Travel
The Start of a Massive Adventure
Over the last ten years I ' ve popped up occasionally in Soltalk to mention a book I ' ve written about another one of my cycling adventures . And many of you went out and bought those paperbacks , something for which I ' m immensely grateful .
This time I ' m here for a different reason . I ' m here at the beginning of a challenge rather than the end . And it doesn ' t involve bicycles at all . It still involves travel though , and it still involves its announcement being met with cries of “ That ’ s crazy !” This time though , when it ’ s said aloud , it does sound a bit loopy , even to me . So I ’ ll just come out with it :
Starting on April 1st – and no , this isn ’ t an April Fool ’ s prank – I will walk around the world . See what I mean ?
The amount of people who claim to have done this is only a handful , but the number who have done it properly is just three . But what do I mean by “ properly ”?
In the absence of bridges over the Pacific and Atlantic , whatever your world-circling strategy , you have to trot over bits of land and then jump on planes or ships to take you to the next bit . There ’ s no avoiding that . But doing this , it ’ s possible to make your journey shorter or longer .
For example , you could walk across the tip of Africa and claim correctly you ' ve crossed the entire continent . You could do
walked the Earth , and that ’ s the length of the equator . That ’ s what I mean by “ properly ”. This means walking 24,901 miles or 40,075 kilometres . And then , if I ’ m successful , four people will have properly walked the Earth .
My approach is different to the others . I write books and , to do so , I need stories . People are stories , and so I ’ m actively seeking out the places where they live . I intend to walk right across as many of the world ’ s greatest cities as I can . Y ’ know , amazing places like Istanbul , Tokyo and
Steven Primrose-Smith
Mexico City . And my first is ... Manchester ! ( No sniggering at the back . In Europe Manchester is fourteenth by population . And considerably higher by rainfall .)
As well as stretching the legs , this journey will stretch my head . My different approach also relates to communication . Via a bundle of audio courses , I ’ ll learn languages . Lots . Before this trip is over I hope to have chatted in French , German and Spanish , but also Croatian , Bulgarian , Turkish , Russian , Hindi , Mandarin Chinese , Japanese , Indonesian and Brazilian Portuguese .
Port St Mary on the Isle of Man , where Steven will begin his round-the-world walk on April 1st
something similar with the other landmasses too and announce you ’ d walked the world after only covering a similar distance to an afternoon in Ikea . ( And I ' m in no way underestimating the endurance required to survive an afternoon in Ikea .)
Or maybe the sneakier adventurer would take a different approach and attempt to traverse each line of longitude . That sounds fair enough until he admits to walking a small circle around the North Pole and completing his round-the-world trip in just a few minutes .
I believe there ’ s a minimum distance to say I ’ ve legitimately
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Oh , and I ’ ll also be writing about my adventure each month here in Soltalk . In the meatime , if you want to find out more , have a look at my website : PrimsEarthTrek . com . Scan the QR code on this page to jump there directly . On the website you ’ ll find links to my YouTube channel and podcast as well as Facebook , Instagram and Twitter . Importantly , there are details of the charity I ’ m raising money for – Medecins sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders – whose operations span more than seventy countries , now including Ukraine .
Right , I ’ d better be packing up . Please check out my website . I ’ d love to have you along .
STEVEN PRIMROSE-SMITH PrimsEarthTrek . com