Man on long walk from Portugal to Singapore has now reached Southern China
PINGBIAN, CHINA: A German man left Portugal early last year and, well, just kept walking “the longest possible hike within Euro-Asia.”
His goal: to reach Singapore, a whopping 25,000-kilometre journey.
Rainer Mautz started at Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal, on February 26, 2025. By Friday (Oct 9), 591 days later, he had reached Honghe Ha'nizu Yizu, Yunnan, China, which is 11,262 miles (18,124.4 km) away, more than two-thirds into his journey.
Mr Mautz is accompanied by his wife Guang, at least for part of the way. Guang was with him on day one, at the southwestern-most point of Europe, where they were the only two people at the time. Taking an Uber to Cabo de São Vicente, he noted that it was the last type of transport he would take for a long while.
“Today, I realised what my calmness is based on: my life motto of considering each day or each moment on its own. I didn’t think at all about what lies ahead of me. Instead, I was too busy enjoying and observing the spring-like Algarve coast,” he wrote on Polarsteps, the site where he documents his journey nearly daily in English, German, and Chinese.
Guang was still with him on March 10 when they battled rivers, mud, and storms at Morón de la Frontera in southern Spain.
He wrote that his wife told him, “You won’t find one woman in a hundred who would put up with this,” and he acknowledged that the day pushed them to their limits.
Mr Mautz then went through France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Turkey, with Guang hopping on and off the trek, and then Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Next came Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and China.
And while he’s had to contend with the elements, including snow and frigid weather, he’s also been met with kindness along the way. Mr Mautz has also taken his time, sometimes taking rest days, although there are also periods when he walks daily.
Other unexpected incidents have occurred on the trip as well, such as having to abruptly change plans and cancel a two-month trip across Mongolia after an outbreak of foot‑and‑mouth disease.
Instead, the husband and wife changed their route and continued through China.
“I love China, so in principle it was no problem for me to continue the new route through the provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu. But I had deliberately chosen Mongolia for climatic reasons—it lies further north and at a higher altitude, so summers there are considerably cooler. Now I have to contend with temperatures of 38°C, and that in the desert, where clouds and shade are a rarity. At noon, I feel like a little sausage on the grill,” he wrote on June 21.
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By Thursday (Oct 8), the long-distance walker had reached the 18,000-kilometre mark. The next country on his list is Vietnam, which is only 100 km away.
More about Mr Mautz trek may be found on Polarsteps, his blog, as well as on Instagram here.
/TISG