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5th May 2023
08:01am BST
A daring solo adventurer is already daydreaming of getting back out on the road – just days after being airlifted out of war-hit Sudan.
Steph Devery (30) set out on the adventure of a lifetime after working as a paramedic for the London Ambulance Service during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She initially planned to cycle from the northernmost part of Norway to the southern tip of South Africa but ended up starting her trip on UK turf after Scandinavian countries shut their borders to international visitors.
Since then, Devery has cycled 15,000 kilometres through Europe and the Middle East, passing through Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the West Bank before diving into northern Africa through Egypt and into Sudan carrying nothing more than the bare essentials.
But her trip ground to a dramatic halt after reaching Khartoum having spent 12 days cycling 850 kilometres through Sudan, often having to shelter from the scorching 45C heat in brick huts.
Speaking to JOE, Devery said: “I had cycled through the city the day before, it was completely calm, and there was no tension in the air.
“Then I woke up one morning to gunshots and some heavy firing.
“We all sort of stood on the road, and a civil war ensued.
“It was wild.”
Devery was staying with a Sudanese family after being welcomed in by their 80-year-old grandmother, but she only intended to lodge with them for a couple of nights. In the end, she ended up living with them intimately for 10 days.
She said the situation was, at times, incredibly scary.
“There were bombs shaking the ground and heavy gunshots all day.
“The road that we were living on was used as a fairway for the Rebels.
“They were driving huge convoys of their military trucks back and forth, which was very scary.
“But then, in some very strange ways, it was very normal at times.
“It's incredible how humans adapt, and life kind of went on in the middle of this war.
“We were still cooking and eating and sitting down for family time and watching movies.
“And I played with the kids and all the meantime, there's just bombs going off in the horizon.
“And every 15 minutes we'd all scream because it was getting closer with the kids flinching or we'd have to run.”
Devery, an Australian citizen, managed to make it out of Sudan thanks to a French evacuation via Djibouti, and is now safely staying in Paris.
Despite the harrowing experience, she says it hasn’t dampened her appetite to get back out and continue her journey through Africa.
“It’s been 14 months on the road now and I can't imagine doing anything else. I absolutely love it, so I've started to daydream about continuing cycling.
“And maybe, maybe keep going around the world.
“I’ve had some unforgettable experiences.
“A lot of incredible landscapes through the French mountains, the Italian Dolomites and cycling over the Swiss Alps.
“Somewhere in the Balkans, I cycled for 1,500 kilometres with a little stray dog named Monty. That was a huge highlight for me.
“And coming to the Middle East has been incredible. The hospitality has been like none other.”
After being evacuated from Sudan, Devery’s bike, which she calls Cliffy, and a lot of her gear had to be left behind in the evacuation effort.
The forward plan is to restock her things and find a bike again before heading back to Africa and heading south via a different route.
You can read more about her adventure and support her journey via her Go Fund Me page here
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