{"id":446810,"date":"2026-02-26T14:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446810\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:40:12","slug":"he-followed-his-dads-1980s-cycle-ride-to-australia-and-recreated-the-photos-frame-by-frame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446810\/","title":{"rendered":"He followed his dad\u2019s 1980s cycle ride to Australia \u2014 and recreated the photos frame by frame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n At first glance, the two photos almost look like duplicates: A young cyclist beneath the glaciers near Everest Base Camp, bike hoisted on his shoulders, face fixed in determination.\n <\/p>\n

\n The images could\u2019ve been taken within seconds of each other \u2014 same spot, same light, same shadows.\n <\/p>\n

\n Yet they were taken 40 years apart.\n <\/p>\n

\n The first shows Phil Hargreaves, a cycling enthusiast who set out from England in 1984 at the age of 22, accompanied for part of the journey by two friends, on an adventure that took him across Europe, through Asia and eventually to Sydney.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the second, Jamie Hargreaves, Phil\u2019s son, recreates his father\u2019s pose almost four decades later \u2014 one of many images Jamie meticulously restaged while riding to the exact same places.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve been inspired by my dad my entire life,\u201d Jamie tells CNN a few weeks after returning from his own 25,000-kilometer, or 15,500-mile, 19-month ride from central England to Sydney.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMe and my brother were both raised on our dad\u2019s stories, and the adventure was always calling to me. I always wanted to do something similar, but I didn\u2019t want to copy his journey, I wanted to make my own way.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThen I came up with a plan\u2026\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The idea, first formed eight years ago, wasn\u2019t simply to follow in his father\u2019s tire tracks \u2014 he says he has a bigger ambition still up his sleeve. But retracing the 1980s expedition, and building a social media following <\/a>along the way, felt like a useful step.\n <\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

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\n And so, in May 2024, also at the age of 22, a week after handing in his university dissertation on product design, he set out from the English town of Stockport and began pedaling.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was just the perfect time to do it, because I was finishing uni, everything was sort of coming together, and I had a bit of money saved, so, you know what? I\u2019m just gonna go for it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Finding the right bicycle wasn\u2019t a problem. His dad rode a King of Mercia, a steel-framed model of touring bike made by UK company Mercian since the 1950s. Jamie had already tracked a vintage one down for sale on Facebook for \u00a3600 \u2014 about $800 \u2014 a steal for a classic that can cost double or triple that.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then there was the task of pinpointing the exact spots where his dad\u2019s photos were taken. Again, it proved easier than expected.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy dad basically documented every photo that he took and he knew exactly where he\u2019d taken them,\u201d says Jamie. \u201cSo, it wasn\u2019t that hard to find some of them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n For trickier locations, he turned to AI for help.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI actually used ChatGPT quite a lot because you can put the photo in and ask it. I\u2019d say, you know, this was Malaysia, or wherever, 40 years ago, where was this photo taken? And it would give me an exact pinpoint location.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt almost always got it right. There were a couple of occasions it didn\u2019t, but it always got it in the ballpark.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The result is a striking set of images \u2014 the same places, the same poses, sometimes even the same faces.\n <\/p>\n

\n One photo, taken in Belgium, shows Phil and one of his riding companions with a young boy and the parents of someone they\u2019d befriended along the way who had offered them a place to stay. Jamie tracked down the location and, although the parents and the friend had since died, he was able to meet and pose with the man who the young boy became.\n <\/p>\n

\n In another, shot in Dikili, in Turkey, the only recognizable marker in a sparse landscape is the shape of distant hills. More distinct settings \u2014 like the volcanic slopes of Mount Bromo in Indonesia \u2014 were easier to match, even if they proved harder to cycle over.\n <\/p>\n

\n Not everything aligned. Geopolitical realities had changed and part of Phil\u2019s original route, through Iran, was no longer safely accessible. Instead, Jamie detoured through Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan before rejoining his father\u2019s route in Pakistan.\n <\/p>\n

\n He faced setbacks. In Georgia, a bad crash destroyed his prized bike frame. But by then, having built a following on social media, he says he was happy to find Mercian willing to send him a replacement. Battling constant headwinds in the deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were among the hardest sections. On-the-road camaraderie with other long-distance cyclists helped pull him through low moments.\n <\/p>\n

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\n In Russia, after navigating border bureaucracy and intense scrutiny, he encountered what he describes as the surreal contrast of a heavily militarized country where everyday kindness remained commonplace. In Afghanistan \u2014 while missing his university graduation ceremony back home \u2014 bolt-loosening roads pushed the thin tires of his retro bike setup to their limits, but he says he was met with warmth despite the hardships people face under Taliban rule.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cObviously, I\u2019ve had a guy\u2019s perspective going through Afghanistan and it might be completely different for a woman, but the hospitality that I received as a man was incredible,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople were literally willing to risk their lives to host me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a real sort of connection to Dad. The only thing dividing us was time.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jamie Hargreaves\n <\/p>\n

\n In Nepal, where Phil and Dave had carried their bikes to Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,364 meters \u2014 among the first known cyclists to do so \u2014 Jamie repeated the feat and added what he believes may be another first: taking a bike to Annapurna Base Camp, at 4,130 meters.\n <\/p>\n

\n The recreated Everest photo, with his bike on his back and the glacier in the background, says Jamie, is among his favorites.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThose ones are really cool. Pretty much all the Everest ones are really cool. And some of the ones in Turkey and Georgia were quite good too \u2014 there were a couple where the landscape has changed quite dramatically.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n While Phil now mostly rides a motorcycle back in retirement from work as an estate maintenance manager in the UK, Jamie\u2019s social media posts have transported him back to his cycling heyday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe definitely got a bit of jealousy towards the start,\u201d Jamie says. \u201cHe was watching my videos and said that it was bringing back all the memories when he set off, and the enjoyment of the road, and life on the road, and, like, living dirtbag-style, you know, sleeping out in bus stops and stuff.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\n But in recreating the images, Jamie says he also felt a deeper connection to the young man who had stood in those places 40 years earlier.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEvery time that I pinpointed a place and stood on the exact spot where he would\u2019ve stood, it was very weird because, you know, it\u2019s a real sort of connection to Dad. The only thing dividing us was time. It\u2019s really strange.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard stories from my dad my entire life, and then I\u2019m there in the places where those stories took place. It\u2019s very, very special.\u201d\n <\/p>\n