Meet Tom Fremantle, an author and adventurer from England, who, now in his early 50s, decided he wanted to walk around the world.
''I know it's quite a challenge,' said Tom. 'But I believe it's doable and want to give it my best shot.'
More than anything, Tom wanted to explore the kindness that exists in the world and, of course his love of walking and the great outdoors.
'Sadly, humans are becoming increasingly scared of each other,' said Tom. 'But from my previous experience on the road, I was shown immense kindness. I think we can trust one another much more than we think, and hope to prove this is still true.'
Hiking across the wilds of the Mojave Desert in California to the lush hills of Ireland, on through Germany’s Black Forest and down the swirling River Danube, Tom has now covered over 4,300 miles of his world walk but still has a long way to go.
To complete an official world walk in accordance with the rules laid down by the World Runners (and Walkers) Association Tom needs to cover over 26,230 kilometres (more than 16,300 miles), covering at least four continents coast to coast, every step of the way.
Tom started his journey at the US-Mexico border near San Diego with a Juarez street dog named Einstein but the logistics of walking a dog through the desert proved too tricky.
'It was unfair on poor Einstein, who was soon struggling, and naive of me to think it was possible to take him through that terrain," said Tom. On the bright side Einstein is now living happily with a dog loving family in California.
The first part of Tom's journey covered 2,700 miles across America from California to Savannah in Georgia facing some wild conditions along the way. “Now I’m about midway through Europe, hoping to finish the European stage in Istanbul. Next is likely to be Africa. The whole walk will take over three years. It’s quite a mission but, other than losing a few toenails, dodging rattlesnakes and the odd fierce storm, so far, so good.”
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Tom recalls the great kindness he has received on his journey, often being put up by complete strangers and has spent nights everywhere from "churches to Mexican restaurants, from barber shops to horse and cattle ranches.” The same for Europe too, especially the pubs in Ireland, who often let him camp in their gardens.
Tom wild camps much of the time but loves meeting families who put him up, or other travellers in campsites and youth hostels, which is where Tom met me (@MohamedNawaz) in the dorm of a hostel in the little Irish town of Killarney. What were the odds.
On his world walk Tom is raising money for three charities that mean a lot to him: The Alzheimer’s Association, The Puzzle Centre and Medical Detection Dogs - for more information on the charities and how to donate please visit: www.tomsworldwalk.com
You can follow Tom’s journey on his website (link it to text): www.tomsworldwalk.com
Or simply Tom Fremantle on Instagram.
The Slow Maths of a World Walk
It's worth pausing on what a world walk actually demands. The official threshold sits north of twenty-six thousand kilometres, covering at least four continents coast to coast on foot. Tom is in his early fifties. He has logged a steady fifteen-to-twenty-mile day across deserts and pubs and farm tracks for years. Even at that committed pace, a project like his takes years to complete. The patience required to set out on a walk that will outlast multiple seasons of life is its own kind of training.
What the daily routine looks like is far less glamorous than the highlight reels would suggest. Tom wakes early, eats whatever the previous evening's host packed for him, walks for several hours, takes a break in the heat or the rain, walks again, and then negotiates the night's shelter. Some of those negotiations end at a campsite. Some end on the lawn of an Irish pub. A few have ended on a barber shop floor or in the back room of a Mexican restaurant. The variety is the point.
Why Strangers Help
The single most striking thread in Tom's account is the kindness of strangers. He set out partly to test his belief that human warmth is more reliable than the news cycle suggests, and the trip keeps confirming the hypothesis. There is something disarming about a man with a walking stick and a backpack who arrives at your door without a phone call, and it draws people out. Cooks send him off with leftovers. Farmers wave him across paddocks. Pub landlords pour him a pint and pretend not to notice that he hasn't asked for one.
This is not naive. Tom is careful, experienced, and reads people quickly. But the larger pattern is real. When you reduce yourself to walking pace and accept that you depend on the goodwill of the people whose villages you pass through, you discover that the goodwill is almost always there.
The Three Charities
Tom is raising money for three causes that mean a lot to him: the Alzheimer's Association, the Puzzle Centre, and Medical Detection Dogs. The three are an unusually intimate combination. Alzheimer's research benefits from the kind of long-tail public funding that single donations can meaningfully add to. The Puzzle Centre supports children with severe learning disabilities and their families. Medical Detection Dogs trains canines to identify cancers and other conditions through scent. Each is small enough that the contributions a walking man raises along the way make a visible difference.
If you want to donate or follow Tom's progress, his project site is the right starting point. The route map is updated, the charity links are direct, and his Instagram captures the smaller moments that don't always make it onto the website. You can find him under Tom Fremantle on Instagram and at www.tomsworldwalk.com.
Meeting Tom On The Road
We met Tom in the dorm of a hostel in Killarney, Ireland. He was halfway through his European leg, working his way toward Istanbul. The conversation lasted past midnight. He talked about the heat of the Mojave, the green of Ireland, the kindness he had been offered and the small handful of times he had been wary, and the books he was hoping to write once the walk ended. He spoke about the project the way you'd talk about something you had decided to do for the love of doing it rather than for the photographs at the end.
It is a useful frame for the rest of us. Whatever your version of a long walk is, the question Tom's life poses is whether you are willing to start before you can see the finish.
What Comes Next
Tom's next stretch is Africa. After that, the Asian leg. The maths suggests at least another two years on the road, longer if winters in the higher latitudes force route changes. The book that will come out of the trip is already partly written in the photographs and the Instagram posts, but the final version will likely take its time, the way Tom does.
It is hard to read about a project like this without it nudging something loose in your own routine. You do not need to walk around the world. You probably do need to walk further than you have been walking. Find a stretch of road that intimidates you a little, pack a small bag, and go.
