Probably a visitor to the UK. It happens a lot with cyclists visiting the UK. They either don’t know the rules or they make a wrong turn and find themselves stuck on the motorway. IIRC the Kenyan national team (or some other national team if I’m mistaken) was using the motorway to train on in Manchester during the commonwealth games. Motorways can look very inviting because they have wide smooth hardshoulders.

Even foreigners should be able to find cycling friendly routes nowadays with smart phones.

It's always been easy to cycle into a N. European city but w/o a map you could waste all morning trying to find your way out.

In quite a few countries you can cycle on motorways, like in Serbia.

If there is no other road the emergency lane on certain sections of freeways is open in California.