Founder & Story

In April 2009, I handed in my notice at work. In August I took delivery of a bike and in October I set off on two wheels for Brisbane. The mission, officially, was to arrive in time for the Ashes, starting November 2010.

But of course the adventure was what I was after. Over 412 days and 23 countries I was, more often than not, a stranger - in the snow, or by a busy road, or in a village whose name I'd never learn. And so often I was welcomed as if I belonged. In Syria I was taken in by a man called Musab, who fed me, gave me a bed, and in the morning was gone, leaving only a note that said "I hope you slept well, Mr Oli." There were countless moments like it, and they shaped my understanding of what travel can be. It isn't really about the landscapes or the distances. It's the moment someone invites you in, lights a fire or leaves a note. By the time England captain Andrew Strauss greeted me on my arrival at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, I knew something had shifted. I couldn't yet have told you I'd start a travel company, but I knew my time on the road would shape whatever came next. Strauss and his team, incidentally, went on to win the series 3–1. I claim no credit whatsoever.

I spent two years living and working in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, as Project Director of a start-up charity that went on to build Rwanda's first dedicated cricket ground. Today, as well as being a beautiful ground in its own right, it is home to the Gahanga Cricket Stadium, one of East Africa's most iconic buildings. My weekends were spent exploring Rwanda's endless hills by bicycle. It would be several years before I trekked to see the gorillas, but even without them, Rwanda had more than enough charm to make me want to bring others out to experience it on two wheels. In 2013, my book Cycling to the Ashes: A Cricketing Odyssey from London to Brisbane was published by Penguin Random House. Stephen Fry called it "rather marvellous"; Ian Botham complained that although I'd reached Australia, and the Ashes, I hadn't cycled home again.

I decided that rather than asking people to travel to travel to Rwanda with me, I should start a little closer to home. At the end of 2014 I found myself in the grip of a blisteringly cold Transylvanian winter and, despite the chill, fell in love with the place, its people, its architecture, its rich biodiversity, even its food. The best bit? A handful of beautifully restored guest houses, almost no tourism. We welcomed our first guests in May 2015.

Clemmie and I packed up and moved to the Romanian hills, specifically the tiny village of Mesendorf, where we lived amid orchards, wildflower meadows and endless beech forests. In the end we spent just six months living in our friend Monica's house before returning for the birth of our first child. In that time, we welcomed our first Slow Cyclists who seemed to fall in love with Transylvania, just like we had. I was asked by Tom Hodgkinson of The Idler to write about the experience. A highlight of the year was meeting King Charles, then Prince of Wales, on one of his annual visits to Transylvania, at the opening of a traditional tile kiln.

It was another busy year as we continued to develop our ideas around slow travel. Among other successes, we were asked to host a 60th birthday party for 50 guests in Transylvania, and ended up taking every bed in a village we knew well. Viscri, the village King Charles fell in love with on his first visit to the region in the 90s, was perfect for such occasions. Mornings and afternoons were spent walking in wildflower meadows, exploring the UNESCO-listed church, painting, and travelling to nearby settlements by bicycle or horse-drawn cart. There was even a spot of yoga on offer. Lunches happened in orchards and on remote hilltops, and come sunset, the sound of Romanian, Gypsy and Hungarian music enveloped the village.

A first for me, I was named a Condé Nast Traveller Top Travel Specialist for my expertise in Romania. We also expanded into Greece's Zagori villages, near the Albanian border, enjoying a wonderful first season - one that helped us realise our expertise lay increasingly in our attention to detail. That same year we bought a fleet of electric bikes and shipped them to Rwanda - the first such bikes in the country, they opened up cycling across Rwanda's hills to a much broader range of people.

The tragedy of Covid-19, of course, played havoc with our plans. No travel was permitted from the UK until the autumn of 2020. We were grateful that when offered a full refund or the chance to delay their trip, almost every one of our guests held their booking for a later date. We supported our Rwandan guides with a loan to set up a grassroots energy business. Otherwise, we quietly plotted for the return of travel.

We emerged into a post-pandemic world in which everything had changed, yet nothing had changed. People still wanted to travel with us - if anything, more than before. Emily, who joined us at the start of 2022 after nearly a decade in Mongolia, spent four months in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey and came back with a wonderfully immersive journey to offer our guests. Meanwhile, with the help of local wildlife guide Pierluigi, Matthew designed a similarly spectacular trip through two of Italy's lesser-known national parks, Gran Sasso and the Majella.

Having moved out of London at the start of the pandemic and with our team finally growing again, it was time to find a long-term home in the UK. In February we moved into a beautiful 17th Century barn in Tackley, Oxfordshire. Flexibility may be the norm for office workers the world over, but we've found that our team still values time together in the same place. If you're nearby or passing through, do get in touch - we'd love to see you, and if you'd like, walk you through our journeys over a cup of tea and a slice of cake. There is always cake. Meanwhile, we launched advrntures in the Spanish Basque Country and South Africa's stunning Karoo.