HE has traversed the globe by bicycle and survived capsizing his boat mid-Atlantic, but Scottish explorer Mark Beaumont is about to embark on what is arguably his biggest adventure yet.

 

Beaumont will accompany the Queen's Baton Relay as it makes its 288-day journey across the 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth in the countdown to Glasgow 2014. He will travel more than 118,000 miles, equivalent to going around the equator nearly five times.

That epic journey will begin on Wednesday when the Queen places a message inside the baton at Buckingham Palace.

The relay gets under way in Delhi on Friday before travelling through Asia to Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania islands, followed by Africa, South America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. The baton will spend Christmas on the small South Pacific Island, Vanuatu, and visit Rwanda for the first time in January.

It is due to arrive back in Britain on May 11 and reach Scotland by early June, where it will spend 40 days until the opening of the Games on July 23. Details of that route are due to be unveiled on Thursday.

Beaumont, 30, will chart the baton's progress on behalf of BBC Scotland, The One Show, CBBC, BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 2.

The Perthshire-based adventurer is well known for his boundary- pushing feats. In 2008, he set a record for cycling round the world, completing 18,297 miles in 194 days and 17 hours.

Three years later, Beaumont was part of a six-man team which rowed from Canada to the magnetic North Pole in the Arctic Ocean.

In January last year, however, his attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Barbados ended in disaster when his rowing boat capsized. He and five others had to be rescued from the perilous waters.

"What happened in the Atlantic was awful and a real turning point," he said. "That was the first time where I was treading water and thinking: 'OK, if the boat sinks, we aren't going to survive'. When you face that mortality so clearly, it does change things. You can't possibly come back and carry on regardless."

His latest project will see him attempt to capture a picture of the modern Commonwealth. He said: "The feel for the journey should be in the culture and sport as opposed to simply being a foreign affairs correspondent reporting on a place.

"We'll have two to three days in each country to try and encapsulate that. The greatest challenge by far will be the schedule. We are following the baton, that is the heart of our journey. We can't get left behind.

"The pressure will be each day to not just live the journey, but do it in as big a way as we can."

The baton, created by Glasgow-based 4c Design, is hand-crafted from titanium, wood and granite. "It's aesthetically very cool," said Beaumont. "I've met the designers and they are so passionate about it. They are really into the history of Scotland and modern technologies - and I think they have managed to encapsulate both."

In preparation for his trip, he has been vaccinated for "pretty much everything in the book", spent hours collating research ("I've probably only been to seven or eight out of the 71 nations and territories before") and is set to try his hand at the 17 Commonwealth Games sports.

WHEN it comes to flying the flag for Scotland, however, he will be leaving his kilt at home. "It is just too hot in the Pacific - plus it takes up half a suitcase," he said.

Due to be on the road for 250-260 days - he will have a break in February - homesickness is an occupational hazard. Not least with his wife Nicci, 30, having given birth to daughter Harriet seven weeks ago.

He said: "It will be different this time with little Harriet back home."

The Queen's Baton Relay was first staged for the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff and has been the curtain-raiser ever since.

However, there have been a few hitches for Glasgow 2014 organisers.

The Indian Olympic Association raised concerns over the baton's visit to Delhi coinciding with Dussehra, a major Hindu festival on October 13, and asked that it be re-scheduled.

Last week, Gambia announced that it plans to leave the Commonwealth.

On Gambia, a Glasgow 2014 spokesperson said: "Until we are advised otherwise by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will have 71 participating nations and territories."

Follow Mark Beaumont's journey at www.bbc.co.uk/queensbatonrelay or on Twitter @BBCMarkBeaumont