Cyclist hitches home to have op (From Oxford Mail)

Cyclist hitches home to have op

3:45pm Monday 10th May 2010 in

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A DOCTOR aiming to cycle around the world has been forced to hitchhike 3,100 miles back to Britain for surgery.

Dr Steve Fabes, 28, was four months into his five-year trip when doctors in Greece said he needed keyhole surgery on a knee injury and at least 12 weeks’ rest.

Unable to fly because of the volcanic ash and running low on funds, Dr Fabes had no option but to hitch home.

Now back at his mother’s home in North Oxford, the former Abingdon School pupil is awaiting surgery and plans to resume his trip in Istanbul when he recovers.

Dr Fabes said hitching home had been an “epic journey”.

He said: “The first challenge was getting out of the immense sprawling metropolis that is Istanbul.

“After forty five minutes a car stopped and I jumped in.

“The occupant, Apo, was a perfume seller, and he would be my first lift.

“In the end it took me eight separate lifts, each of just five or 10 kilometres, to breach the city limits.”

Eventually, Dr Fabes made it to the Greek island of Corfu, where a nine-hour ferry journey got him to Bari, in Italy.

After dozens of refusals, he found help in the shape of a 6ft 5in ex-basketball player.

Dr Fabes said: “He was on a nine-hour mission from Rome to Lausanne to deliver coffee machines.

“Hitching a lift is less a blag and more of a trade.

“My role in this instance was to keep the driver awake so we chatted away in broken English and French for several hours.”

After crossing the French border, Dr Fabes hit the jackpot in the form of a lift from Lyon all the way to Normandy.

He said: “After the ferry crossing from Le Havre to Portsmouth I decided to give hitching one last shot.

“Within 10 minutes a truck driver stopped and offered me a lift to my mum’s front door.”

Dr Fabes, a medic at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, aims to raise £50,000 for Merlin, an agency that supports remote medical clinics.

He said: “I will return to Istanbul, probably in early August, after England win the World Cup.”