world bike rider

A cyclist travelled 335,500 miles on the same bike - only for it to be stolen as soon as he arrived in Britain.

German-born Heinz Stucke bought his bike in 1962 to embark on his endless voyage across the globe, says the BBC.

But it was stolen as he slept in his tent in Portsmouth just hours after getting off a ferry - happily it turned up the next day.

Mr Stucke, 66, said he was "quite happy" after being informed by officers his bicycle had been discovered abandoned in a local park.

Mr Stucke, who was en route to Greenland, has travelled to 165 countries and is registered as the Most Travelled Man in History in the Guinness Book of Records.

He survived being stung twice by a swarm of bees in Mozambique in 1995 and a nasty bout of dysentery while in Indonesia back in 1974.

Mr Stucke, who has ridden his bike in every continent, now says he wants to focus on exploring countries he has not been to, such as Greenland.

"Back in 1962, I was determined to travel and in those days I survived on as little as £1,000 a year for the first 10 years," he said.

"All that matters to me is travelling on my bike, that's all I ever wanted to do."