13 Years Later, British Adventurer Finally Circles Globe

Oct. 7, 2007 — -- When 26-year-old Jason Lewis began his quest to use only human power to circumnavigate the world, Bill Clinton was president, "Forrest Gump" was the top film and the O.J. Simpson saga was just beginning.

But on Saturday, after 37 countries and 46,000 miles, his trip ended 13 years after it began as Lewis landed in his native England.

"It's just been this huge culmination of effort on a purely human power level by individual people who've brought this thing home and made it happen," he said. "It's been a long journey.''

Initially, when Lewis decided to take the journey, he didn't anticipate it would take so long.

"We thought it was originally going to take three to four years," he said in an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."

Lewis decided to begin the adventure for several reasons.

"It's something that hasn't been done before, to circumnavigate the world using only human power," he said. "But also we have used the expedition as an educational tool to visit classrooms along the way and develop and implement educational programs for the classroom. And we've also raised quite a bit of money for local charities along the way especially in Asia. So there's been a mix of the physical challenge and also using it for other means."

But the journey, despite good intentions, was not without its troubles.

"Various mishaps happened along the way," Lewis said.

One of the worst accidents was when a car hit a rollerblading Lewis as he traveled through Colorado.

"One of the worst moments I suppose was getting run over by the car in Colorado and waking up in a hospital and having these very badly broken legs and being told there was a possibility of losing my left leg to osteomyelitis," he said.

Lewis worried he would be unable to finish his adventure, but he did heal and continued toward his goal.

During the journey, crocodiles chased him and a shark tried to attack his boat.

The 40-year-old braved the elements in a small boat as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. Later, dolphins escorted Lewis onward toward Australia. He cycled across Africa and rowed into Istanbul. Using a paddle boat, Lewis finally completed his journey.