Crossing from Southern France to Southern Spain
"My feet even burned on the 40-degree asphalt road"
A man who successfully crossed from France to Spain barefoot revealed the condition of his soles. The distance he walked barefoot reached approximately 3,400 km. The Guinness World Records recently announced that Pawel Durakiewicz (45), a man from Poland, set a new world record for the longest barefoot journey by walking 3,409.75 km without wearing shoes.
A Polish man who broke the Guinness record for the longest barefoot journey. [Image source=Guinness World Records, TikTok capture]
He started from southern France and arrived in southern Spain on foot. The time taken to walk about 3,400 km was over five months. He walked 20 to 50 km daily, and the famous pilgrimage route of Santiago was included in his path. Pawel used a camper van provided by his colleagues as accommodation, and mainly ate fruit and vegetable dishes.
However, walking on the ground without shoes was much more difficult than expected. In particular, Pawel recalled, "At the beginning of the journey, I walked in nearly 40-degree heat and burned my feet on the asphalt."
After getting burned, he treated his feet with aloe gel. To minimize the time his soles touched the road surface, he ran on asphalt roads. Besides this, his skin was sometimes cut by sharp objects, but he never suffered injuries severe enough to make walking difficult. Before Pawel, the longest barefoot walking record was about 3,010 km. Pawel surpassed the previous record by a remarkable 390 km.
The reason he took on the barefoot walking challenge was for a fundraising event. He runs a charity organization for drug addiction patients and plans to raise funds through this Guinness World Record achievement.
Pawel emphasized, "I wanted to show that ordinary people can achieve amazing things through enough effort and training. I was once at the lowest point in life due to addiction, but now I help others and hold my own record."
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