LONDON, Oct 7: He was hit by a car in Colorado, attacked by a crocodile in Australia, detained as a suspected spy in Egypt, and survived illness and periods of despair.
On Saturday, British adventurer Jason Lewis finally came home, completing a 13-year, 74,000km human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.
The 40-year-old carried his 26-foot yellow pedal craft the last few miles up the River Thames, pushing it across the Meridian Line at Greenwich, where his expedition began in 1994.
“I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed,” Mr Lewis told Sky News television after stepping across the meridian. He struggled for words as he described his feelings at the close of an odyssey that took him around the globe, powered only by his arms and legs -- on a bicycle, a pedal boat, a kayak and inline skates.
“It’s been my life, for 13 years, I’ve put everything into this,” he said. “To be honest I didn’t know it was going to happen. There were many times in the trip where it should have failed.”
Mr Lewis was recruited by fellow adventurer Steve Smith, who first dreamed up the idea of going around the world using only human power in 1991. The pair had little experience at sea, but Mr Lewis thought the prospect of hiking and biking across the world was ‘wildly romantic’.
After reaching Hawaii, the two split and Mr Smith went on to write a book, Pedaling to Hawaii.—AP
