Speaking with Patrick Nash, it soon becomes clear that this is a man with an honesty and a profound understanding of how his life was turbulently restructured following a mind-blowing decision way back in 1980.

Fresh out of Bristol University with an economics degree under his belt, Nash decided to shy away from the predicted career ascent that was being favoured by so many of his peers and instead, set out on a death-defying trek which would cover the entire width of Africa.

During his journey he was shot at by border patrol guards, he fell into unconsciousness at the side of the road after contracting malaria and, perhaps most terrifyingly of all, he was jailed on suspicion of carrying illegal drugs, which carried a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

“I was a very naive 22-year-old who hadn’t really thought in any great depth about what I was doing,” Patrick told The Pembrokeshire Herald from his home in Solva.

“I was ridiculously unprepared for the journey, and all I had with me was a map of Africa, two UK passports and £250 in my pocket. If I’d thought too much about what could have happened to me, I probably wouldn’t have gone, but  obviously in those days it was very difficult to find out about things.”

Following five weeks spent working on a farm in Israel, Patrick became one of the first backpackers to cross the Sinai border into Africa.  His journey would subsequently take him across 14,000 miles, covering 11 African countries, many of which would be impossible for a solo traveller to attempt today.  These included Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and then back across the Sahara Desert to reach Britain.

Throughout his journey, Patrick chose to travel like a local, which meant he either walked on foot or cadged a lift on the lorries and pick-up trucks that were filled to the brim with miscellaneous items.

“People would be hanging on to those lorries for dear life, but it was a great way to meet the locals, chat to them and find out about their way of life,” continues Patrick.

“They were fascinated to see this white person choosing to travel like them, either on foot or hanging on to the top of those bumpy lorries.  And sometimes they’d invite me back to stay in their homes or invite me to stay in a mosquito tent in their garden. And in many ways, this is the overwhelming memory that I have of those six months in Africa.  People helped me, and this taught me how important it is to reach  out to people and ask for help, wherever we are in the world.”

It was Patrick’s faith in the African culture that helped save his life when he began suffering from acute malaria for the second time during his journey.

“It was bad,” he recalls.  “I was staggering around and eventually  collapsed at the side of the road.  But some guys picked me up,  took me to the nearest town and one of them invited me to stay with him.  They took me to the clinic where I was able to get treated, and I ended up spending a week with them, until I was well enough to start walking again.”

Patrick also forged a very strong relationship with the locals as he journeyed through the Congolian rainforests.

“People started hearing about me – about this white man who was walking through the forest – and almost every night people would come and find me, invite me back to their villages and ask if I would like to stay with them.  They also used to ask me to talk to the young people, most of them young men who wanted to go to Europe, and once again this helped me to see how supportive and caring all these people were.”

But things took a dangerous turn when Patrick, together with another traveller who he met on his journey, attempted to cross the border between Zaire and the Central African Republic.

“The border guards were trying to get us to give them a bribe which we didn’t have, so we got in a boat and despite the fact that  they started shooting at us, managed to get across to the other side.”

Shortly afterwards, Patrick was arrested and thrown into prison when a guard mistakenly assumed his malaria pills were illegal drugs.

“This was possibly one of the most frightening experiences, as I knew that the jail sentence for possessing illegal drugs would have been between 15 and 20 years,” he said.  “Amazingly a police investigator turned up, realised what was going on, and released me.

“But throughout those six months, no one tried to rob me, even though this has happened a few times in Europe, and I never felt threatened by the local people who I met along the way.  I was struck by their goodwill.”

The Foreign Office, however, has since placed red and orange warnings relating to their danger, on many of the places visited by Patrick during his 1980 journey.

After returning to the UK, Patrick became a social entrepreneur, setting up a workers’ cooperative selling vegetarian food, which became one of the UK’s largest cooperative businesses. he then helped set up an eco village in Scotland and in his late 30’s he returned to London where he worked for the Dalai Lama, with responsibility for running his UK charities. In 2006 he moved to Wales where he  set up a charity helpline, its workforce expanding from 10 to its current figure of 450.

On March 27 Patrick will be publishing his memoir ‘Shots Across the Water’ which describes that incredible journey carried out in 1980.  

“When I made that journey as a 22 year old, I made a diary of the things had happened to me, so reading those accounts all these years later has helped to stimulate my memory of what took place.  

“I hadn’t had the happiest of childhoods, and things hadn’t always been easy, but it was that trip that opened my eyes to the values in life and which gave me  confidence to move forward with my own self belief. 

“If my daughters announced that they would like to make that same journey in 2025, I would do my best to dissuade them.

“But there’s no doubt that that journey formed me and has made me who I am today. It helped me realise that if I was able to complete that journey, then I could do anything.”

‘Shots Across the Water’ is available via Amazon, price £9.99 for a paperback and £7.99 for a kindle edition.