After completing his PGCE at Oxford University, he taught geography for two years at Larkmead School in Abingdon, before quitting his job, and setting off on his Cycling Home From Siberia expedition Lilwall's life changing expedition began in 2004 when he flew 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.
[1] The journey of over 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometres) through 28 countries eventually took him over three years (2004–2007) and took him on detours through Papua New Guinea, Australia, Tibet, Afghanistan and Iran.
To cross the sea between landmasses and islands, Lilwall always caught ferries, or hitch-hiked on yachts, cargo ships and dive boats.
They moved back to Christine's native Hong Kong where they set up a Mobilisation Office for the children at risk charity Viva.
They endured temperatures down to minus thirty and severe physical hardship as they covered the huge distances with heavy packs.
[6][7][8] In 2015, Lilwall and his wife Christine rode a tandem bicycle from Los Angeles to New York, via Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the east coast.
He was inspired by Major Charles Blackmore's crossing in the late 1990s, but rather than going with a team of camels and people, Lilwall attempted the journey across 1,000 km of sand dunes by hauling a home made beach cart called Odysseus, full of his supplies.
Lilwall's other, shorter expeditions include: Cycling across Ireland (1995) the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan (1997), Ethiopia (2002), Bolivia and Peru (2003).
He has spoken at numerous high-level corporate conferences, including for Suntory Global Spirits, Nike, Adidas, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Manulife, the Million Dollar Round Table, Thomson Reuters, Hyatt, Marriott, Symantec and Microsoft.