A German cyclist who rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats this summer says he feels “embarrassed” and “naïve” after his bike was stolen from a Newcastle metro station just days after completing his 1,000-mile ride.
Christoph Held’s bike was locked outside West Jesmond station, just north of Newcastle city centre, when it was taken by thieves.
“I couldn’t believe it,” the 48-year-old, who spent a few years working as an assistant teacher at a school in Newcastle in the early 2000s, told the BBC.
Held said he devised his plan to cycle the length of Britain in order to see more of the country. Starting at Land’s End, he rode through the Lake District before heading making his way to the Highlands and John O’Groats, the northernmost point of mainland Britain.
He also took time of his rest days from the bike to climb Snowden, Scafell Pike, and Ben Nevis.
“I have always liked the UK, I like seeing the different parts of it,” he said. “I wanted to see more of the country after my time in Gosforth, and my plan was to climb the three tallest peaks on my way.”
Held noted that the people he encountered during his trip had been “so friendly”, allowing him to camp out in their back gardens and inviting him for lunch, a level of hospitality he now regards as “ironic” following the theft.
“People have been so friendly, what is different to Germany is that people really wanted to help – they didn’t just offer,” he said.
After reaching John O’Groats, Held then travelled to Newcastle to spend a few days relaxing before returning home.
“I locked up my bike at the station but when I came back someone had taken it,” he said.
“I felt really embarrassed, I didn’t know if I had just been naïve. If anyone sees my bike I hope they will report it to the police.”
Held, unfortunately, isn’t the only cyclist to have a long-distance ride ruined at the last by some British bike thieves.
Most famously, in 2022 a British adventure cyclist who says he spent 835 days cycling around the world “through countries people repeatedly warned were too dangerous to visit” returned to the UK only to have his home tour abruptly curtailed outside a Reading branch of Wetherspoons, where his girlfriend’s bike was stolen.
Josiah Skeats says he has covered over 40,000km by bike but was on only his second day of bike touring in England when he arrived in Reading.
Skeats was part way through cycling the new King Alfred’s Way route with his girlfriend, when the theft happened five metres away from where they were sitting outside the Hope Tap in Friar Street.
The 29-year-old and his partner were inside the branch of Wetherspoons drinking coffee with their bikes outside propped against the window, when the thief pounced. Skeats said that he gave chase for half a mile before giving up.
He told road.cc at the time: “I was actually taking my girlfriend on her first bike tour around the UK ahead of a planned trip across South America this winter.
“I was excited because it was one of my first tours in the UK too. She had her bike stolen which has kind of dampened our confidence for that trip!”
Our story on Skeats’ Spoons-based misfortune made the Archbishop of Banterbury social media page soon after, though we’re not sure how much of a consolation that provided.
8 thoughts on ““I didn’t know if I had just been naïve”: German cyclist “embarrassed” as bike stolen from Newcastle metro station days after completing Land’s End to John O’Groats ride”
Is cycle theft at rail stations unique to the UK? I wouldn’t have thought so, but I guess it wouldn’t surprise me. They seem to be one of the worst places to lock a bike up in the country. Even if your bike doesn’t get stolen the would-be thief might damage your frame in the process of trying to steal it.
@Boopop I don’t think it is but other countries have less stolen per cycle ride I would guess. Living in Switzerland the major city stations have huge bike parking areas often with swipe card access for regular commuters but are generally behind locked gates. Even so bikes are taken from these and in cities in general – I rarely use my own bikes in cities and stick to rental ones (with an annual contract) to just get around. I used to have a city “crap bike” but it finally gave up the ghost (cracked frame).
@BaselGooner have things changed then? Visiting a friend in Zurich 15-20 years ago, I was shocked to see a Storck roadbike left unlocked.
Completely unshocked about the theft in Newcastle though, friends had their front door kicked in, the banister their bikes were locked to ripped off the wall and the bikes gone before they could get down the stairs.
Well I wouldn’t leave a bike unlocked! Basel and Geneva have issues with cross-border thieves from France in particular but again it’s about better than UK I think.
@BaselGooner In the early ’90s a friend of mine was working in Geneva, his girlfriend had her (unlocked) bike stolen one night and two days later it reappeared in the same rack outside her flat cleaned, oiled and with flowers and chocolates tied to the rear rack and a note saying, “I took your bike because I was drunk and had no money for taxi or bus. I thought it was funny but I was wrong. Sincerest apologies.” I’ve always remembered that and thought what a great place Switzerland must be for cycle ownership if that’s representative, sorry to hear it might not be.
@Rendel Harris we used to rent an allotment in a village near Basel and there was an annual autumn party/festival organised by the gardeners. One year as we were about to leave we went to ride our (unlocked – never a need here) bikes and my wife’s was missing. Our allotment neighbours were outraged and were getting ready to get the police in when… up the road rides a gentleman on my wife’s bike, weaving around in a drunken manner.. He gets back and receives the wrath of our neighbour (not us we were in giggles) and he explains that he had to go home to feed his cat and just needed to borrow a bike!
Might have been usefull to describe the bike / brand etc..?
The difference in the UK is that the police don’t try to hide their pride in paying no attention to bicycle theft, in order to maintain credibility with their motorhead mates. When the British Transport Police actually declared they weren’t interested (OK, there were some provisos to that, but what they really meant was: cyclists can get stuffed) in cycle theft, they were forced to retract that officially but continued in practice to teach cyclists a lesson by making no effort to catch the thieves (I assume – no personal experience of this particular police-encouraged crime wave)