Only the English

Last Sunday, Joff Summerfield arrived in Greenwich on his penny-farthing having left there 2½ years earlier by the same mode of transport. In the intervening time he has peddled his penny-farthing round the world at a rate of up to 40 miles a day, all in aid of charity. Joff Summerfield is, of course, English.

Summerfield was interviewed on BBC TV Breakfast this morning:

Presenter: Are you the first person to do this?
JS: No, I’m actually the second. The previous person did it over 100 years ago.
Presenter: How long did it take him?
JS: About the same as it took me.

In fact Summerfield claims he is the first person to achieve this feat since Thomas Stevens, who was also English, in 1884-7, although he started and ended in San Francisco.

Apparently the thing people most asked him was “Why?”, which seems hardly suprising! His reply? “It's pretty much what we English do. It's an adventure.” The mammoth tour was his third attempt at circumnavigation on a penny-farthing.

Oh and along the way he also came second in the novice category of the Penny-Farthing World Championships.

Further news reports on Google News.