Hello and welcome to the Jog to the Black Sea! Here you will be able to follow me every step of the way as I travel from John O’Groats to the Black Sea.

Swimming the English Channel is something that has intrigued me for a long time, I have always enjoyed watching documentaries and listening to tales about the brave souls that have conquered the stretch of water that separates the UK from mainland Europe, the seed of swimming the English Channel was planted in my mind a while back. Over the past few years, that seed has grown sufficiently and after living in Dubai for the past three years, the time feels right for me to attempt to join the illustrious group of Channel swimmers.

Cycling from John O’Groats to Lands’ End or vice versa is a common desire for most British cyclists, whilst I would never describe myself as a cyclist, it has become an ambition of mine as well. The nature of this trip has meant that the destination has had to shift from Lands’ End to Dover, but the concept and most importantly, the distance, remains the same.

Another item on my ‘to do’ list was the much heralded cycle along the Danube River, Europe’s second longest. I had heard great things about the Danube and any further research I did only strengthened my urge to travel there. Once I had decided to create this journey, I remember being concerned that there was too much cycling, therefore I searched for alternative modes of transport. Despite my complete lack of experience, kayaking quickly proved to be my chosen method.

With these three steps in place, the route was well established, all that remained was adding the fourth and final stage to connect Calais to the Danube. Cycling was the chosen mode of transport and in August 2015, the JOG to the Black Sea was born.