Homesick Student Cycles 3,500km Across Europe From Aberdeen, Scotland, To His Hometown In Athens, Greece

Cleon Papadimitriou, a 20-year-old Greek student studying at Aberdeen University in the North-East of Scotland has cycled 3,500km to his home in Athens, Greece, after being trapped in lockdown. It took him 48 days to complete the journey, carrying a rucksack weighing 30 kilos.

He made the decision after Scotland imposed a lockdown and shut all of its airports, meaning he did not have any idea as to when he would ever make it home. It was then on May 10th that he decided the only thing he could do was to get on his bike and go for it.

He travelled the length of the UK, into The Netherlands, and crossed Germany and Austria before reaching Italy. He then got a boat to his homeland, which was itself in the middle of a lockdown.

He said of his journey, in which he encountered many difficulties, that:

"It started as a joke, but because I like 'adventures' of this kind, I started to study if that was possible. Sometimes the bicycle tire burst two or three times a day, and that not only cost me a lot of time but it wasn't good for my morale either. It was a lesson I had to learn to manage."

As he entered his home neighbourhood in Melissia, he was welcomed by friends and family and a large banner which read: "Welcome Home Cleon: One more challenge accomplished!"

While many applaud his heroism in getting home, some would question the sense in travelling from a country, the UK, ravaged by CoVid-19, through other countries similarly affected such as Italy and then entering a country, Greece, that had done so well in containing the virus. It is also clear that he has broken a number of laws in the UK through his actions. He does however wish to return to the University of Aberdeen when travel restrictions have been lifted and the world returns to some sort of normality.

It is believed that over 60,000 people in the UK, and over 4,000 people in Scotland, have so far died of CoVid-19, while the numbers of deaths in Greece, due to their fast lockdown, have stayed below 200. Greece is continuing to ban any flights from the UK into the country.