THOMAS STEVENS

Thomas Stevens rode out of San Francisco at 8 o'clock on April 22nd 1884 to ride around the world on his 50" Penny Farthing. When I first read his account of his fantastic adventures I had already decided to use a Penny Farthing for my own travels, so to read of his struggles and how he overcame the difficulties of his journey could only inspired me all the more.

I recently visited his grave which is in the St Marylebone Cemetery in East Finchley, London. If you visit yourself there are two parallel roads which run down from a small chapel. Thomas is opposite the end of the left hand road, with your back to the chapel.

To try and briefly recount his story would do no justice to the original work, so I have listed below his route and dates to give you an idea.

San Francisco April 22nd 1884
Duncan June 14th 1884
Des Moines June 23 1884
Chicago July 4th 1884
Cleveland
Boston August 4th 1884
Liverpool August 19th 1884 to May 2nd 1885
Newhaven May 10th 1885
Paris May13th 1885
Strasburge
Munich
Vienna
Budapest
Belgrade
Sofia June 23rd 1885
Constantinople July 2nd to August 10th 1885
Angora August 16th 1885
Erzeroum September 3rd 1885
Persia September 7th 1885
Teheran September 30th 1885 to March 10th 1886
Meshed April 7th 1886
Herat April 30th 1886

Here he was turned back and so traveled back to the Black Sea where he took a boat to Karachi in India, from here he traveled by train to Lahore from whence he continued his peddling travels.

Lahore July 28th 1886
Delhi
Calcutta 18th September 1886
From Calcutta he took another boat and sailed around Asia to land in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong October 12th 1886
Nagasaki November 23rd 1886
Yokohama December 17th 1886, and the finish.