Extreme Athlete Ash Dykes Returns to China for “New Kind of Adventure”

Extreme athlete and outdoor adventurer Ash Dykes is returning to China for a two-month expedition, although the exact location and nature of his latest challenge have not yet been made public.

The Welshman announced his upcoming China adventure on Instagram, recapping his previous excursions before writing, “I’m now back in China embarking on a new kind of adventure… I’ll be gone for two months, but will be taking you guys with me once again as soon as I can shout about it. Stay tuned… this is gonna be mega!!”

Dykes is no stranger to adventure in Asia. When he was 19, he cycled across Cambodia and Vietnam in just 15 days on a bike worth only 10 GBP with “absolutely nothing, not even a pump.”

His other adventures in Asia include living in the jungle with a Burmese hill tribe, trekking the Indian Himalayas, and hiking across Mongolia, the latter of which was Dyke’s first exploit to secure him a world record.

Most recently, he made global headlines in 2019 for becoming the first person to hike the entire length of China’s mighty Yangtze River, Asia’s longest river and the world’s third-longest.

The 4,000-mile journey from the river’s source to sea took him 352 days to complete and was chronicled in the National Geographic Asia documentary Walking The Yangtze With Ash Dykes.

Dykes’ Yangtze adventure also secured the 31-year-old adventurer his third world-first record. (His second world record was a trek across Madagascar, summiting eight of the island nation’s highest peaks in the process.)

As for what the intrepid explorer is up to in China this time around, we have no idea. Although, if we were to offer a suggestion, we reckon an adventure down the Mekong, through Southwest China and into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, would be one hell of a follow-up to the Yangtze.

Cover image via askdykes.com