Farewell to global charity bike

In pictures: round-the-world bike

A cyclist has auctioned the faithful bike which carried him 10,000 miles through 17 countries for charity.

In 1984 David Hall from Cardiff cycled from London to Nepal through deserts and past war-torn countries on a sponsored ride for Oxfam.

Back in the UK, the bike was briefly his livelihood as a cycle courier, then his means of getting to work and even taking his children to school.

The 50-year-old said letting go of the bike was "like losing a leg".

Mr Hall, from the Pontcanna area of the city, told how the bike had taken him to many wonders of the world on the sponsored ride to the village of Pachod in India.

Of the 13-strong group that set out from London in 1984, only seven - including Mr Hall - completed the journey.

We thought, no, we're going to cycle across the desert David Hall

He was one of several of the team to divert from the original route and help with famine relief in the Sudan for a year, before continuing as planned.

Mr Hall said they travelled almost entirely by bicycle, but there were occasions when they caught ferries or planes.

He said: "The first part up to Egypt was more professional, we left London with loads of gear.

"After a year in Sudan where you just get by on what you can, it was just shoes made out of tyres and home-made clothes," he said.

Mr Hall recalled how he had crashed the bike crossing the Nubian desert.

He said: "There are two ways of getting across - on a truck or on a train. We thought, no, we're going to cycle across the desert."

Mr Hall said some tracks had been stony, and at times they had had to drag their bikes through soft sand.

David Hall crashed in the Nubian desert - but carried on

He said it had been "reasonably cold and beautifully quiet" at night.

"I remember looking up at the stars and thinking, this is amazing," he recalled.

But on one of the rough tracks he crashed - flying over the handle bars.

"I was cut, but I was ok," he said.

"The forks (on the bike) were bent, so in order to get the wheel back in I had to wedge the forks into a gash in a large rock and physically bend the forks back into place.

"I thought at that point I'd have to get new forks, but I've used it ever since."

The bike is still in working order, but his partner Lynne Allery had bought him a new one, so it was in the way.

It reached £100 for Oxfam in the auction, and went to someone who lives quite close to Mr Hall, who said he could still go and see it if he wanted to.

Its former owner said he thought the bike had gone to a good home.

"I've got visitor's rights, so that's good," he added.