Round-the-world cyclist made it from Scotland to London before theft thwarted effort

A Scottish round-the-world cyclist has had his bike stolen from a bike rack in London.

Josh Quigley was embarking upon the first part of an eight chapter journey around the world.

Stage one saw him aiming to cover 3,500 miles from Edinburgh to Istanbul.

On reaching London, Quigley was not able to take his bike into the hostel of choice, so locked it to a bike rack in Borough High Street outside St Christopher’s Inn.

It was no longer there on his return. Quigley discovered the bike missing on Friday April 21.

The suicide survivor was embarking upon his sixth attempt at cycling around the world, having first made it his mission in 2016 following a battle with depression.

On his last attempt, the 'Tartan Explorer' made it 10,000 miles, covering 14 countries. He hoped his 2019 mission would take him the whole way, with a projected finish five years and 50,000 miles later.

Quigley shared an image of himself and the bike with 'Stolen Ride', the community based website which aims to help cyclists be reunited with stolen bicycles.

Speaking in a video uploaded to YouTube, Quigley said: "The bike means so much to me, it really took me out of that dark place in my life and helped me on that journey to happiness. I've now got to try and grieve for that bike.

"I need to try and get a new bike, and continue with the challenge."

He did however reach out to the bike thief, writing on Twitter: "I’ll probably never meet you. But I wanted to say: I don’t hate you and I don’t judge you. I love you and I have empathy for your life situation. This bike changed the direction of my life. I hope it does the same for you."