A Kent cyclist who rode his treasured bike for 10,000 miles across Europe and Asia had it nicked - after arriving back in the UK.

Saddle-sore Sam Swain, 22, took his Dawes Super Galaxy hybrid touring bike from Ireland to Japan - through Turkey and Iran - before riding it to India and Thailand.

He then travelled to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China and South Korea on the sturdy two-wheeler to fulfil a childhood dream.

But after he returned to Britain his beloved bronze-coloured bicycle was stolen from a bike rack just yards from where he now works.

Fuming Sam, whose family home is in Temple Road, Canterbury, completed the 10-month inter-continental journey with his father Mark, 54, (both pictured above) last year.

The self-funded expedition cost £12,000 and was in aid of Canterbury-based charity the Rising Sun Domestic Violence Project.

But the £1,000 bike was stolen at 8.30pm on June 1 from a rack in Bristol's Quakers Friars as Sam was at work in nearby Italian restaurant Carluccio's.

As soon as he realised the bike had gone he reported the theft to a security guard.

Staff found CCTV footage of a woman with a boy aged about 13 by the bike and the same boy riding off on it while the woman left on foot.

The footage was passed on to police but they later told Sam there was a "slim chance" of recovering the bike.

He was told an officer would be assigned to the case but has yet to hear back from anyone.