News

Jason Lewis Returns Home After 74,000km Globe Journey

E365> Adventure - Tuesday October 09 2007

E365 -- Some guys have ideas of what they wanna do, and some guys just have plain old-fashioned balls-to-the-wall vision. Like Jason Lewis, who just returned from 13 years travelling the globe -- by body power alone.

British adventurer Jason Lewis has made the final leg of his journey home to Greenwich, London putting an end to a 13-year trip around the world. With no petrol.

The 40-year-old tallied the last few miles off his 74 000km odyssey when he pedalled up the Thames in a 7,9-metre boat he calls Moksha.

The last 3 000km -- doesn't sound so far now, does it -- was completed on his bike as he rode through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria and Germany and Belgium.

Highlights of the trip included capsizing in the Atlantic Ocean (!) breaking both his legs, being arrested on suspicion of spying and being chased by a crocodile in Australia.

He 'blubbed like a baby' when he finished. (His words.)

In July 1994, Lewis set off from the same spot -- at exactly zero degrees longitude -- and headed for Portugal. From there, it would be hiking, kayaking and cycling all the way home.

"Everything I've been doing for the last 13 years has been in some way connected to this trip and tomorrow that will be no more," he said.

"If it was just about the physical challenge I would have got bored. The 'why?' question changed over the years. I started circumnavigating the world... but it became more about using the expedition as an educational tool to enhance children's learning experience in the classroom."