WALKING Across America, which took maths teacher Roger Frear 111 days to complete in 1980, has since taken him almost 10 years to write and his publishers a further 12 years to get into print.

Now his lavishly-illustrated 250-page account of the 3,200-mile odyssey from Los Angeles to New York is available from bookstores around his home at Walkford.

Roger, 59, had to give up his job as a schoolteacher in the New Forest to embark on the trans-American trudge, which he undertook to raise money for the Wessex body scanner appeal after his father died of cancer.

Along the route he wore out 10 pairs of walking boots, his feet swelled by two shoe sizes, his weight dropped to barely nine stones and he took more than 400 photographs.

Walking solo, apart from 10 days in the Mojave Desert where he shared the trail with a another hiker, Roger also encountered heart-warming hospitality from folk who provided bed and board and occasional heart-stopping hostility from snakes and a rifle-waving redneck who wanted to give him a lift.

"It was the highlight of my life, really," said Roger who still keeps in contact with some of the people he met, including a dentist in New Mexico who fixed his toothache.

Back in England, Roger took a number of temporary teaching posts around the New Forest before taking early retirement from Bransgore Primary School and he now works as a part time supply teacher.

He also found time to walk 2,000 miles north to south across Australia from Darwin to Adelaide and is currently 'Munro-bagging' by climbing some of the mini mountains in Scotland.

Walking Across America by Roger Frear is available priced £9.50 from selected outlets including Bookends in Christchurch, the Furlong Bookshop in Ringwood and New Milton Bookshop in Station Road or direct from the author by calling 01425 278631.

First published: Oct 4