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.

> Cyclist endures epic 22,500-mile journey around the world in 430 days... has bike stolen outside London pub

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.