Rob 'Ron' Lilwall (born 1976)[1] is a British-born adventurer, speaker and author.
Lilwall went to school in London and Shropshire (Shrewsbury School) and then studied geography for 4 years at Edinburgh University. After completing his PGCE at Oxford University, he taught geography for two years at Larkmead School in Abingdon, before quitting his job, and flying to the north-eastern Siberian city of Magadan with his bicycle Alanis (named after singer songwriter Alanis Morissette) and setting off to ride back home.[2] The journey of over 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometres) through 28 countries eventually took him over three years (2004-2008) and took him on detours through Papua New Guinea, Australia, Tibet, Afghanistan and Iran.
His first book "Cycling Home From Siberia" was published in August 2009 by Hodder & Stoughton, to excellent reviews from the British Press. [3] A television series about the journey, using Lilwall's original camcorder footage, was made by National Geographic in 2009.[4] The series consists of six 24 minute episodes. It was broadcast in Australia on the Nat Geo Adventure Channel starting Sunday, 7 December 2009. The DVD of the series is available directly from Lilwall.[5]
Rob is good friends with Alastair Humphreys, a similar adventurer type, whom he met at university. His adventures in Siberia are also documented in Alastair's book of his cycling around the world, a trip which took 4 years.