CYCLIST'S WORLD TOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19415, 25 August 1926, Page 15

CYCLIST'S WORLD TOUR.

ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON. MANY DANGERS ENCOUNTERED. [BY; TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday. To travel 9875 miles on a pedal bicycle and about 20,000 miles by ship and bicycle combined is no easy task, but it is a feat claimed to have been successfully performed by Mr. Kai Thorenfeldt, who has called at Wellington during his trip round the world. This young man, who arrived here by the steamer Dom Pedro 11. on Sunday night, as a working passenger on deck, bound for South- America, very much regrets his inability to torn' New Zealand on his machine. The traveller, who "left his native land, ' Denmark, on February 1, 1925, to tour the world for the purpose of writing a ,book on his experiences, hopes to continue his journey when he reaches South America. By 1928 he thinks he will have gone round the world on his bicycle, a performance which at the beginning was said to be almost impossible. So far, Mr. Thorenfeldt has travelled through Germany; Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, the Balkan States, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Assyria, Mesopotamia, India, Burmah, Siam, Indo-China, Hongkong, Shanghai and Japan, back to the Stfaits Settlements and Java and then by boat, to Brisbane. From there he cycled through to Sydney. During his wanderings he has been imprisoned by mistake, nearly trampled to death by an elephant in Indo-China and shot at by Bedouins, between Damascus and Bagdad. "Perhaps the most thrilling adventure that I have yet encountered, ' he said, "was when crossing the desert about. 10 miles from Damascus.. As the sand was too heavy for cycling, I went with, a motor convoy, consisting of six cars containing 31 passengers. Suddenly, 200 Bedouins, riding on camels, appeared and fired at us. Before we could escape a man had been killed and another wounded." The cyclist said that in the vicinity of where Mr. Cobham's mechanic was killed two classes of natives dwelt. The settlers are very peaceful and give strangers food and shelter. The Nomadic tribes, howevef, are quite the opposite. They will do anything in the way of murder and plunder and no one is safe near them. Since leaving Denmark Mr. Thorenfeldt has kept a very interesting book, which contains messages written in different languages by people he has met on the journey. He has collected hundreds of photographs on the tour.