Former paratrooper completes his British Isles coastline walk
SIX years and a visit to Guernsey later, and a former British paratrooper has walked the entire coastline of the UK, including the Channel Islands.
Chris Lewis, 43, completed the final mile of his 19,000-mile challenge at the weekend, and despite embarking on the journey alone, he crossed the finish line with a fiance, a one-year-old son and a dog.
The family visited Guernsey in January this year to walk the island’s coastline after being gifted ferry tickets by Condor Ferries so no island in the British Isles would be left unwalked.
He also walked round Herm, Sark and Alderney while in the Bailiwick, and took a trip to Jersey also.
‘To say we’re chuffed is an understatement,’ said Mr Lewis in an interview with PA as he crossed the finish line.
‘This walk has restored my faith in humanity and hopefully other people’s too. I really am so proud and over the moon.’
Mr Lewis set off from near Swansea without a plan on 1 August 2017 with a pair of borrowed boots and limited supplies.
He had served with 2nd Battalion parachute regiment and suffered with his mental health as he struggled in the return to civilian life and was facing homelessness.
Mr Lewis returned to the spot where it all began on Saturday to finish the entire circuit, cheered on by friends, family, people he’d met along the way and colleagues from the forces.
Three years into the six-year walk, he met his now-fiance Kate Barron, who was also walking around Scotland at the time.
Miss Barron had left her teaching job in London to continue the walk with Mr Lewis.
‘I think this is something that is going to take a while to sink in,’ she said.
‘I’ve been walking for almost three years now and this has become a way of life for us.
‘I think to wake up in a couple of days and not have that sense of mission to move forward every day on the coast is going to be so strange. I also feel so proud of us, we’ve worked so hard on this.’
The pair had their son Magnus in May last year, and took a couple of months off for him to grow and for Miss Barron to recover.
Mr Lewis’s only goal in 2017 was to raise money for SSAFA The Armed Forces Charity.
His fundraising efforts have now reached more than £380,000, and can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chriswalks.
