Watch: Mr Beaumont returns to Paris after nearly seven months on the road

A Briton has become the fastest person ever to cycle round the world, pedalling past the finishing line at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris 195 days and six hours after he set out.

• In pictures: Mark Beaumont's record-breaking bike ride

Tanned, bearded and flanked by a police escort, Mark Beaumont was greeted by cheers from family and friends at the end of an epic journey that has taken him through 20 countries.

He suffered water poisoning in Iran and food poisoning in Pakistan, and was knocked off his bike three times - by a donkey in Pakistan, a motorbike in India and in Florida by an old woman in a car.

Mugged in Louisiana, locked up by police in Pakistan, and nearly washed away by torrential rains in Thailand, Mr Beaumont, 25, said he "never felt like giving up".

To beat the previous Guinness World Record, the politics graduate from Newburgh, Fife, had to cycle at least 18,000 miles.

Flying time was not counted but the stopwatch started ticking as soon as the bike had cleared customs.

The former record holder was another Briton, Steve Strange, who in 2004-5 cycled 18,424 miles in 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes.

Mr Beaumont smashed that by almost three months, arriving exactly on time, after cycling a gruelling 100 miles a day on a bike weighing 100 kilos (220lbs), with a day off every two weeks.

A low point was travelling 800 miles through Pakistan-administered parts of the lawless Baluchistan province, where he was given a police escort by day and locked up by night in police cells "for my own safety".

He lost a stone. But, he said he made some "amazing friendships" along the way, and had time to take in some amazing sights.

Mr Beaumont's cycling bug began early.

At the age of 12 he cycled across Scotland, but onl　y after his mother persuaded him that Land's End to John o' Groats was too far.

To prepare for his record bid, in 2006 he pedalled from Warsaw to the Arctic Circle.

After initial saddles sores, his body soon got accustomed to the daily routine, but mentally there were tough moments.

"Then it's just a case of getting through the next hours, or minutes. In easier times you can lengthen your focus to the end of a country. It's all about mind games", he told the Daily Telegraph.

"There were long stretches where I didn't speak to anyone and had no contact. I took a lot of strength from the fact that a lot of people were watching a little dot on a GPS map and knew where I was", he said.

His position was updated every two hours on his website via satellite.

Mr Beaumont was congratulated by Prince William, who is patron of Tusk, one　 of the charities he raised money for.

He has already raised around £5,000 but expects to make at least another £10,000 now that he has crossed the finishing line.

His mother Una said: "I'm so pleased that the dream he's had all these years has finally come true.

"I'd much rather that he took on this challenge than sitting in an offce and wishing he was out there."

Mr Beaumont said he was not sure what to do next: "It's really a blank canvas now. You'll have to ask me that next in a few days. I intend to sleep for about a fortnight."