Man returns home after 19,000 mile walk that took more than 6 years to complete
A former paratrooper has finally returned home after undertaking an epic six-year challenge walking 19,000 miles.
Chris Lewis, from Swansea, Wales, left Llangennith Beach with just the clothes on his back, a rucksack, and 10 pounds in his pocket on August 11, 2017. He's now returned with a new family, a beloved pet and nearly £400,000 raised for charity.
The 43-year-old trekked across the entire UK coastline in an effort to collect donations for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. At the start of his journey, he was a single parent to his daughter.
When she finished school and moved to Bournemouth to attend college, Chris knew he needed to do something different. Having struggled with depression and anxiety since leaving the Forces in 2004, he received help from SSAFA and wanted to give something back.
Chris with his partner, Kate and they now have a baby named Magnus (Adrian White Photography)“The main thing was I wanted to get away,” he told WalesOnline the day before he crossed the finish line back at home. “It was more of a selfish thing really but at the same time I wanted to raise some money for SSAFA. I had become very anxious, I was anxiety-ridden, and I was incredibly unhappy. Nothing I was doing was working so I decided to do something drastic.”
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Recalling the first few steps all those years ago, he said: “I remember it like it was yesterday. I hit a wall quite early on to be honest - I was pleased to be doing it but I’d had a few drinks the night before so that first day was a bit of a blur! But the more I got into it the better it got. The further I got away from it all the happier I was.”
Chris and Kate are set to get married (Adrian White Photography)Around 3,000 miles into his trek, as Chris was walking through Ayrshire in Scotland, he came across a family who had a dog up for adoption. Soon enough, Jet became Chris’ beloved pet and he has been with him on the journey ever since - Jet, who is now 12 years old, has done around 16,000 miles himself.
They trekked together through rain and shine, through Scotland, England, various isles and back into Wales. But meeting Jet isn’t the most remarkable part of Chris’s story. He also met someone else on his travels, who turned out to be the love of his life, Kate Barron.
On Saturday Chris completed his walk where he started, at Llangennith Beach (Adrian White Photography)“I met Kate at the north-east tip of Scotland - she was doing a bit of a solo adventure herself,” remembered Chris. “We got chatting and she was desperate to find a spot to camp but the weather was awful so she came back down to where I was and asked if she could camp next to me. She then left but about six weeks later she came back up to see me and she’s never left my side since.”
Chris and Kate fell madly in love and are engaged to be married, and on May 1, 2022, their son Magnus Edward Arden Lewis was born. Now a different man to the one that set off from Swansea in 2017, Chris realised that walking thousands of miles with a newborn baby and nothing but a tent for shelter was not the most practical thing. Due to the interest in his incredible trip, Chris signed a book deal and was able to buy a van to transport his family’s belongings and to provide Magnus with somewhere safe and warm to sleep.
Chris was greeted by supporters (Adrian White Photography)Still, he and Kate ploughed on with their challenge, arranging for friends and people they’ve met to drive the van to wherever they end up at the end of a long day, or arranging a lift back to where they left it, before driving to restart the walk the next day from where they stopped.
On Saturday (July 29), after six years that have truly transformed his life, Chris, Kate, Magnus, Jet and scores of well-wishers arrived back at Llangennith Beach. Members of the Band of the Prince of Wales were in attendance at the car park to welcome them, and Chris even received a letter from King Charles himself. Hundreds of people were waiting to congratulate Chris, many of whom had their dogs with them. Some flew Welsh, English, Scottish and Union Jack flags, and some wore SSAFA charity T-shirts, with one man near the finish line saying: "I don't think he was expecting the event to be as big as it is, there's hundreds of people here."
He left Llangennith Beach in 2017 with just £10 in his pocket (Adrian White Photography)Chris spoke to as many well-wishers as possible on the last leg of his mammoth walk, and walkers who had turned up to complete the last mile or so were delighted to get their photographs taken with him. “It’s quite overwhelming really,” said Chris. “It’ll be strange on Sunday morning, not looking at my map, not really having to go anywhere! I’m going to be so sad that this is over but at the same time I will be incredibly proud of achieving what we set out to achieve.”
So what does a man who’s been walking for six years straight have in store for the first day of the rest of his life on Sunday? “It will be nice to spend some time with family over the weekend, put our feet up and just enjoy the moment," said Chris.
Chris has raised nearly £400,000 (Adrian White Photography)"We’re not intending on settling down anywhere in particular at the moment, really. We’re going to take a couple of months to relax, and I’m going to start work on my book, but as soon as that is done we’re going to go out on another adventure. There’s a lot of world out there to see and we want to explore more of it.”
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All incredible journeys must come to an end, and there are none more incredible than the one Chris, Kate, Magnus and Jet have just finished. Six years ago Chris left the Gower Peninsula with nothing. On Saturday morning he came home with so much.
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