Ffyona Campbell
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Ffyona Campbell (born 1967) is a British woman who was the first woman to walk around the world. In total she covered 32,000 km (20,000 miles) over 11 years, although the achievement was marred by the fact that she had initially cheated in a 1600-kilometer (1000-mile) stretch across the United States.
She started at the age of sixteen in John O'Groats (the northernmost point of mainland Scotland) in August 1983 and walked to Land's End in England.
At eighteen, she set off from New York crossing the United States towards Los Angeles. However, during this leg she became pregnant by one of her support team, Brian Noel. The pregnancy slowed her progress and she decided to accept secret lifts in her support vehicle in order to meet commitments to her sponsors.
She later terminated the pregnancy and continued on her journey, walking the 5,100 km (3,200 miles) from Sydney to Perth in 95 days, breaking the men's record for this journey.
On 2 April 1991, she left Cape Town, South Africa, covering over 16,000 km (10,000 miles) before arriving in Tangiers, Morocco on 1 September 1993. In April 1994, she left Algeciras, Spain and walked through Europe, arriving in Britain at Dover. She then completed the last 1,300 km (800 miles) walking from Dover back to John O'Groats, arriving on 14 October 1994.
In 1996, she confessed to her deception regarding the stretch across America and returned to complete the section. She also requested that her record be removed from the Guinness Book of World Records and has kept out of the public eye since.
Books
- The Whole Story. ISBN 0-7528-0988-1
- On Foot Through Africa. ISBN 1-85797-946-X
- Feet of Clay. ISBN 0-434-10692-5
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