TRAILBLAZER
Not content with world-first treks across Mongolia and Madagascar, a few months ago 28-year-old Welshman Ash Dykes became the first person to walk the entire length of China’s Yangtze river. The 6,437-mile expedition saw Dykes endure temperatures as low as -20°C and altitude as high as 5,000m – not to mention devastating landslides, police-enforced detours and encounters with wolves – but while others might be tempted to turn to cutting-edge tech to prepare for such extremes, the Welshman prefers a brutally effective back-to-basics approach.
Men’s Fitness: What motivated you to say, you know what, I’m going to walk the length of the Yangtze?
Ash Dykes “This is my profession – my career – and I’ve been doing it for the best part of a decade. I first experienced China when I was 18. Me and a friend backpacked our way around, just for a couple of weeks, and I remember being struck by how vast and multi-layered it is as a country – I realised I had barely scratched the surface and knew one day I would come back for more.
“So that was what first drew me to China, and my life of adventure was kickstarted just a few weeks later when I bought a bicycle for £5 and cycled across Vietnam. I had no pump or puncture repair kit and barely
