TWO years ago Astrid Domingo Molyneux waved her family and friends goodbye and cycled off towards Bath. Nearly 20,000 miles later she’s back, having pedalled around the world.

During a mammoth solo journey of 19,931 miles, Astrid visited 28 countries and encountered highs and lows along the way, from standing on a pass in Tibet at 5,200 metres to being knocked off her bike in Greece.

She was also kidnapped by a lorry driver in Iran, had paint thrown at her in India and enjoyed the hospitality of many people who willingly opened their homes to her. 

In all, the 53-year-old estimated the trip probably cost about £24,000, including buying her Raven bike and paying for freighter crossings, trains, planes, food and accommodation.

The touring bike she rode needed little attention, considering the distance it covered.

Her first puncture was in Israel, and throughout the two years she had to repair no more than 20 punctures.

She only had to replace the front tyre once and the back tyre three times. Her first brakes also lasted until Japan and she never used the spare spokes she carried with her. She did need a new chain though.

Between leaving home and arriving back, she dropped a dress size from a 12 to size 10.

Astrid, of Crantock Drive, Almondsbury, is now hoping to write a book about her experience, which she also used to promote the Leprosy Mission and the Deaf Studies Trust.

The mother-of-two said: “I got the idea for the trip after reading a book I picked up in an Oxfam shop about a woman who cycled around the world, called A Bike Ride by Anne Mustoe.

“She was about my age and at the end I thought I would like to do the same thing. It literally went from there. I thought if she could do it, then so could I.

“On my 50th birthday I announced I was going to do this ride at some point in the future, but a request to take a sabbatical from work was agreed so positively that I had no excuses.”

Astrid had worked at the Centre for Deaf Studies at Bristol University for 11 years and as well as the two years to complete the journey, was given another three months to recover.

She then had to prepare for her trip, which included planning her route to take in countries she was keen to visit and going on cycling trips in this country and in France.

She said: “I didn’t want to travel by plane if at all possible when cycling was out of the question, but in the end I did have to fly across the Indian Ocean.

“I also travelled by ship, train, the odd lorry, a coach and jeep.”

Astrid took a tent with her and pitched it in the wild and on campsites.

She also stayed in a pilgrim’s room in a mosque, in churches, in people’s homes, with friends and relatives, in guest houses and occasionally in hotels. She even house-sat for an Australian couple in Kathmandu while they went trekking.

While in the US, she took time out to visit Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where her grandfather, the son of a ship’s captain, had been born. As the first Norwegian born there, he was given the name Domingo.

Astrid speaks French and some Arabic, as she once worked as a physiotherapist in the Middle East. She also took phrase books with her and a letter translated into a number of languages to explain to people about her journey.

Her journey began in May 2008, when she was waved off by family and friends, cycled into work for another farewell and joined the  Bristol to Bath cyclepath on the first leg to Poole and the ferry to Cherbourg.

Her trip then took her to countries such as Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Syria, on to Turkey, where she spent her first Christmas on the road, and Abu Dhabi.

She was later to travel into India, Nepal, China and Japan before catching a freighter ship to Canada.

Alaska was next on the agenda at the start of seven months in North America. Another freighter took her from Miami to Gibraltar and a detour to Morocco before heading back to Portugal and Spain, where she caught a ferry from Santander to Plymouth.

Once back in the UK, it took just three days for her to get back to Almondsbury, where she was welcomed by her daughter, Jessica, 24, and son Daniel, 21, as well as other relatives and friends. It was just two days short of two years since she had left.

A party was later organised for Astrid, with a cake in the shape of a wheel and cup cakes carrying the flags of all the countries she visited.

Astrid said: “So many things happened along the way and there were times when I had some unpleasant experiences and had periods of feeling lonely. But never once did I ever feel like giving up.

“The hardest thing was leaving my children and not seeing them for two years. I used Skype to talk to them but it’s not the same.

“But the trip was just fantastic and I’m still keen on cycling. It was a wonderful way to travel and I have so many memories.

“Going up the Himalayas was stupendous, as was seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I saw a grizzly bear catch a salmon in Alaska and a wolf crossed my path.

“Probably the worst part was in India, when some menacing men formed a chain across my path and threw paint at me during a festival.

“I was also knocked off my bike in Greece when someone opened a car door right in front of me. There was minimal damage to the bike but I hurt my knee. But it meant I could spend six weeks with my father in Cyprus, so there was good that came out of it.”

Astrid also found herself being given a lift in Iran by a lorry driver who didn’t let her out in the next town but kept driving until she finally persuaded him to stop.

But she said the majority of people she met were kind and hospitable and at times she teamed up with other cyclists she had met.

She slept in a variety of places, from a guest room in a mosque to private homes and in her tent, and was able to take a break from cycling to visit relatives and see the work of the Leprosy Mission in Delhi and in Kathmandu.

Her touring bike easily withstood the trip and even when things went wrong, Astrid used the internet to contact the suppliers, SJS Cycles in Bridgwater, to get advice.

Astrid said: “I would really like to do more travelling now and I hope that what I have done will encourage others to make their dreams a reality, whether it’s travelling or anything else. I certainly had a wonderful time.”