1. Look at the photos

1. Describe what you see in each of pictures A, B, and C

2. Describe the appearance of the people in each picture

3. In picture A, why he has a flag?

4. What does the man seem to do in picture A? What may he be saying?

5. In picture C the men have cycle panniers on each side of the front wheels of their bicycles. What they may contain?

6. In picture D what kind of boat do you think this is?

2. Headlines about these journeys. Now, you have headlines from articles about the journeys which were made by the people in the pictures. Work in pairs to match the headlines and lists to the pictures and fill in the two lines of the table which follows:

Picture A Picture B Picture C Picture D

Means of travel

Destination

Headlines:

Extracts from the journeys

2)

1)

3) 4)

3. Now read these short extract from description of the four journeys and work with a partner to answer these questions:

1. In extract 1), why did the two cyclists receive such a welcome from the villagers?

2. What does the writer mean by getting the `feel' of the bikes in the extract 2)?

3. What spares could the two motorcyclists have been carrying in extract 2)?

4. How did they manage to handle their bikes with such heavy loads on them?

5. Explain in your own words why the writer in extract 3) began his journey in Athens.

6. What kind of boat did he plan to take first?

7. Did he think it would be difficult or easy to pass through the Suez Canal? Which words give you the answer?

8. In extract 4), what problems was the writer facing?

9. What reasons does he give for making his journey' Is his reason understandable?

10. If you had to choose, which of these journeys would you go on?

4. True or False. Now say whether the following statements are true or false without looking back to the text:

1. In extract 1), they met a young man that invited them back to his village.

2. In extract 2), the protagonists of the journey were two cyclists.

3. In extract 3), the traveller decides to go to Southampton.

4. In extract 4), the traveller was in a hot place.

My long walk to the North Pole

Slow Boats to China

Hard Track to Africa

Australia - by pedal power

From Dubai, they travelled to Pakistan and India. There, while cycling through a small village on the road from Hyderabad to Khairpur, they met a young man who invited them back to his village 10 miles off the main road.

It was to be a memorable experience.

When they arrived at Talpur, Rick and David found themselves surrounded by the entire population of the village -more than 300 people.

We cruised gently through France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece, getting the ´feel` of the bikes. With clothes, camping equipment, spares and enough tools to do practically a complete rebuild, we were loaded up fairly heavily, but we found that with good weight distribution the bikes still handled excellently. Did they have enough in reserve, we they have enough in reserve, we wondered, to cope with the additional load of five gallons of petrol and a week's food and water, and with the extra strains of off-road riding?

Now I was cold, tired and confused, the visibility on the frozen sea water was less than 10 yards in freezing fog. I could not contact my small back-up team in Resolute by radio, atmospheric conditions near the magnetic North Pole preventing that.

My compass was swinging steadily back and forth from north to south. It vas cold, about minus 15ºC, but the wind in the fog lowered this to nearer minus 45ºC.

But why was I there?

Because no one man had walked the place alone before. It was my Mount Everest and I was almost there, a miserable windswept icy hell somewhere where no one had ever stood alone.

WHERE SHOULD I START? I went back to the lists again, but the decision was soon made. Not Rotterdam of Southampton; the Channel and the west Mediterranean were well-known and well travelled. I would start in Europe, but as close to Asia as possible: Athens. Friends had told me of a steamer that shuttled passengers from Piraeus to the Greek island of Patmos, near Izmir in Turkey. From there I could find my way slo9wl.y to the Suez Canal, a first and formidable major hurdle.

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