A Brit has set off on an epic 14,000 cycle across the world after training for it by working as a food delivery cyclist.

Simon Watts, 31, is pedalling to Sydney, Australia from his hometown of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on his trusty steel-framed bike ‘Hendo', named after his hometown delicacy, Henderson's Relish.

The hospitality worker had signed up to delivery apps including Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat to train for the trip and had spent just €15 on accommodation in nine different countries.

After setting off on May 8, Simon reached Turkey after 30 days, where he is currently resting.

He said: "My first day was Sheffield to Manchester and my bike was so heavy the front wheel was uncontrollably wobbling."

"At my friend's house I had a moment of panic and ditched everything that I deemed to not be essential."

"I think the cycling has been the easiest part, in reality. The biggest challenges were adapting to a different way of life."

"I've done a few bike tours before, but nothing of this scale where I've carried so much stuff." "

Simon has already powered through wet weather, strong headwinds, and a minor crash in Bulgaria – where he injured his knee.

A scary encounter with barking shepherd dogs in Romania led to one of Simon's friends giving him a can of pepper spray to defend himself in the more remote regions.

Simon said: "I've been quite aware of the areas I enter where wolves and bears are present. I don't have any experience with wolves and bears."

"I think wolves are quite rare in the areas I'm going to and tend to avoid encounters with humans. "

"Bear encounters seem to be a bit more common, it's kind of just in the mountainous region."

"I did see, in the Balkans, a pile of bear poo in the roads I was cycling up but I've not seen any."

"Other than that I've felt incredibly safe, really. I haven't had any dodgy encounters really."

While he's set off alone, Simon has met other cyclists on the way who have joined him for parts of his trip, and he's been meeting friends with locals along the way.

One man he stayed with in Turkey, called Ismail, even put on the TV only to say his favourite program was ‘Our Yorkshire Farm' – which had been dubbed in to Turkish.

Simon said: "The first night with him we went to the mosque and he prayed, met a few of the locals, and then when we got back to his house he put the telly on he said ‘oh, this is my favourite program'."

"I didn't know about this program, but I've spent a lot of time in the Yorkshire Dales and I just recognised the landscape, I knew it was somewhere near home – turns out it was a program about Yorkshire and it had all been dubbed in Turkish, which was really surreal."

"I had no idea programs like that made it out to places like this."

Simon saved up money for three years in order to make the trip. Before Turkey, where he is currently stopped for a 10-day rest at a campsite, he had spent just €15 on accommodation for the entire trip.

Instead of staying in hotels or hostels, the savvy traveller has been wild camping, and even slept in a Cappadocian cave, to keep costs low.

Simon is doing the epic journey to raise money for mental health charity Mind over Mountains. He has already raised more than £300 on JustGiving.

He is dedicating the journey in memory of his cousin, Rachael Helmore, who sadly died aged 33 from suicide in Sydney, Australia, and his uncle Phil Helmore, 74, who died of mesothelioma due to previous exposure to asbestos.

Next, Simon plans to travel through central Asia and China, and down to south-east Asia before he hitches a ferry or plane from Indonesia towards his final destination: Australia.

His next destination out of Turkey will be the Georgian capital Tbilisi, where he plans to catch a plane to Uzbekistan as geopolitical reasons make travelling over land through Russia or Iran difficult.

At the end of his trip he plans to work in Australia for a year to save up money to make an epic journey back to the UK – via America, Africa, and Europe.

He added: "I have a work visa for Sydney, and then after working there for a year I will be plotting a route back the other way around the globe."

"Nothing is fixed yet – initially, I was going to do New Zealand and then across the States, because of the Atlantic and Pacific the route back is potentially a lot shorter."

"But in the last couple of weeks I've been thinking it doesn't really make sense not to hit every continent, so I think instead the route back I take will be New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Mongolia, and then go either from Mongolia or Japan to South America, and then from America fly to somewhere like Ghana and do the west coast of Africa."

"It would add on maybe six months more of travelling, but I think it would be nice to hit every continent on the way."

"Antarctica would be nice too, but I don't know if it's possible to cycle there, maybe that will be something to look in to."

Donation link: https://www.justgiving.com/page/simon-watts-4