Man hoping to visit world's largest 1,000 cities on round-the-world charity walk to reach Sheffield this weekend

A man hoping to visit the majority of the globe’s largest 1,000 cities in a charity walk around the world is set to arrive in Sheffield this weekend.
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Travel-writer Steven Primrose-Smith embarked upon the equator-length walk, which will see the 51-year-old walk around the world, covering at least 24,901 miles, in the Isle of Man on April 1.

Steven will be raising money for Doctors Without Borders through his mammoth challenge, which he expects will take him around seven years to complete.

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Since the beginning of the challenge, Blackburn-born Steven has walked through cities including Lancaster and Bolton and is set to make his way through Sheffield tomorrow (Sunday, April 17), which he says is 758th of the world’s 1,000 biggest cities.

Travel-writer Steven Primrose-Smith embarked upon the equator-length walk, which will see the 51-year-old walk around the world, covering at least 24,901 miles, in the Isle of Man on April 1Travel-writer Steven Primrose-Smith embarked upon the equator-length walk, which will see the 51-year-old walk around the world, covering at least 24,901 miles, in the Isle of Man on April 1
Travel-writer Steven Primrose-Smith embarked upon the equator-length walk, which will see the 51-year-old walk around the world, covering at least 24,901 miles, in the Isle of Man on April 1

"I’ll reach just outside Sheffield tonight, and then I’ll walk in a north direction, going past Sheffield Cathedral and Hillsborough,” said Steven.

Steven will stay overnight with a friend in Sheffield, and with a budget of £8 a day, he plans to stay at the homes of friends; wild-camp where possible and book himself into the occasional hotel to allow him to recharge his power packs.

He says he chose to raise money for Doctors without Borders because of the international work they do, which mirrors the breadth of his challenge, and currently includes providing people in war-torn Ukraine with primary health care and psychological support.

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Steven has previously taken part in some lengthy cycling challenges, including an expedition of some 22,000 miles, spread over three years.

He hopes to walk through some of the busiest parts of the world’s largest cities, including London, Istanbul, Delhi, Shanghai and Tokyo.

After making his way across England, Steven will catch a ferry over to France and then plans to travel through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and then probably Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria before reaching Istanbul, which will be his first checkpoint.

From there, the route is unplanned and Steven will come up with the rest of the itinerary as he goes, but hopes to reach India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, South Korea and Japan. And then there’s Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Steven says he will often stop walking after four consecutive days of hiking to give his ‘feet and back a rest’; and will also take breaks from the round-the-world challenge now and again to visit his parents who are ‘getting on’ in age.

He will be documenting his travel journey through his social media pages; YouTube channel and website at: https://primsearthtrek.com/ through which you can also donate to Doctors without Borders.