{"id":9141,"date":"2018-05-02T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/?p=9141"},"modified":"2018-10-12T14:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T13:23:05","slug":"ash-dykes-ball-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9142 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes-1024x501.jpg\" alt=\"Ash Dykes ball watches\" width=\"838\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes-1024x501.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes-768x376.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Ash Dykes &#8211; Ball Watch Company<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Adventurer \/ Extreme Athlete<\/em><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Born in the United Kingdom,\u00a0Ball Watch Company Explorer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ashdykes.com\/\">Ash Dykes<\/a> became the first solo and unsupported person to walk across Mongolia in 2014. Over 78 days he was able to achieve a distance of over 1,500, whilst carrying everything he needed in order to survive. In 2016, he broke yet another world record when he became the first person to walk through Madagascar, whilst summiting the highest mountains. The 1,600 round trip took him a total of 155 days to complete and forced him to use up all his physical and mental reserves when he contracted the deadliest form of Malaria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Now the latest member of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ballwatch.com\/global\/en\/explorers_club.html\">Ball Watch Explorers Club<\/a>, Ash is embarking on potentially his most testing challenge yet, that is going to push his body to the limits of survival. In July 2018, his new expedition will take him along the Yangtze River, a 4,000 mile journey. Beginning in the freezing temperatures of the Jianggendiru Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau, to the tropical delta near Shanghai. Expected to take around 1 year, the expedition is going to be intense and gruelling, with Dykes expected to take around 8 Million steps whilst battling some of nature&#8217;s most\u00a0undoubtedly intimidating experiences. From snakes to bears, wolves to asian hornets &#8211; the isolating weather-ranging and isolating challenge will push all of Ash&#8217;s strengths to the limit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9150 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Map-Ball-Watches-1024x656.jpg\" alt=\"Map Ball Watches\" width=\"838\" height=\"537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Map-Ball-Watches-1024x656.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Map-Ball-Watches-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Map-Ball-Watches-768x492.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Exploits :<\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-9152 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/follow_action-910x1024.jpg\" alt=\"follow_action\" width=\"381\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/follow_action-910x1024.jpg 910w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/follow_action-266x300.jpg 266w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/follow_action-768x865.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/follow_action.jpg 1201w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px\" \/><br \/>\n&#8211; First recorded person to traverse Madagascar\u2019s length, through its interior taking on eight of the highest mountains on the fourth largest island in the world, trekking 1,600 miles in 155 days (2016).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; First recorded person to complete a solo &amp; unsupported walk across Mongolia (2014).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Cycling Cambodia &amp; the length of Vietnam (1130 miles \u2013 15 days, on \u00a310 bikes).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Trekking the Himalayas in North India.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Cycling a part of Australia (700 miles \u2013 13 days).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Escaping the outback\u2019s of Australia after a nasty break down in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; He learnt how to survive in the jungle with a Burmese Hill Tribe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Cycled the length of Britain for charity (985 miles \u2013 7days)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Walked 200 miles across Wales in the dead of winter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Trekked alone through the Alps during winter &amp; was just missed by a landslide.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Worked as a scuba diving instructor for two years in Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Trained &amp; competed against the locals, in the local martial art of Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For more information on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ballwatch.com\/global\/en\/home.html\">Ball Watches<\/a>, check out our infographic telling you everything you need to know;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/05\/ball-watches-infographic\/\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/2HJb43e<\/a>\u00a0and for any more information please visit our website; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/\">www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"OFFICIAL Ash Dykes Into the Heart of China Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QsnBnSKU0CA?start=125&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/h2>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ash Dykes &#8211; Ball Watch Company Adventurer \/ Extreme Athlete Born in the United Kingdom,\u00a0Ball Watch Company Explorer\u00a0Ash Dykes became the first solo and unsupported person to walk across Mongolia&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[2162,1002,2161,2163,1481,1747,140,879,14,17,1346,87,1745,39,16,24,166,496,2164],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Class Watches Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-02T11:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-12T13:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danny Choudhury\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"First Class Watches Blog\",\"description\":\"All the Guides, News &amp; Tips You Need!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":940,\"caption\":\"Ash Dykes ball watch\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/\",\"name\":\"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-02T11:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-12T13:23:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/07ebc911090ab1c66cdd4152b9b8cbfd\"},\"description\":\"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/07ebc911090ab1c66cdd4152b9b8cbfd\",\"name\":\"Danny Choudhury\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb3670f4e0595845fe100f4ef141f8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb3670f4e0595845fe100f4ef141f8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Danny Choudhury\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\",\"emma.cranston@firstclasswatches.co.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/author\/danny-choudhury\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog","description":"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog","og_description":"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/","og_site_name":"First Class Watches Blog","article_published_time":"2018-05-02T11:00:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-12T13:23:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":940,"url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danny Choudhury","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"First Class Watches Blog","description":"All the Guides, News &amp; Tips You Need!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Ash-Dykes.jpg","width":1920,"height":940,"caption":"Ash Dykes ball watch"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/","name":"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch - First Class Watches Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2018-05-02T11:00:03+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-12T13:23:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/07ebc911090ab1c66cdd4152b9b8cbfd"},"description":"Latest member of the Ball Watch Explorers Club, Ash Dykes is embarking on his most testing challenge yet, following the Yangtze River.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/2018\/05\/ash-dykes-ball-watch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Walking The Yangtze With A Ball Watch"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/07ebc911090ab1c66cdd4152b9b8cbfd","name":"Danny Choudhury","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb3670f4e0595845fe100f4ef141f8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bb3670f4e0595845fe100f4ef141f8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Danny Choudhury"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk","emma.cranston@firstclasswatches.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/author\/danny-choudhury\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9141"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13493,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9141\/revisions\/13493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstclasswatches.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}