By Peng Li, Wang Yiling iChongqing
Chongqing- Ash Dykes, a post-90s from Welsh, is 27 years old this year but with an adventure experience of ten years. As a winner of the UK Adventurer of the Year Award and the seventh coolest person in Wales, he won the reputation for “putting adventure first before life and death”. Even Bear Grylls, a well-known explorer, once gave him a thumb up.
Since the last year, Ash started another crazy challenge—trekking alongside the Yangtze River, and he plans to set out from the headwater and walk to the estuary. Recently, as Ash arrived in Chongqing, iChongqing interviewed him.
In his adventure experience, two records stand remarkable. In 2014, the 23-year-old Ash became the first person trekking across the Mongolia, which is never seen in history around the world. At that time, without any assistance, he only took lots of life necessities and departed from the westernmost city of Mongolia. After five weeks of a trudge, where he had faced with burning sun, windstorms, and risk of wolf attacks in the depopulated area, Ash finally walked across the Altai Mountains and Gobi Desert solo. Moreover, 78 days later, he had covered 1,500 miles across Mongolia. One year later, Ash spent over five months in reaching the eight peaks in Madagascar.
As he arrived in Chongqing, iChongqing interviewed him
After achieving several world-first records, Ash decided to start a source-to-sea journey alongside the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. After two years of preparation, he started from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the source of Yangtze River locates, in July 2018. Ash expressed, “I like China very much. It is beautiful, but I know nothing about it all since I have just been in some eastern regions. As rivers are significant adventure elements, I decided to trek alongside the Yangtze River.”
He challenged to walk along with the Yangtze River and arrived in Chongqing recently. One of his stops is at Chongqing IFS LOVE.FOUND.
His adventure to China is not only a challenge to himself, but also for knowing about Chinese culture, learning kungfu, and promoting the charm of China to the world.
“Chongqing is a critical part in my adventure, and it is the milestone for me. From Chongqing, I will walk downstream and at last reach Shanghai.” Referring to Chongqing, Ash smiled with interests and said, “I like the night sceneries and hot pot in Chongqing”.
In this exclusive interview, Ash shared the difficulties and interesting stories he has experienced during his adventure. Please watch the interview video of iChongqing for the details.
Relative Link:
Ash Dykes, a post-90s British Explorer Trekked Alongside the Yangtze River, Almost Got Lost in Chongqing