Canadian Jean Béliveau in around Kathmandu as part of his 75,000km world hike to promote "peace and non-violence"
© AFP/File Praksah Mathema

KATHMANDU (AFP) - He opted instead to go for a walk -- a 75,000-kilometre (46,500-mile) trek around the globe to promote "peace and non-violence."

"One day I just started thinking 'how many days would it take to walk to New York, to Mexico?' and the idea of walking round the world just started from there," the 52-year-old Montrealer told AFP.

Beliveau, a neon sign manufacturer with a wife and two children, soon became obsessed with the idea once the seed had been planted.

"Once I started thinking about it, I could not stop. I swung between thinking it was crazy and thinking it was something I could achieve," the grey-haired francophone Canadian with piercing blue eyes said.

He left his Montreal home in August 2000 with a converted baby stroller packed with a tent, a few clothes and 3,000 dollars in cash.

Since then, he has walked around 50,300 kilometres through the United States, through central and South America. From there he went to Africa where he walked up the east coast and then travelled to Europe and on to Asia.

Beliveau, who chronicles his journey on his website wwwalk.org, walks between 30 and 40 kilometres a day and relies on funds from his family and the hospitality and generosity of those he meets.

To date he has stayed with around 1,400 families, he said.

He began his travels only able to speak French. But since then, he said he has become fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese and "can get by in Arabic."

Canadian Jean Béliveau in Kenya as part of his 75,000km world hike to promote "peace and non-violence"
© AFP/File Simon Maina

"The journey will take 12 years to complete," said Beliveau, 52, who has worn out 37 pairs of shoes since he began his world trek.

"It's a while away but after completing over 50,000 kilometres, I feel as if I'm on the home stretch," he said.

He devised his plan to walk around the world after he realised he was halfway through his life and decided he wanted to make "huge changes."

He realised that switching career or cities would not be enough to achieve the sort of life-altering change he wanted.

He planned the trip in secret for eight months and then -- just three-a-half weeks before his departure -- told his wife.

Unsurprisingly, when he revealed that his plan would entail him walking for years, his wife said their marriage was over.

"My wife said it was finished between us and I said 'No, I love you, we can continue (being married) while I'm away,' and eventually she agreed," he said.

He sees his wife for about a month a year when she travels from Montreal to join him, and he has walked some legs of his journey with his son as well as seen his daughter and granddaughter who was born shortly after he left.

He headed on Saturday to China to continue his journey, before he walks through South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, and then returns to Canada where he wants to walk from the west to east coast.

During his travels, he has frequently been dubbed Canada's Forrest Gump, after the main character in the 1994 film of the same name who runs several times across the United States.

Canadian Jean Béliveau in France as part of his 75,000km world hike to promote "peace and non-violence"
© AFP/File Jeff Pachoud

"I don't mind being called Forrest Gump but it was not the aspiration nor the objective when I started," said Beliveau.

The bushy-eyebrowed adventurer has faced down muggers in South Africa and wild lions in Tanzania, but robbers and big game paled to the dangers he faced recently in India.

"The most dangerous thing on the trip has been the traffic," he said.

"In India it was terrifying as people on the roads pay no attention at all to pedestrians. There were absolutely no rules whatsoever."

©AFP