A retired business consultant, who has walked the equivalent of Earth’s orbit, has encouraged others to take action in the midst of the pandemic.
Vinod Bajaj, 70, has walked 40,075 kilometers over the past four years without ever leaving his home town of Limerick in the west of Ireland, and has benefited from being walking at such a difficult time for people to expand.
Mr Bajaj, who was born in India and has lived in Ireland for 43 years, completed his remarkable act in September after completing more than 54.6 million steps in 8,322 hours and burned nearly 1.5 million calories in less than 1,500 days.
He has applied to the Guinness World Records to set a new world record as the first person to walk equal to the circumference of the Earth.
He hopes to get a decision on the application next month.
The married father started the Earth walking tour in 2016 with the goal of losing weight, not to mention the distance he would walk.
He used an activity controller on his phone to read and record his progress.
Mr Bajaj said: “I didn’t wake up one morning saying I was going to do a Earth Trip or that I was going [to try] to be in the Guinness World Records, I just wanted to walk because I wanted to lose weight – I was a little fat.
“I started walking and after walking for one year I discovered that I had done the circumference of the moon; I said that’s very good.
“The second year I completed the Mars orbit, that’s about 20,000 kilometers.
“My next goal was to go after the Earth which is about 40,075 kilometers. So I said why not.
“So when I finished 40,075 I felt really good about it. ”
Mr. Bajaj ended up walking up to 50 kilometers a day.
When the public health barriers Covid-19 in Ireland walked nearly 9,000 kilometers while adhering to Government measures to live within a radius of five kilometers from his home.
“When the Government said I should say cocoon I said I wasn’t going to sit in the house. But the 5km restriction was a bit of a deterrent, ”he explained. “What I did was I chose the route and I did the same route 10-15 times and I reached my target.
“I said I’m going to continue with it, Covid or Covid, water, hailstone, I’m not going to stop.”
“I didn’t want a situation where you are locked in a house,” he said.
Mr Bajaj said he found many benefits from walking.
“In the first nine months of walking I lost about 20 kilograms of weight,” he said.
“Walking gives you peace of mind. Your mind is weightless. ”
He said: “I think people should start walking. It is very good for health.
“I sleep very well, I eat well, I have no medical issues.
“I think walking definitely helps – I would encourage people to walk, especially much older people.
“They sit and watch TV and on the sofa. I do not believe that. ”
But he found it lonely many times.
“At times it was lonely because at times I thought I was walking aimlessly but I kept listening to Morning Ireland, Sky News and some of the news from my home country in the India … I also met a lot of people while walking. ”
Since completing his walking tour Mr. Bajaj has walked more than 3,600 kilometers, not for any reason, simply because he enjoys it.
“I’ll continue walking, I may slow down a bit but I’ll keep going.”
He said: “I looked at Neptune, it’s 160,000 kilometers.
“Can I do 160,000 kilometers?
“Yes. I needed another 10 years. Who knows, you don’t know. ”