Ashley Philip Dykes is a Welsh adventurer and extreme athlete.[1][2] He achieved two official world-first records, trekking across Mongolia and Madagascar, before the age of 25. In August 2019, he achieved his third official record, becoming the first person to walk along the full 4,000-mile (6,400-kilometre) course of the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia.[3]
He worked as a lifeguard to finance his first trip to China. He walked solo and unsupported across Mongolia in 2014, aged 23. The 1,500 mi (2,400 km) journey over the Altai Mountains and across the Gobi Desert took 78 days. He became known to locals as the "lonely snow leopard".[5]
In 2015 he completed the 1,600 mi (2,600 km) trek across Madagascar via its eight highest peaks, another world first.[6] Along the way, he contracted the deadliest strain of malaria and was close to death. As a result of the experience, he is now a special ambassador for the charity Malaria No More UK.[7]
He recounted his adventures in Mongolia and Madagascar in Mission Possible: A Decade of Living Dangerously, published by Eye Books in 2017.[8]
In August 2018, he embarked on another world-first record attempt, to walk the 4,000 mi (6,400 km) course of the Yangtze river.[9] The successful completion of his year-long mission earned him celebrity status in China.[10]
He won the 2016 Welsh Adventurer of the Year Award. He has been named the seventh-coolest person in Wales[11] and was described as『one of the world’s most fearless outdoor men』by FHM magazine.[12]
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