Life's back on track... thanks to my truck

After losing his home and his relationship, out-of-work builder Bobby Bolton decided to get behind the wheel and drive from Wigan to Australia. And after journeying through 53 countries with one new girlfriend in tow, he couldn't be happier

- By Jane Warren

WHEN Bobby Bolton's 11-year relationship ended abruptly, he thought he'd lost everything. Then came the business collapse - a few unlucky deals and a slowing economy sent his thriving construction company spiralling into the red.

Just days after his 30th birthday, Bobby found himself living in a caravan on a derelict Hertfordshire farm with less than 70p in his bank account. His purpose, identity and future appeared to have vanished overnight.

His mother pleaded with him to come home to Wigan and live with her. “She thought I was suicidal,” he explains.

He compromised by driving 200 miles north for a weekend. It was there that his new life began after he saw a battered Land Rover adorned with an expedition sticker outside the pub where he had met old school friends for the evening.

In that instant, Bobby found himself with a renewed sense of purpose. “I’m going to drive to Australia,” he declared to the bemusement of his friends. It sounded like drunken bravado, but Bobby wasn’t joking.

Instead of giving up, he went home, sold every possession he had - his beloved campervan included - and scraped together enough to buy an old ex-army eight-wheeled MAN truck.

Three years later, Bolton has travelled through three continents, 53 countries and written an inspiring and entertaining book about his 42,000-mile-long adventure. And, if that wasn't enough, along the way he amassed nearly 400,000 followers on his Instagram account - and fell in love again.

Just six days after leaving the UK, Bobby met Marie Delaval, a 27-year-old Frenchwoman who was walking her dog in the mountainous South of France near Saint-Tropez. After just two dates, she joined him in his truck to see what might happen next. And that was only the start of their adventure.