This talk will detail extreme athlete Dan Martin's journey from 40,000 miles of adventure cycling expeditions through over fifty countries crossing Europe, Asia and Africa to working in refugee camps in Calais and northern Greece with the kindness of strangers being a constant theme throughout.

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Dan will talk about how the connections made and understanding gained whilst cycle touring (London to Cape Town via the Middle East, Korea to Cape Town: the Axis of Evil by Bike, and from Saudi Arabia to Johannesburg via the Horn of Africa) proved vital whilst working in the refugee response in northern France and Greece in 2015-2016. Cycling gave Dan a hands-on appreciation for the politics and culture of countries ranging from Syria to Somalia, North Korea to Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo to Afghanistan, and Iraq to Angola.

In 2015 Dan co-founded a series of fundraising talks called The Kindness of Strangers which raised funds and collected needed outdoor clothing by bringing together some of the UK's brightest adventure talent to talk about how their expeditions had been made possible only by the kindness of strangers. After the first fundraising night Dan drove the collected clothing, sleeping bags and gear down to Calais. Initially this was meant to be a weekend trip but he stayed for a year leading a team of volunteers for Auberge des Migrants before moving on to work for CalAid running the logistics operation in the Epirus region of Greece. Dan will describe what it was like in the camps then, what the situation is like now, and how you can help.

Q&A to follow the talk.