At first glance, these two photos look almost like duplicates. A young cyclist looks determined as he slings his bike onto his shoulders beneath a glacier near Everest Base Camp.
These images may have been taken within seconds of each other, in the same location, in the same light, and in the same shadow.
However, they were separated for 40 years.
The first is about the adventures of cycling enthusiast Phil Hargreaves, who sets out from the UK in 1984 at the age of 22, traveling through Europe, Asia and finally arriving in Sydney, accompanied by two friends for part of the journey.
In the second photo, Phil’s son Jamie Hargreaves recreates his father’s pose almost 40 years later. This is one of many images that Jamie has meticulously recreated while riding in the exact same location.
“I’ve been inspired by my father all my life,” Jamie told CNN a few weeks after returning from a 19-month, 25,000-kilometre, or 15,500-mile drive from central England to Sydney.
“My brother and I both grew up listening to our father’s stories, and adventure always called to me. I always wanted to do something similar, but I had no intention of imitating my father’s journey and wanted to forge my own path.”
“So, I came up with a plan…”
When the idea first came about eight years ago, it wasn’t just to follow in his father’s tire footsteps. He says he still has bigger ambitions. But going back to those 1980s expeditions and building a social media following in the process felt like a useful step.
Then, in May 2024, also at the age of 22, a week after submitting his university thesis on product design, he left the English town of Stockport and started pedaling.
“It was the right time to do it. I was about to graduate from college, everything was going well, and I had some money saved up, so I just thought I’d give it a go.”
Finding a suitable bike was no problem. His father rode a King of Mercia, a steel-framed touring bike model manufactured by British company Mercian from the 1950s. Jamie had already tracked vintage items selling for £600, or about $800, on Facebook. This is an incredible amount for a classic item that costs double or triple that price.
Next was the task of determining the exact location where the father’s photo was taken. Again, it turned out to be easier than I expected.
“My dad basically recorded every photo he took and knew exactly where he took it,” Jamie says. “So it wasn’t that hard to find some of them.”
In more complex places, he asked the AI for help.
“In fact, I used ChatGPT a lot because you can type in a photo and ask, for example, is this in Malaysia or somewhere, 40 years ago, where was this photo taken? Then you can find the exact pinpoint location.
“It almost always worked out. There were a few times it didn’t work out, but it always worked out.”
The result is an impressive series of images, including the same location, the same pose, and sometimes the same face.
One photo taken in Belgium shows Phil and one of his riding buddies with a young boy and the parents of someone they befriended along the way and offered them a place to stay. Jamie locates the location and is able to meet and pose with the man, now a young boy, although his parents and friends have already passed away.
In another photo taken in Dikili, Turkey, the only recognizable landmark in the sparse landscape is the shape of a distant hill. More distinctive environments, such as the volcanic slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Bromo, were easier to match, even if they proved difficult to overcome on the bike.
Not everything is there. Geopolitical realities have changed and parts of Phil’s original route through Iran are no longer safely accessible. Instead, Jamie detoured through Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan before rejoining his father’s route in Pakistan.
He faced setbacks. In Georgia, a nasty crash damaged his precious bicycle frame. But by then he had built up a following on social media, and says he was happy to learn Mercian would send a replacement for him. One of the most difficult sections was battling constant headwinds in the deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The friendships I made on the road with other long-distance cyclists helped me get through the low moments.
In Russia, after making his way through border bureaucracy and intense surveillance, he encountered what he described as the surreal contrast of a heavily militarized country where everyday kindness remains the norm. In Afghanistan, he missed a university graduation ceremony in his hometown when a bolt on the road came loose and the skinny tires on his retro bike setup reached their limits, but he says he was warmly welcomed despite the hardships people face under Taliban rule.
“Of course I experienced Afghanistan from a male perspective, and it might be completely different for a woman, but the hospitality I received as a man was incredible,” he says. “People literally risked their lives to accommodate me.”
“It’s like a real connection with my dad. The only thing that separated us was time.
jamie hargreaves
In Nepal, Phil and Dave took their bikes to Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,364 meters, and Jamie, who was one of the first cyclists to do so, repeated the feat, adding that he believes he may be an even first. He carried his bicycle to Annapurna Base Camp at an altitude of 4,130 meters.
Jamie says one of his favorite photos is a recreation of Everest with a bicycle on his back and a glacier in the background.
“Those things are really cool. Almost all of the Everest stuff is really cool. And some of the Turkey and Georgia stuff was pretty amazing too. There were some that changed the landscape pretty dramatically.”
Phil has now retired from his job as a property manager in the UK and rides bikes exclusively, but Jamie’s social media posts take him back in time to cycling’s heyday.
“He was definitely a little jealous at first,” says Jamie. “He said he watched my video and remembered all the memories of when he left, the fun of the road, living on the road, and living dirtbag-style, camping out at bus stops.”
But as Jamie recreated the image, he also felt a deeper connection to the young man who stood in that spot 40 years ago.
“Every time I pinpointed a location and stood in the exact spot he would have been standing, it was so weird because that’s a real connection with my dad. The only thing that separated us was time. It’s really weird.”
“I’ve been hearing stories from my dad all my life, and now I’m here where those stories happened. It’s very, very special.”
