A man from Port St Mary, who is walking around the equator, has had to halt his journey due to problems caused by Brexit and the war in Ukraine.

Steven Primrose-Smith challenged himself to take on a walk that would last longer than half a decade, starting on April 1 of this year.

He has now completed just over 5% of his journey, having just finished walking through Germany.

Beginning and ending in Port St Mary, Mr Primrose-Smith is travelling along the equator as much as he can, raising money for charity Médecins Sans Frontières which is currently helping people in Ukraine.

He told Manx Radio: ‘What I’ve come to realise is the daily budget that I’ve set myself of £12 a day is nowhere near enough if I’m going to of this in any sort of fun way.

‘Because of Brexit on September 2 I have to be out of the EU Schengen zone and the nearest point to the zone from here is the other side of Slovenia and there’s no way I can get there in that time.

‘My original plan was to get a bus across Slovenia and walk from Croatia but instead I’m going to pause the walk and then come back to the Isle of Man, try to raise some more money and increase my daily budget, and then I can carry on next spring.

‘When I planned this trip at first, the war between Russia and Ukraine hadn’t started and my route around the Caspian Sea took me through Russia, which is now out until we become more friendly with Russia and visas are easier to get hold of. So, it doesn’t matter if I pause it a bit and come back next year.’

When he spoke to the Examiner in March, Mr Primrose-Smith said he expected the trip to take around five to six years to walk an equal distance to the equator, adding:

‘If I were to do 20 miles a day, six days a week, it would take me almost exactly four years but that won’t happen.’