A CHALLENGE chaser has completed a 5,500km cycle across the Australian Outback, in what he describes as one of his "hardest" adventures to date.

Dennis Warner has finished embarking on a solo cycle the from the west coast to the east coast of Oz with park runs in-between.

It was the latest in a long list of challenges the 59-year-old has completed across the globe since 1998 which include cycling from Harwich to Timbuktu and climbing the 15,771ft Mont Blanc, in France.

For his Australian voyage Dennis, of Beech Grove, Little Oakley, said he had to cycle from dusk until dawn for 44 days covering an average of 73 miles per day.

He said: "It took exactly seven weeks and I did park runs along the way."

Dennis started his challenge on August 18 near Perth and cycled 1,549 miles to Alice Springs in central Australia, then cycled 1,624 miles to Sandgate on the east coast.

He also took on five park runs across the country which were each 5km long.

"For about 2,000km of the journey I was not cycling on proper roads," he said.

"In central Australia there was no water whatsoever in any rivers as there was a long period of drought.

"So the really bad roads were just sand and for about two per cent of the time I was dragging my bike through the sand for about 5km."

Despite Dennis cycling during the Australian winter, temperatures ranged from 25 degrees to 37 degrees during the day.

He said: "I was cycling from dawn until dusk for around 12 hours a day.

"One day I cycled 24 hours non-stop because the wind picked up at about 7am and lasted all day and died down at night."

Dennis started sleeping during the day and cycling throughout the night to avoid the scorching heat and strong winds.

He said: "I built enough momentum that I was not going to give up.

"It was difficult as the scenery did not change and it was hard to focus at times.

"I had a few mechanical problems along the journey and my luggage fell to pieces - and my camera was blown away in a sandstorm.

"There was a 300km stretch of road between food and water at one point which was hard too."

The laboratory technician said in the remote outback he would see about a dozen cars drive past a day.

He said: "I think it's been one of the hardest challenges I have done because central Australia is so empty which makes it one of the loneliest places on the planet."

Dennis is now completing an eight-day cycle from the jungle in northern Queensland inland via bush single tracks into the Outback.

He will complete the challenge on Saturday and fly home to the UK on Sunday. 

"I look forward to coming back to my home comforts but it will be sad to leave Australia,"he added.