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news
Stolen bike and Banbury station where it was taken (Google Maps)Couple cycling from UK to Africa make it to Oxfordshire... before bike is stolen at station
A couple cycling from the United Kingdom to Africa, raising money and undertaking charity work on the way, were hit with a setback when they did not even make it past Oxfordshire before one of their bikes was stolen.
Speaking to the Banbury Guardian, Becky Sherwood who quit her job as a teacher and partner Monty expressed their shock at her bike having been stolen after the first leg of their journey. Having left Sheffield and ridden through Wales, the couple opted to get a train from Wolverhampton to Oxford, where they were going to attend a camping event before continuing on to catch a ferry to France on August 7.
However, during the train ride Ms Sherwood's orange Carrera with hand-built wheels was stolen from the upright bicycle storage as the train stopped at Banbury station at around 6pm. It was last seen on CCTV at Leamington Spa train station, although British Transport Police have not identified who stole it. The thief did not take her panniers.
"As we were preparing to leave the train at Oxford, Monty turned to me and said, 'I think your bike has been stolen'," she told the local paper. "We were both totally shocked; the bike was left hanging on the hooks in the storage section of the train between two carriages.
"It didn't even occur to us that someone might take the bike because it is so big and heavy. We even removed the pedals from Monty's bike and turned the handlebars around."
A man from nearby King's Sutton has offered a bike that can be borrowed in the meantime, but Ms Sherwood said she had "grown very attached to" her Carrera having "put so much time, money, energy and love into this special bike", and said it "would be amazing to get it back".
The couple are raising money for World Bicycle Relief and LGBT+ rights charity All Out and said of the challenge: "My children are getting to the age where they can leave home. So we decided to plan this mad adventure, going down through Europe, then flying to Kenya and continuing through southern Africa to see how far we can get. Along the way, we will stop and do conservation volunteer work and teaching if possible."
There is a depressingly rich history when it comes to people making extraordinary cycled journeys across or around the world, only for their pride and joy to be stolen once they arrive on British soil.
One case, which saw our story go semi-viral on social media when picked up by the 'No context Brits' Twitter account, saw a British adventure cyclist spend 835 days riding around the world "through countries people repeatedly warned were too dangerous to visit" only to see his adventure end... outside a Reading branch of Wetherspoons, where his girlfriend's bike was stolen two days after arriving in the UK.
Likewise, Oren Lotan, from Israel had spent two-and-a-half-years travelling the globe by bicycle, only to have his bike stolen in Cambridge.
In October we reported that Geordie Stewart had spent 430 days on the road, completing an epic 22,500-mile journey around the world (including being held at knifepoint in Italy, having his bike confiscated by police in China, and being threatened in the Australian outback) only for him to return home and nip to a London pub for a drink with friends, where, you guessed it, his well-ridden steed was nicked.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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36 comments
Best wishes to them both. Despite an early setback I hope they have a great time and enjoy their trip.
So let me see if I've got this right?
They are cycling from the UK to Africa, but have already resorted to train travel to get to a camping festival and then intend to fly from the UK to Kenya, before cycling around the south of the continent.
I'd suggest a bit more research and planning on their part. If they can't master a train journey in the UK how are they going to tackle cycling Nairobi to Mombasa or defend themselves from marauding monkeys in Cape Town for example?
Travelling from Sheffield to Wolverhampton going via Wales seems like, er, idiosyncratic route planning as well. Seems like maybe there's some details missing from this story.
It says in the linked local press story that they went to Wales to get some mountain training in before starting the trip proper.
So the story would more accurately have read
"Couple planning to cycle from UK to Africa have bike stolen before trip started"
Seems like a huge waste of energy. If they're not ready, they're not ready. Obviously, they're not ready😂
The real plan was to take a photo with a bike in as many countries as possible. They should easily be able to just take selfies nearly anywhere with racked bikes
Have you been on a train recently?
Having left Sheffield and ridden through Wales, the couple opted to get a train from Wolverhampton to Oxford, where they were going to attend a camping event before continuing on to catch a ferry to France..."So we decided to plan this mad adventure, going down through Europe, then flying to Kenya and continuing through southern Africa"
No, you haven't got it right, not even close.
Or, perhaps I have.
Regardless of my poor reading skills, the fact remains that they were ill prepared for british trains. Do you believe, hand on heart, that travel in Africa is going to be easier than in the UK?
No, me neither.
In what way were they '' ill prepared'' for British trains? I'm quite surprised at some of the snide comments on here to be honest - it's probably a once in a lifetime adventure, they are doing voluntary work on the way, and raising money for charity. I wish them all the best.
Surely that's self explanatory Perce.
If you were prepared you wouldn't have your bike nicked.
It might surprise you and Rendel but I genuinely hope the couple have a fantastic journey, Africa is by far and away the greatest continent on the planet, but it has lots of problems and enough people who see naive travelklers as easy pickings and will happily relieve them of their poccessions, however meagre they are.
I spent nearly 5 years away cycling the length of Africa, 20 odd years ago, with no sat nav, gps, or google maps to work from. To say it was an eye-opening journey of discovery would be an understatement.
I followed that up by working for 5 months as a cargo ship' cleaner and cook, through the southern Atlantic, calling at South Georgia and the Falklands before making landfall in South America at Montevideo, Uruguay, then pointing my bike south and cycling across the border into Argentina, skirting Buenos Aires and cycling through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego, before turning back on myself and cycling approx 40,000km north to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. Bar the Darian Gap on the Colombian/Panama border the whole journey was undertaken using pedal power.
Twice in Africa and once in South America I had a gun pointed at me in anger, including a border guard who wouldn't take no for an answer when using all means available to extort money out of me.
I'm not trying to blow smoke up my arse here, but I reckon I'm pretty well qualified to express an opinion on folks undertaking long distance cycling tours and some of the perils that they could encounter during their journey.
Nobody particularly objected to your allegation that they were ill prepared, even though it's hard to see why the bad luck of some scrote nicking one of their bikes justifies that conclusion. What was objectionable was your sneering "So let me see if I've got this right? They are cycling from the UK to Africa, but have already resorted to train travel to get to a camping festival and then intend to fly from the UK to Kenya..." which was totally wrong as the article shows. It doesn't matter if you're the world's greatest cycle tourist, that was simply wrong as well as unnecessarily snotty.
Fair do's.
Point taken.
I'll partially blame the Nefopam I'm taking as a pain killer having just had my knee replaced in the last few weeks. It's totally buggering up my concentration levels, what I write, or even comment on. It's not just on this forum, but every forum I interact with. It totally disagrees with me. They've just put me onto Co-Codamol on friday so give it a few more days to kick in and I'll be more like my old self trather than a sanctimonious prick.
I know I've been very odd on certain painkillers, once left hospital after surgery, boarded a bus and gave the driver my address, apparently (so I'm told by those who were with me) under the impression that it was a bespoke taxi service... Hope the recovery is swift and full, take care.
Best wishes on your recovery; I know that pain / sleep issues from same / some painkillers can have some odd effects on myself. Including being prone to react faster.
Hope suitable function comes back!
I'm sure we're all aware I can often make knee jerk comments, I'm just as bad in real life too, but thanks for the kind words.
I never intend to cause offence, but I do come across as quite condescending at the best of times.
I'll try to be a bit more circumspect in future.
Well as long as you can put the boot in with some motion from your hip too, that's the goal! Good luck.
If only our Active Travel Commissioner would hold the government to account for failing on promises in both the first and second cycling and walking investment strategy (CWIS1 and CWIS2).
I know he's busy riding to Paris and buying up football teams.
Instead of train companies providing more, better and secure bicycle facilities, they are actually providing less and less.
Keep in mind that all of us, from cradle to grave, effectively give £1500 per year to shareholders of said train companies..... before the £4k a year, daily bike/train commuters like I pay..... to have cramped, delayed or non existent services
But hey! Delay Repay is there...... which in 2023 "compensated" me less than £10ph for the 60 hours of my life sat waiting for the Glorious Waste of Railway to show up.
What Active Travel promises has this Govt made in the 21 days or so it's been in power?
You should probably investigate how the UK Govt works. You seem confused!
I presume he has done so. As I did, and you could you have - at the last election.
Who else holds the government to account, and how?
EDIT - looks like I'll be holding the Scottish government - or rather mostly the SNP - to account in a couple of years for backing away from the 10% of the travel budget on active travel (we never quite made it but it was an excellent start).
On some of the longer distance trains with "cupboards", you can edit your seat reservation so that you're close to/can see your bike. LNER is good for this, and Avanti has a similar feature, albeit your bike is more out of sight behind a door. Not sure about GWR and this sorry case might have been on Cross Country trains, about which there's very little positive to say about anything.
This is always my concern when taking my bike on a train, that someone could quickly take it at a station. I always try and sit close and keep an eye out for it at stations, but it's not always possible on busy trains. Has anyone got any tips on this?
Depends the rolling stock. I commute quite often by bike, train, bike (66miles each way, according to google, it was 75miles before we moved office). The rolling stock has 3 flip up chairs (horizontal storage) and velcro straps to secure the bike. I sit right opposite or at most one row back in direct eyeline and if those seats are not available I'll stand. So theft is not a problem, The problem often is however those 3 flip up seats are occupied and I end up standing with the bike. They operate (or did 12) a similar horizontal system on Scotrail but there's no flip up seats and there's a solid bar rather than straps reinforcing its a bike storage area. Still got abused for luggage/buggy storage sometimes but at least it was clearer it was for bikes!
You have the priority here with your bike. Those sitting must give up their seats for the bike. It's a railway health and safety regulation.
You can politely ask folk to move which most folk do tbh when there are empty seats. Demanding it just upsets people.
This is true. A member of the train staff actually told everyone to stand up and move thier bags so the seats could be flipped up and my bike tied up. He told them it was a health and safety regulation. Still, I did feel I little embarrassed by the situation, but not too much ☺️
Simple cafe lock or two around the wheels and frame. Takes 20 seconds on and off. I don't trust anyone on a train...
I wouldn't trust anyone either but I wouldn't lock it up guards get up set by that IME. I'll stand or sit within touching distance.
I got bollocked by a guard for locking my bike on a train 🤷🏾♂️
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