West Lothian round-the-world cyclist misses Christmas return

A cyclist on his seventh attempt to ride around the world has had to abandon his goal of being home for Christmas following set backs.

Josh Quigley, 27, from Livingston, said he would have had to cover 400 miles a day to meet his festive deadline.

The Scot, who is now cycling across the US, said he had been battling serious head winds and was stranded in the desert after four punctures at night.

He had hoped to spend Christmas with his mum after losing his dad last year.

Mr Quigley said he would now aim to cross the finishing line in Edinburgh by the end of the year.

He embarked on the trip to beat depression and alcohol abuse.

Known as the Tartan Explorer, he has cycled about 14,000 miles on his bike since he left the capital in April and marked 365 days of sobriety in October.

Mr Quigley said: "I've finally had to accept I'm not going to cycle round the world by Christmas and I'm not going to be home by Christmas, which is a shame because I genuinely thought I could have done it.

"There's a time for fighting and a time for accepting and the maths just doesn't work any more, the numbers just don't work.

"It's become such a big thing for me, who wouldn't want to be home for Christmas, I knew I had a chance to do it and I believed I could but I wasn't able to do it.

"It's just annoying because I was so close, I can't think about it or it will just annoy me."

Mr Quigley has had many setbacks during his trip including sweat ruining his passport in Australia, which meant he had to fly back to Britain to get a new one before carrying on with his tour.

In April, just weeks into his world attempt, thieves stole his bike, which he nicknamed Braveheart, from outside a hostel in London.

He overcame that setback, buying another bike and travelling onto France.

He is currently cycling from Los Angeles to New York before catching a flight to Paris for the final leg back to Edinburgh.

In 2015, after splitting from his long-term girlfriend, Mr Quigley was suffering badly with depression, and tried to take his own life.

He said he crashed his car at about 70mph on the motorway but survived.

He went to see Sir Chris Hoy speaking in Edinburgh and felt inspired to get on a bike.

After losing his father to leukaemia in 2018, he slipped into depression once again before deciding to embark on his seventh attempt around the world.