Talk cycling to Bridget Ringdahl and you need to have a large map of the world handy.

"It has been more than four years since my last 13 110km bike ride through South America," she says with a bright smile. "So it's time for another."

She is quick to add that a two-week bike-jaunt in Morocco last year and 13 000km of cycling around the Midlands between then and now doesn't quite count!

For Bridget, the allure of conquering unchartered territory on a bicycle - most of the time on her own - began in 2000, when she decided to do a trip through the 5 000m passes and lonely landscapes of Asia.

Leaving behind the bustle and clamour of Indian city life, she followed the coastline of Vietnam pedalling towards the plateaus of Tibet, where she had to face some unexpected situations.

"Packs of ferocious dogs, stone-throwing children and, to top it all, a knife-wielding Chinese man who made the so-called 'friendship highway' in Tibet anything but friendly" were some of the challenges that most of us could do without.

But, as she puts it: "To be able to see some of the most spectacular scenery on Earth - that's worth all the hardships."

She describes the 960km "friendship highway" joining Lhasa, the capital of Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal, as a "long and winding" dirt track.

"It forms the backbone of the Himalayas with the most spectacular views of Everest's North Face. Drawn to the people and culture of Nepal, Bridget spent a further six months as a voluntary teacher in Baglung in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Back home in South Africa in 2001, Bridget returned to work as environmental scientist, but not for long.

Her keen sense of adventure and determination soon fuelled plans for her next cycling expedition three years later - in South America crossing Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

"I started off in the most southern town in the world, Ushaia, hoping for a trouble free journey." But that wasn't to be. Bridget was soon being blasted by hectic winds.

"I had to muster all my mental and physical energy to convince myself not to give up and to just keep going," she recalls. "Calling a taxi or hopping on a bus was not an option."

Once over those hurdles, Bridget's cycling route took her from the glacier-encrusted paradise of Patagonia to the Andes Mountains and on to the "avenue of volcanoes" in Ecuador, ending her mammoth journey in the "no-go" country of Colombia.

After a year away, Bridget returned home in 2005, but not alone.

"That's one thing about travelling - you never know who you may meet along the way. Carlos and I met in Patagonia. It was very romantic".

Spaniard Carlos Gonzalez shares Bridget's passion for open spaces and the freedom that comes with exploring far-away places on bikes. "Living here in the Midlands is ideal for mountain biking. The amazing landscapes make getting fit a pleasurable experience," says Carlos.

In 2007 Bridget put pen to paper, documenting her cycling adventures in two books - Blonde on a Bike in India, South East Asia, South West China and Tibet and Blonde on a Bike in South America.

She admits that writing the books was a far greater personal challenge than tackling the extreme conditions found in the world's highest mountains.

Since her cycle journey across the Himalayas in 2000, Bridget knew she would go back, but this time with Carlos.

"We will spend two months cycling the highest roads (6 400m above sea level) in the world," she says.

Valleys

The route will take them along the classic Manali to Leh Highway (just less than 500km) crossing numerous 4 000m and 5 000m passes arriving in the mountain kingdom of Ladakh, the threshold of Tibet, China and Central Asia.

"Apart from this classic route, there are numerous other high Himalayan valleys that we plan to explore as well, the more remote valleys of Spiti and Lahaul which have only recently opened up to foreigners.

"This 1 000km loop heads east to Tibet, then loops west again along the old Hindustan-Tibet Highway."

With oxygen levels reduced by 50 percent at such great heights, Carlos and Bridget are fully aware of the effect this has on one's body, irrespective of fitness level.

"The altitude determines what distances we can cover in a day," explains Bridget."

Besides physical and mental fitness, the couple also have to pack with purpose. There will be no luxuries on this "holiday" with a difference.

"We only take the bare essentials, minimum clothing, tent, sleeping bags, camera, primus cooker and bicycle repair kit. But the most important items of all are a hat and sunscreen."

Thinking about where your next meal is coming from is something that must be high on the list of priorities.

Bridget and Carlos both agree that there is no better way to learn about local Asian culture and history than to sample the traditionally cooked food.

"Although we cannot communicate with the villagers in spoken word, we manage quite well with sign language and a lot of smiling," she says.