In the end, the Greek Gods were kind to Mark Fuhrmann.
One of the worst rainstorms in years raged over the country as the partner at maritime PR firm Blue-C was nearing the end of an exhausting 3,355-mile (5,400-kilometre) solo kayak trip from Oslo to Athens.
But the sky was clear and the seas were calm on 21 November, when the 60-year old Canadian paddled over the finish line in Piraeus harbour.
He was exhausted, bleeding from his right shin and 16kg lighter than in April, when he embarked on a journey to raise money and awareness for his Piece Prize campaign rewarding Silent Heroes along the journey.
“I thought about quitting every day,” the widower and father of three told reporters as he arrived in Piraeus. “But I’m kind of a stubborn person and I wanted to see this through."
Allowing for a six-week pause over the summer, Fuhrmann was at sea, or on rivers or canals for a full 183 days.
Fuhrmann pitched his tent at least 170 times to spend the night, preferably outside large towns because he thought he was safer there. He subsisted on a rather Spartan diet of yoghurt, bananas and nuts for breakfast; bread, cheese and ham for lunch; and leftovers for dinner.
He relied on the kindness of strangers in 17 European countries, from Norway to Denmark, France, Italy, Albania and Greece, to provide him with the odd full meal or with a firm roof over his head, whether in riverboats or houses.
Loneliness was one of the biggest challenges.
“Sometimes I was paddling through crowded places and I wondered, does anybody notice or does anybody care? A bit like in society, really,” he said.
But support was amply forthcoming along the way — from the Swedish onshore walkers who spotted him and called the coastguard when he capsized in the North Sea, to the Italian pensioner who promptly offered him a lift from Genoa to the Po River and the Albanian man who regaled him with a pomegranate for lack of anything better to offer.
The experiences have convinced him that the basic message he was trying to convey was right: that simple citizens offering community services — or “Silent Heroes” as he calls them — can make a difference to excluded and isolated people.
Fuhrmann met such individuals in 15 cities along his way, awarding them about €20,000 ($23,500) in raised funds.
