20 years on the road: The life of a nomad

28 Sep, 2014 - 00:09 0 Views
20 years on the road: The life of a nomad

The Sunday News

on the roadWHILE it is most men’s wish when growing up to get education, have a decent job, get married and get settled, it is not so for a 50-year-old French citizen, Jacques Sirat who decided to quit his job, leave behind his parents and be a nomad — moving from country to country on a bicycle.
And what is more interesting is that he is not raising awareness on anything but is doing it just for the fun of it and is sponsoring himself.

“It all began on 31 July 1994, when I just ran out of my apartment and ran and ran, today 20 years on I have run, walked and rode in every continent and I intend to do so for the next 20 years,” said Sirat, a self-styled bicycle tourist, who was recently in Bulawayo embarking on his new mission to tackle the great trek from Cape Town to Cairo.

Sirat, who decided to resign from his job as a post office attendant in 1994 to travel the world, initially on foot and now on his new found partner — a mountain bicycle — said he enjoyed meeting new people and travelling new environs.

Sunday Leisure caught up with Sirat last Saturday as he was riding out of Plumtree Town headed towards Bulawayo after crossing the Botswana-Zimbabwe border.

“For the past 20 years I have run 22 000 kilometres, walked 10 000 kilometres and rode 180 000 kilometres on my mountain bike. I have been to every continent in the world and in Europe I have been to each and every country.

“I love my freedom and meeting new people that is why I decided to do the impossible, going round the world on my bicycle. I am not raising awareness to anything or using this as a money-making scheme, this is just about me leading a simple life and getting in touch with nature,” said Sirat.

He said over the past years he has learnt how to live a simple life, at times even sleeping in the open or in the bush.
“People have so much become engrossed in money such that it now determines their every move, they have become slaves of money, which I believe is uncouth that is why I decided to detach myself from that type of living and prove to all that one can survive with next to nothing.

“As it is I just need a minimum to get by, I rented out my house back in France and I also write a monthly column for a small time newspaper in my home country about the places I visit. That is all I need to get by, nothing else,” said the nomadic French.

On his everyday inspiration, Sirat said it was all about meeting different people, interacting with them and getting to appreciate various cultures.

“I am currently headed to Bulawayo and I am looking forward to meeting and interacting with the people there, which is a part of my adventures I love the most. My bike has become the best transport I can have and people usually find this as a queer activity and I like explaining to them so they appreciate what I am doing.

“I have also come up with a sort of photo gallery to chronicle my journey and with the articles I write for the newspaper I aim to come up with some sort of biography one day,” he said.  Questioned on when he will eventually quit and go back to France, Sirat said his body was raring to go and is likely to go a further 20 years.

“In the past 20 years the only time I went back to France was to purchase this mountain bike, I interact with my family via the Internet whenever I get a connection but frankly I see myself doing this for the next 20 years,” he said.

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