How many frontiers are left? A 40-year-old British man has just completed a 46,000-mile journey around the world completely under his own power by bicycling, rowing, hiking and rollerblading.
The man, Jason Lewis, was just 26 years old when he and a friend set out to circumnavigate the globe without relying on engines, motors or wind power such as sailing; no tramp steamers to carry them across oceans or trains to cross deserts.
Along the way he broke both legs when he was hit by a car while rollerbladding in the US, was attacked by alligators, snakes and pirates, and headed off alone when his friend dropped out of the scheme in Hawaii.
Arrival
Lewis arrived in Britain this weekend, but his journey wasn't officially complete until he entered Greenwich on Oct. 6. He crossed the English Channel in a boat that he pedaled.
He told the BBC:
“I have been away a long time and I don't think it has sunk in as the last few days have been so frenetic with getting ready for this particular crossing.
“It's going to take a lot longer to sink in but it is a very good feeling to be back on this island.
“It will be like a huge portion of my life over.”
Tour through US
Lewis originally headed south out of Britain, pedalling a bicycle through France and Spain into Portugal. From there, the switched to his inflatable boat and pedaled to Miami.
Folks who went to school in the Fort Lauderdale area might remember Lewis and Steve Smith from the mid-1990s, as they spent several month speaking at schools and fund-raising. Then Lewis set off by rollerblade while Smith and his girlfriend bicycled across the southern states.
Heading West to San Francisco, Smith and his girlfriend also visited schools and groups in New Orleans and Welsh, Louisiana; Austin; Cloudcroft, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Los Angeles and Morro Bay, California.
Taking a completely different route on rollerblades, Lewis was struck by a car. Smith and his girlfriend arrived in San Francisco in October 1995, and set off for the next leg of their trip down the coast to Central America about a year later.
A X360 Journal at the website Expedition 360 tells many of the adventures faced by Lewis and others who accompanied him on part of the journey.
Later on, Lewis was attacked by a crocodile that chomped on his paddle on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. He battled a deep funk at times on the long voyages between Pacific islands. In Tibet he bicycled at night to avoid Chinese roadblocks and later was jailed as a spy by Egyptian authorities.
Meanwhile, his buddy wrote a book, Pedalling to Hawaii
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