UK teen on 16,000km Ashes trek concedes he must board a plane
After 100 days — and one lost backpack — the cricket-mad Brit who vowed to reach the Ashes without flying has admitted defeat. And he’ll sadly miss out on a key event.
The dream was simple: travel 16,000km from Manchester to Adelaide without ever setting foot on a plane.
But after 100-plus days on the road — through deserts, mountains, ferries, trains, tuk-tuks, and one particularly unlucky motorcycle ride — 18-year-old UK adventurer Tommy Lamb has finally conceded reality.
He will have to fly, and is now facing the very real possibility of not making it to the third test in Adelaide.
In an emotional post to Instagram on Tuesday morning, Mr Lamb told his followers that his no-fly vow must come to its heartbreaking end after being stranded in Singapore with no boat, no connection and no time left before the Ashes.
“This is the video I never wanted to make,” he starts the video.
“I’m going to have to take a plane.”
He detailed the lengths he has gone to to try and secure a boat from “anywhere in Southeast Asia” and how some earlier delays because of his motorbike accident and flooding meant he arrived for his final boat journey during cyclone season.
“You can’t believe how disappointed I am. You can’t believe how heartbroken I was, but that’s life,” he said.
“I am now aiming for Melbourne, I’m not going to make Adelaide.”
“I have overcome a fair few obstacles and challenges along the way, whilst having the time of my life.”
Mr Lamb said he’d always known this final stretch — crossing the sea to northern Australia — would be the most brutal.
Still, his supporters were having none of his self-doubt.
“99.9% of amazing is still pretty f***ing amazing,” one follower wrote.
“You’ve done what 99.9999% of us could never accomplish,” another added.
Others urged him to “knock some sense into the England team” when he finally reaches his destination.
One fan reflected on Mr Lamb’s earlier mishap — the day he lost his backpack, passport and credit card while hitchhiking through Thailand — calling his recovery of it “just brilliant”.
Another joked he should “ditch the cricket and become a Bolton Wanderers fan”.
A few even urged him to continue his mission on the way home.
“Maybe you could make it back without a plane?” one wrote.
Mr Lamb hasn’t ruled out future attempts.
“There’s another Ashes in four years,” he hinted.
“This is not my last expedition of this sort.”
He promised a video on Wednesday explaining the next two weeks, saying the journey would still be “a fairly challenging overland finish” with “some of the hardest legs” still to come — even with a flight involved.
The teen’s adventure captured global attention last week when he issued an SOS to find a boat out of Singapore, telling The Advertiser he’d exhausted “nearly every possibility” in his desperate hunt for a cargo ship or yacht.
The rule-breaker for him was time: the third Test is only days away and, despite his vow, he admitted he’d draw the line at missing the Boxing Day Test.
He left Manchester on August 20 with a backpack, a cricket bat, and £5000 — half his own savings, half from his parents — determined to see England play at Adelaide Oval.
And while he won’t make that final hop entirely by sea, his followers agree on one thing: the teen has already pulled off the adventure of a lifetime.
Originally published as UK teen on 16,000km Ashes trek concedes he must board a plane
