AN OXFORD doctor cycling round the world for charity had a rather rude awakening halfway through his trip, when he was evicted from his tent at gunpoint in Peru.

Steve Fabes set off on his five-year journey on January 2010, aiming to raise £50,000 for medical charity Merlin.

In his latest blogpost, he described how a Peruvian named Pedro woke him at 3am and ushered him out of his tent at gunpoint.

He said: “I poked my head out of the inner tent to greet the stranger with a millisecond of disbelief followed by the biggest sinking feeling of my life – in his hand is a revolver.

“The clip is half out and displaying exactly four shiny gold bullets. He inserts the clip into the gun and uses the weapon to beckon me out of my tent.

“In the dead of night, miles from the nearest town, alone in rural Peru, heart slamming into my chest wall, I follow.”

It transpired the man, a miner, had returned home in the early hours and spotted Dr Fabes’ tent camped near his isolated house and had reacted with fear.

The man had been robbed by an armed bandit the previous month and had bought the revolver as protection.

Dr Fabes, a former Abingdon School pupil, is now 21,250 miles into his journey and, having cycled through 31 different countries, has so far raised £19,541.49 for the cause. To sponsor him, visit cyclingthe6.blogspot.com