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Published 03 Aug, 2019 07:04am

The weekly weird

Man bikes to seven countries in 24 hours

A Hungarian man broke a Guinness World Record when he got on his bicycle and visited seven countries in a 24-hour span.

David Kovari, who is working on his master’s degree in Budapest, said he spent weeks planning the optimal route that would allow him to pass through Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia in a single trip of about 310 miles.

“I used three different platforms for planning,” he said. “The roads were split into three categories based on their quality: perfect, acceptable and no-go. The plan was to stay on perfect roads as much as possible, avoid main roads and heavy traffic, and keep elevation to a minimum.”

Guinness confirmed Kovari broke the record for the most countries visited in 24 hours by bicycle. The previous record of six countries was set by German cyclist Michael Moll.


Camera returned to man after theft by eagle

You probably haven’t thought about this before while taking pictures outside or in the wild — yes, be careful as there could be someone or something waiting to snatch away your precious possession just like this Canadian man taking video of wildlife ended up with some surprisingly close footage when an eagle stole his camera and flew away.

James Williams said he was taking video of eagles feasting on fish remains on Skidegate, in British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii archipelago, when one of the birds snatched his GoPro and flew away.

Williams said he watched the bird for a time in the hopes his camera would be dropped, but he lost sight of the eagle and feared the GoPro was lost to the ocean.

He said a neighbour’s house guest was walking on the beach several days later and found the GoPro with its casing cracked but the SD card intact.

The camera was returned to Williams and he shared the footage of the eagle’s unexpected theft and high-soaring flight.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 3rd, 2019

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