Kicking off last August, Beaumont's epic, 18,300-mile ride has taken the 25-year-old politics graduate from Paris across Europe, Iran and Pakistan. Then through India and south-east Asia before a flight to Oz, where he skirted the entire south coast, and over to New Zealand, before hopping across to San Fransisco to cycle through the States to Florida. A final flight brought him to Portugal for the final leg up through Spain to France.

Laden with panniers back and front, his custom-built bike, worth £2,500, weighs 30kg - more than four times the bulk of a carbon fibre road racer. Yet Beaumont has managed to clock an average 100 miles a day (with a day off every two weeks).

That's like cycling from London to Bath every day for six months, except that Beaumont has had to tackle mountain ranges in the Indus valley, sun-baked bush in Australia and Monsoon-soaked tracks in India. And to think you and I complain about potholes...

Cycling through 20 countries, Beaumont has used 12 tyres, worn out six pairs of shorts, spent eight nights in police cells, burned up to 6,000 calories a day, lost a stone in a single week, and slept, albeit inadvertently, in a Louisiana crack house.

Perthshire-born Beaumont hopes to raise £18,000 for charity but is apparently some way short of that. A pound for each of the thigh-burning miles he has clocked up seems like a small ask for such a remarkable feat of endurance. I'm on my way to his fundraising page.