A pensioner who calls himself “the dream walker” and who has embarked on an expedition to walk around the world began his European leg of the trip in Ireland this week.
Pierre Paul Cayer from Canada has already walked across his native country from Vancouver to St John's, Newfoundland, and from the tip of North America at the Arctic Ocean down to the tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Mr Cayer is currently just over two years into the expedition and hopes to complete it in the next five. “I am walking around the world - a little walk around the world,” he told The Irish Times in Dublin yesterday, after walking from Dublin Airport.
Pushing a three-wheel buggy filled with his belongings and bedecked in the Canadian colours, he said he had undertaken the challenge “for the love and passion for adventure”.
“I am going to be crossing Europe for five years and I am starting with Ireland - the beautiful and romantic Ireland,” he said. “I already walked from Dublin Airport to the beloved city of Dublin this morning, and I’m on my way to Cork now.
“From there, I will go to Belfast before I head for Scotland. I will take the ferry from Belfast to Scotland. After that, I will go to England, then to Wales, and then back to England to the port city of Dover.
“I will be in Calais, France, and after that I will go to Switzerland and Luxembourg. I will also go to The Netherlands and Germany and I will spend five or six months in Western Europe. I will do all the countries - up and down Western Europe.”
He said he intends to cover the continent of Africa, as well as countries New Zealand, Australia, Russia, and China during his travels.
Mr Cayer, who said he lives by the mantras that "life starts at 65" and "you don't choose a life – you live one", said he would like Irish people who come across him to take photographs and send them to his Facebook account.
“You can say to the Irish people - families and the great people of Ireland - they are always welcome to come and say hello to me if they see me on the road,” he added.
