra challenge”, they were cycling in approximately -10 degrees celsius, and camping in less than -20. They camped in snow and desert-like conditions, having to melt ice for water.

“We stayed north the whole time,” Laura said. “I’m not sure we thought about it much beforehand. But there were quite a few times we thought about giving up. At one point we had mechanical problems but we were able to repair it and get going. But sometimes it’s hard. We wondered why we were doing it. It comes and goes. There are amazing moments. It was so beautiful.”

She said their budget had been £3,000, which was “basically all the money I’d earned in Hong Kong.”

She got two punctures on the journey, Arron got none.

This wasn’t Laura’s first big cycle trek - she cycled to Turkey and back a few years ago - nor does she think it will be her last. “But there’s nothing planned yet.”

Laura will give talks on her journey in Fadmoor Village Hall on July 4 and one in The Basement in York on July17. Tickets can be bought in advance or at the door. York tickets from the Basement website.