The Hindu : International : Coast-to-coast on a Penny Farthing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

International

International

Coast-to-coast on a Penny Farthing

PERTH, OCT. 13. A former British soccer player raising money for a leukaemia charity set off on Wednesday on a ride across Australia on a Victorian-era bicycle that is older than the country, that formally came into existence only in 1901.

Leukaemia survivor Lloyd Scott dressed up as fictional British super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes, complete with tweed coat, deerstalker hat and moustache for the 4,350-km trip from Perth to Sydney. He donned the costume to blend in with his 1885 ``Penny Farthing'' bicycle with a giant front wheel and tiny back wheel, as he crosses a desert region, the Nullarbor Plain, where temperatures are likely to be 40 degrees C. Mr. Scott, a former fire-fighter from England, is no stranger to covering long distances in wildly inappropriate apparel. In 2002 he completed the New York marathon in a vintage diving suit — complete with boots and helmet — that weighed in at 59 kg. He took five days to finish. The father of three is making what he hopes will be a six-week trek through mountain ranges and desert plains in a bid to raise £1.5 million for Children With Leukaemia. ``Everyone I've sort of met over here has warned me of what to look out for — road trains, cattle grids, kangaroos, emus, bulls, camels — and I've got a list now that's nearly as long my arm,'' he said. Road trains are the giant trucks that thunder along Australia's Outback highways.

Mr. Scott said he had wrecked one Penny Farthing learning to operate the original 1885 version he is using. He is riding with a support crew including his father, brother and a physiotherapist, who plan to bunk down in mobile homes each night.

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