My YouTube Channel

I don’t know whether it’s an age thing or whether the lockdown has been messing about with my brains, but I have found myself watching various YouTube videos of people who have just got up one day and decided that they wanted to cycle, sail, drive or even walk the world. 

From the comfort of my armchair, I’ve watched a young couple from Finland, (I think the guy is originally from India and his wife is Finnish) cycle from Helsinki all across Europe, West Africa, crossing part of the Sahara only to get stuck in The Gambia due to the Coronavirus lockdown. Although they have now gone back home, they still intend to achieve their dream of travelling the world for the next ten years. 

I’ve also watched an American couple and their baby sail West from Australia back to the United States stopping at some idyllic places. This took me back to my sailing days when I worked for nearly a year on a Greek ship after dropping out of my Naval Architecture course and travelling as far as exotic Madagascar.

For the last year, my itchy feet have taken me on lovely bike rides around Hartlepool, Scotland and Northumberland. Although I am far from being a cycling fanatic, I feel that, given the chance of fair weather and flat cycle paths, I could bike around the world, slowly and leisurely at 40-50 miles a day for the rest of my life. Keeping fit, discovering new lands and making friends would be my main motivation.

Mind you, after watching lots of campervan videos, the thought crossed my mind of getting one. I would travel anywhere and everywhere with my bike tied on the back for those short rides to the nearest pub. But I’m neither inclined to convert a white van into a mobile home, nor paying over the odds for a tub on wheels with a plastic potty for only luxury. 

All year, I’ve toyed with adopting one of those pastimes but I’m still unsure whether I should build my own yacht, convert my small car into a Winnebago or stick a motor on my pushbike.  

Instead of rushing to make a rash decision, I decided to continue surfing YouTube, but this time, starting my own channel.
Although, I’ve made a few cookery videos in the past, I found the recording an entire bike ride around Hartlepool on a GoPro quite an easy process. However, the editing of it was quite a mountain to climb. I borrowed my son’s software and began the task of learning how to use it by watching even more YouTube tutorial videos. 

Cutting a 90-minute ride down to 18 minutes was quite a task. Designing titles, choosing and adding music, lowering or raising the volume, recording voiceovers… At times, I felt like abandoning the project and going back to just watching videos instead of attempting to make one.

I wanted my end result to be shortlisted for the Oscars. Check it out for yourselves but, please be gentle, remember that this is my first attempt.