GUNTUR: An adventure lover from Visakhapatnam D. Bharadwaj will probably be the first person from the State to embark on a world tour on a motorcycle covering more than 60,000 km across 50 countries touching five continents.

Thirty-six-year-old Bharadwaj is a sailor, trekker and a motorcycle enthusiast.

He runs the Bravehearts Adventure Club in Visakhapatnam. The dream of travelling around the world was there since my childhood, he says.

Sending a message

The motorcycle expedition, spreading the message of road safety, began on April 2 at Visakhapatnam and reached Guntur city on Tuesday on the way to Chennai.

From Chennai, Bharadwaj will ride to Mumbai from where he, along with his `Karizma' motorcycle, will take the flight to Iran for onward journey.

"The earlier all-India and South Asian tours on my motorcycle gave me some exposure on the harsh climatic conditions in different countries," Bharadwaj said.

He has been planning for the trip for more than two years and has applied to more than 50 countries for visas.

"In the last minute, I got visas from Jordan and Syria. In Jordan, riding the motorcycle is the exclusive privilege of the king. But they came to know of the expedition and gave me permission," said a beaming Bharadwaj.

The yearlong expedition takes Bharadwaj up the dizzying heights of Himalayas down the slopes of Alps through the freezing Scandinavia and Russia and across the scorching Sahara desert.

He will take a flight or sail in a ship if there is a need to cross water bodies and oceans. Bharadwaj can speak French and Spanish apart from Hindi, English and Telugu languages.

A few of his friends from the club like Malladi S. Sharma, Sai Bhaskar and Gajapati Raju will accompany him on their bike till Mumbai.

Inspiration from friend

Dilip Bam, who set a record earlier for an Indian scooter by driving across the Sahara desert, was a great moral support when I was sharing my dream, said Bharadwaj.

Dilip will accompany Bharadwaj from Pune to Mumbai.

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