First published June 14, 2021.
On 2 May 2014, Angela Maxwell walked out of Bend, Oregon, pushing a small cart that held almost everything she still owned. She came home six and a half years later, in December 2020, having covered more than 20,000 miles on foot across four continents and more than a dozen countries, most of it alone. Her journey is one of the longest solo walks by a woman in recent years, and the way she talks about it is less about records than about slowing down enough to meet the world.
Why she started walking
Maxwell was in her early thirties, working as a business consultant and life coach, with a partner and a comfortable life. She had not been an obsessive traveller. The idea took hold after she overheard people in an art class talking about a man who had walked around the world, and it would not let go.
She later told BBC Travel that she had believed she was happy, but realised she was searching for a deeper connection with nature and people. Walking offered that: it is cheap, it leaves almost no carbon footprint and it forces a traveller to stop in the places most people drive straight past. She sold her belongings, left her job and set off with a personal fundraising goal for Her Future Coalition, a nonprofit that supports survivors of trafficking and gender violence in India and Nepal.
The women who inspired her
Before and during the walk, Maxwell read the books of women who had made long journeys before her. Three stood out:
- Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 crossed about 2,700 km of desert from Alice Springs to the west coast of Australia with four camels and her dog, and wrote about it in Tracks.
- Ffyona Campbell, who walked roughly 32,000 km across four continents between 1983 and 1994. She later admitted accepting rides for part of her US crossing, which she then rewalked.
- Rosie Swale-Pope, an adventurer who hitchhiked to India and Nepal as a young woman and, in her late fifties, ran around the world from Wales between 2003 and 2008.
Maxwell has said their very different stories, including their struggles, gave her the confidence to try.
Six years, four continents: the route
The walk was never fixed in advance. Maxwell chose each stage by instinct, but its outline can be traced through her interviews:
- Oregon to Australia. She walked to Portland, flew to Perth and headed north on foot through Western Australia's outback towards Kalumburu.
- Southeast Asia. She flew into Da Nang and walked through Vietnam.
- Mongolia. She crossed the steppe from Ulaanbaatar towards Ulaangom in the far west, a stretch where her cart broke down.
- The Caucasus and Turkey. Denied entry to Russia, she went through Georgia and on across Turkey towards Istanbul.
- Europe. She walked through Italy, including Sardinia, and along the north coast of Scotland.
- New Zealand, then back to the United States, finishing along US Highway 20 into Bend.
She often covered up to 20 miles a day and wore through two or three pairs of shoes a year. By mid-2018 she had passed 12,500 miles; by the time she reached home the total was over 20,000. She lived on around $5 a day, mostly oatmeal and instant noodles, and camped wherever she could find a safe spot or accepted a bed from people she met.
The hard parts
The walk was dangerous as well as beautiful, and Maxwell has been frank about it. She suffered heatstroke in the Australian heat and caught dengue fever in Vietnam, which forced her to stop for about a month. About a year into the journey, while camping alone on the Mongolian steppe, she was sexually assaulted. She has said the attack made her question whether she could keep going, and that she chose to continue.
Some online retellings of her story said she was attacked "by bandits" several times; that is not how she has described it. Her own accounts mention one assault, alongside illness, extreme weather and countless small setbacks.
The kindness of strangers
What Maxwell remembers most is the hospitality. A sheep farmer in Sardinia invited her to stay for a month and taught her how the farm worked. A woman she met in Italy asked her to be godmother to her child. All along the route, strangers fed her and offered her a place to sleep. Walking, she has said, makes you approachable in a way a car or tour bus never can.
Coming home in a pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic and a family need brought the journey to a close: she returned to care for her stepfather. On 20 December 2020 she invited the public to walk the final mile into Bend with her. Speaking to local reporters, she said she had never considered giving up because she "couldn't bear the thought of failing at this." She raised more than $20,000 for Her Future Coalition along the way and has since spoken widely about women's confidence and safety on the road, urging other women to "know that you're capable of doing anything."
Thinking about a long walk yourself?
Few people will walk around the world, but long-distance walking is open to almost anyone. Lessons from journeys like Maxwell's:
- Start with a trail that has support. Routes such as the Camino de Santiago or the West Highland Way have marked paths, hostels and other walkers.
- Let wheels carry the weight. Many long-distance walkers on roads use a cart or trolley, as Maxwell did, rather than a heavy backpack.
- Share your plans. Leave a route and check-in schedule with someone at home, and carry a way to call for help.
- Look after your health. Check vaccinations and malaria or dengue advice for each region, and talk to a doctor before a long trip.
- Go slowly. The point, as Maxwell found, is not the mileage but what you notice along the way.
Sources: La Grande Observer, December 2020: Bend woman returns from journey around the world; Euronews Travel, March 2023; Wikipedia: Robyn Davidson; Wikipedia: Ffyona Campbell; Wikipedia: Rosie Swale-Pope; original interview: BBC Travel, May 2021.
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