American adventure cyclist Tom Stevens has ridden…

American adventure cyclist Tom Stevens has ridden From Liverpool, a, wearing a white military helmet, through England, passing through Berkhamsted, where he had been born.

He recorded that roads in England were better than in America.

He had taken the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe to cross to France and continued through Germany, Austria, Hungary (where he had picked up a temporary cycling companion with whom he shared no language), Slavonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumelia, Turkey.

In Constantinople he had rested among people who had heard of America, refitted with spare spokes, tires and other parts and a better pistol (a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson), waited for reports of banditry to subside, and had pedaled off through Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran, where he had waited out the winter in Teheran as a guest of the Shah.

Having been refused permission to travel through Siberia, he had set off on March 10, 1886 through Afghanistan where he had been expelled by local authorities.

He had taken a Russian steamer across the Caspian to Baku; rail to Batoum; steamer to Constantinople and India.

In the Red Sea, his knowledge of mules had been useful to the British Army.

He had cycled across India, noting that the weather was always hot and the Grand Trunk Road was excellent wheeling and free from bandits.

Much of his description of life in India, however, suffers from being based on the opinions of experts rather than his own observations.

Another steamer had brought him from Calcutta to Hong Kong and southern China.

He had pedaled to eastern China, encountering great difficulty in asking directions in a language he couldn't pronounce.

A Chinese official had given him refuge from rioters who were angry over a war with the French.

From the coast, he had taken a steamer to Japan, where he delights in the calm of this country.

The bicycle part of his journey around the world ends December 17, 1886, at Yokohama.

His itinerary accounts "DISTANCE ACTUALLY WHEELED, ABOUT 13,500 MILES".