A man who takes an epic journey from Wigan to Australia finds love two weeks into the journey

A man who drove from the UK to Australia in a truck found love on the road.

Bobby Bolton found love just two weeks into his trip when he bumped into a “handsome” French girl on a hill in Saint-Tropez. To his delight, she has given up everything to join his expedition, and the two have now reached the Bosnian border.

Bobby, 31, from Wigan, has spent the past four months driving his expedition truck, a type of HGV, across Europe as part of his epic 16,000-mile journey to Australia. The trip was made possible after Bobby handed over his company RNB Construction to his business partner and sold almost all of his assets.

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So far, Bobby has crossed France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Serbia, Croatia and is currently parked on the border between Bosnia and Montenegro, near the town of Foca. He had originally planned to drive through 29 countries, but was forced to adjust his route due to “wars starting around the world”.

Since splitting from his fiancee in March 2022, Bobby began his world tour on October 1, 2023 as a single man – with only his seven-year-old red fox Labrador, Red, for company. Fortunately for him, it only took two weeks for Cupid’s arrow to strike.

He met Marie Deleval, 28, on a hill overlooking the bay of Saint Tropez and the pair have been traveling together ever since, along with Marie’s pet Rubia, a three-year-old Swiss shepherd , who joined the expedition. It wasn’t all fun and games, though, and the two had to overcome some serious challenges along the way, including getting stranded in the Bosnian mountains after the fuel in Bobby’s overland expedition truck froze.

Fortunately, they were able to heat the tank with a hair dryer and escape the sub-zero temperatures. “In my opinion, experiences are better shared,” Bobby told PA Real Life.

“It’s so much better to be able to overcome these challenges together and have someone to bounce off of. The highs are higher and the lows are lower.

“The best parts are the daily adventures, mountain climbing, skiing, paddle boarding. We are on adventure turbocharger. But winter travel is very difficult as it has been minus 10C or below for the past two weeks.”

Bobby left the UK last year after selling almost all his possessions and bought an 18-tonne lorry which he converted into a ‘home on wheels’ with a king-size bed, air conditioning, a standing fridge, a bathroom and a full. size grill and oven.

He headed straight for the Mediterranean coast of France and spent a few days relaxing and exploring the region. “I made a pit stop there because packing up your life and starting a big trip is actually exhausting,” he said.

“So I ended up in the south of France and chilled in the sun for about five days to recharge my batteries, ready for what was to come.”

This is where Bobby met Marie after climbing San Peire to watch the sunset. “I was a fool because it was like the second week of the trip,” Bobby said.

“I was standing there overlooking the bay of Saint-Tropez and then suddenly there was a rustling in the trees. When I returned, a good-looking French woman with her dog had just run to the top of the mountain.

“I worked up the courage to say ‘hello, do you speak English?’ A few awkward phrases later, she ran off, but managed to grab the Instagram from the truck door.

“He texted me and we set up a beach date with the dogs the next day, which went well.”

Marie, who was on the verge of buying a house and studying for her sports degree, decided she couldn’t pass up the “opportunity of a lifetime”.

Marie said: “If you had told me that one day I would meet Bobby on top of a mountain, I would never have believed it. Now I’m traveling to Australia in a truck that I’ve always dreamed of but stopped. I was thinking about it and doing other things.

“I was studying and about to buy an apartment and now I’m here in a truck with Bobby and our two dogs who get along really well. It’s a dream come true.”

Bobby said the trip so far has been “eye-opening” and that people shouldn’t jump to conclusions about countries without visiting them first. “It’s great to dispel myths about some countries,” he said.

“You read about countries in the media and it disappoints you. For example, Bosnia, all I ever heard about was war and now I absolutely fell in love with the country.

“It just goes to show that it’s better to go and check things out for yourself to make up your own mind because it could be completely different to how it’s perceived.” Driving across Europe in winter was a challenge for the couple and their pet dog.

“We had a lot of challenges,” Bobby said. “Yesterday all our water froze and we’ve been in the truck since half past four every night so we’re going crazy.

“The boiler froze three times. I got stuck badly in the mountains around Lake Como and crashed into an ancient Italian archway near Turin in Italy.”

But the scariest situation happened a few days ago, when temperatures in the Bosnian mountains dropped below minus 13C. “That was the hardest thing, because we were at the top of the mountain, about 2,000 feet, on a paved mountain track, but there was about 10 or 12 inches of snow on the ground,” Bobby said.

“The fuel froze because I had no additive, no way to get any kind of bailout and I was worried about the dead battery trying to start it. So we had to use a hair dryer to try to heat it up. up.”

He also cracked the truck’s chassis while off-roading in France and spent two days repairing it on the side of the road after specially welding a metal plate. Despite these nail-biting moments, Red remained steadfast.

“He’s a legend, always wagging his tail no matter what we do,” Bobby said. “I climbed Slovenia’s highest mountain, Mount Triglav, and despite the fear of death, he had a big smile up and down.”

The couple plan to cross the border further into Montenegro before heading further east. “Up until now, traveling through Europe has been pretty straightforward,” he said.

“But we are just starting our visa applications for places like Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. There are three complicated cases for which we have to go to the embassies”.

Bobby is looking forward to his father Mark, 60, a lorry driver, coming to visit them in Turkey so he can use his experience. “There are already a few things I want them to fix,” he said.

“As soon as it lands, it’s not going to be on a beach, it’s going to be right in a parking lot and we’re going to be under the truck and get the tools out.” While Bobby had originally planned to drive the 10,500 miles from Wigan to Australia alone, he is happy to have company.

“It felt like fate because I was trying to decide if this was an individual journey or if meeting her was part of the story,” he said. I feel like the meeting with Marie on the mountaintop is part of the story, so I let it play out.”

To learn more, follow Bobby on Instagram at @one.life.truck.it.

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