Globetrotter arrives in city on bicycle

Hyderabad: A septuagenarian from Germany, who is in a globetrotting mission for the 7th time, was seen in the city, while seeking directions from Traffic Police.

Better known as the Nomadic Cyclist, the 72-year-old Dr Armando Basile a native of Italy and resident of Germany, was spotted near the Women’s College in Koti. He stopped for a brief moment for asking directions to the Traffic police on duty, B Raju.

According to Raju, the cyclist wishes to complete 2 million kilometers before reaching the age of 100 years. He was asking directions for Kurnool. “I guided him to reach the town by providing directions,” said Raju.

Later Basile’s son also forwarded an email expressing gratitude to the cop, who helped him reach the destination. “Thank you very much to the Police officers of Hyderabad for helping my father to find the right way out of town on his 7th trip by bike around the world,” wrote Dirk Basile.

The inimitable cyclist has so far travelled across the world 6 times touching 80 countries, covering 12 lakh km. He was last seen in Mangaluru (Karnataka) in October and interacted with people there.

Being a kind of nomad, he remains always equipped with all the essentials and gets ready his mini office, mini kitchen operational whenever he needs.

The cyclist has been on globetrotting mission ever since his doctor told him to swim or bicycle following debilitating injury. As part of this exercise, he earlier visited India four times and also made friends at Mohali and Amritsar. His wife Jesilla encouraged him by joining him on his first ride from Germany to Paris.

The couple rode some 5,00,000 km in Europe and US. Tragically, his wife died in an accident in 2005. He manages the bicycle tour with his pension and takes a break in the meantime to spend time with his girlfriend back in Germany.