A seasoned hitchhiker is taking on a 5,000 mile journey in just six weeks, armed only with cans of beer.
Emmanuel "Manny" Marshall, 42, has been enlisted by Scottish brewers Innis & Gunn for the hitchhike of all hitchhikes.
He set off from Edinburgh on Wednesday and aims to be in Delhi, India's capital city, by mid-October, using his cans of the brewer's India Pale Ale (IPA) as currency along the way.
Can of #ipa. CHECK.
— Innis & Gunn UK (@innisandgunnUK) 31 August 2016
Hitchhiker. CHECK.@raw_safari is on an #IPAtoIndia mission: https://t.co/cTLGVakgLa pic.twitter.com/3utxT4ystr
Mr Marshall, who has been travelling almost constantly for the last 10 years, and the author of the Travel Hackers Handbook, was the ideal choice to make the journey.
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Mr Marshall never spends much time in the same place due to his love for globetrotting.
Offering the cans of IPA as payment, Mr Marshall will rely on the generosity of others to get lifts from drivers and beds for the night along the way.
The journey is being undertaken as an homage to the 18th-century brewers of IPA that sent the beers on six-month-long sea journeys from Britain to India.
Dougal Gunn Sharp, founder and master brewer at Innis & Gunn, said: "The IPA is one of the most distinctive styles of beer and it is loved and practically worshipped in many parts of the world.
"We set out to create an IPA that nods to the 18th century pioneers of the style, while showcasing our innovation and passion for creating flavoursome, modern beers.
"The trip to India using this modern route is a perfect metaphor for what we've managed to do with our IPA: we've studied the brewers of old and created something new and contemporary for beer drinkers across the world."
Speaking before he set off on his journey from Edinburgh to Delhi, India, Manny said: "This is a trip of a lifetime.
"I've been hitchhiking for a long time now and I've seen how beer brings people together in many countries around the world.
"I'm looking forward to sharing this new IPA with the generous strangers I meet along the way.
"The trip to India is going to be amazing. It's a chance for me to challenge myself and I'm really stoked about sharing my story with many people from all walks of life."
You can follow the progress on his journey by keeping up with the #IPAtoIndia hashtag on social media.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here