SEVEN years after leaving John Kyrle High School, Pete Lamb has taken a rather unconventional route after initially following what you might consider a 'normal' career path for a maths graduate. Pete says this decision was heavily influenced by an assembly organised by head of sixth form Rob Wallace in which British adventurer Alastair Humphreys came to talk to students about his four year cycle around the world.

After graduating at Leeds University, Pete began training as an actuary in Bristol for Aon Hewitt. He stayed there for almost four years before making the decision to give up a stable career and try something outrageously ambitious and risky!

Pete told us: "Last summer I decided that I didn't want to work in an office for the next 40 years and instead wanted to try and cycle around the world and follow a more active and adventurous life. I'd known for a while the office lifestyle was not for me but the decision to cycle was a bit of a lightbulb moment that I didn't see coming. I recalled this talk Al Humphreys had given us in sixth form. Immediately I looked him up and devoured his blogs, books and tales of all the adventures he has done since then (he's pretty successful these days!). That was enough to convince me.

"This led to months of planning, which escalated from just cycling alone to a challenge of running seven marathons in seven months in seven countries across Europe and cycling between them all, followed by a ride across Asia and Australia in 2019, and (hopefully) North America and Africa following that.

"I set off in June after a test run in the UK - cycling 1200km from Bristol to Scotland and climbing the three peaks en route. To date I have cycled over 8,000km since mid June through 17 countries and have run six marathons in Paris, Edinburgh, south England, Tallinn, Budapest and Zagreb - with Istanbul to come in November."

Pete is raising money for the Bristol Heart Institute through this marathon challenge. He is also writing a blog on the trip and devoting time to his growing interest in photography.