ELIZABETH PEARS meets a former bus driver from Hendon who donned his walking boots to cover thousands of miles in a one-man anti-war protest.

Former bus driver Mohammad Samghani, 41, let his feet do the talking when he walked from London to the Persian Gulf in the name of peace.

Mr Samghani, who was born in Iran, set off from his home in Victoria Road, Hendon, on May 11, 2007, and crossed the borders of ten countries before arriving at the country of his birth in October having covered a distance of 3,600 miles.

After waving goodbye to his family, the father-of-two walked for four days to Harwich, in Essex, where he caught the ferry to the Netherlands.

He then walked through Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Bul-garia, before crossing the Black Sea into Georgia, continuing his journey through Armenia and crossing the border into Iran.

Haunted by his time spent in the Iranian Army during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980-1988, Mr Samghani is fiercely opposed to military conflict and wanted to show that, despite current fears about Iranian nuclear capabilities, the majority of its citizens crave stability.

Talking about the first Gulf War when Iraq invaded Iran over border disputes, Mr Samghani’s face saddens.

“So many people died,” he said.

“War does nobody any good and what I learned on my journey was that no-one wants these wars our Governments fight. Along the way I spoke with people from different cultures and the message was always the same — they all wanted peace.”

It is estimated the clashes between the two countries claimed more than half-a-million lives.

Each day, Mr Samghani would walk approximately 30 kilometres carrying with him a backpack holding his tent, sleeping bag and a few extra clothes.

With the distance he was covering taking its toll on his walking boots, he bought five new pairs along the way.

Mr Samghani said: “I would say to anybody who was thinking about doing something like this to really think twice.

"It is so much harder than you could ever imagine both physically and mentally. For the first two months, I had blisters on my feet and often I would cry for no reason. Once it rained for days on end and I was like, ‘God, why are you doing this to me?’ “There were so many times when I doubted if I would be able to finish what I had started.

“There were two occasions when I considered just giving up, but the people I met motivated me to keep going.

“The support I received was amazing. People can be so generous. There was one moment when I met a man who was travelling on his bike to India who gave me €50. I told him I couldn’t accept it, but he said he felt I needed it more than him.”

Mr Samghani said the hardest thing was finding somewhere to sleep at night.

Where possible he stayed in churches, derelict buildings, or pitched up his tent in the gardens of people he met along the way.

“Sometimes they invited me, sometimes I invited myself,” he added with a smile.

And after five months and 25 days he arrived at the border of Iran to a small welcome party.

Upon completing the walk, Mr Samghani stayed for a year in Iran, returning last week.

“Iran is my country but it’s not good anymore,”

he said. “The Government doesn’t respect the people or care for them.

“I am happy I could finish this and that I have done something my family can be proud of.

“It was an incredible experience and I hope I did my small part in letting the world know that we all want to live in peace.”

Mr Samghani, who drove the 113 and 204 routes, has now reapplied for his job as a bus driver, but said he had not ruled out doing another walk.