A Mid-Wales woman is set to complete an astonishing journey this week - which has seen her trek 5,000 miles across Europe.

Ursula Martin will arrive back in Llanidloes this weekend, nearly three years after first setting foot on her walking journey in Kiev, Ukraine in September 2018.

Having departed well before the pandemic was even on the horizon, she has had to endure lockdowns, border closures, Brexit uncertainty and the not insignificant matter of walking across an entire continent.

Ursula says she cringes at the term 'adventurer', preferring to call herself an 'extreme rambler', but after hitchhiking across Europe and embarking on such an incredible journey, she admits that she can understand why it's a tag she's frequently associated with.

"A journey of this size is out of your control, you just have to respond to the challenges and hardships as you go along, learning that you are stronger and more resilient than you ever imagined," she said.

"The idea was to walk across Europe and visit the places I wanted to visit. They were Bulgaria and the Balkans. I also thought, gosh I would love to do the Camino de Santiago, and I just thought, why not," she said.

"I walked across Ukraine using paper maps and a compass, making my own route. I've worn through seven pairs of boots and had to manage some extreme physical pain and exhaustion.

"Everybody sits around having their morning cup of tea, and has a stupid little dream. I guess the difference with me is I have followed them through, and taken the really bizarre ones and turned them into a reality.

"I'm a stubborn person and even though it is a cliché, I think you can achieve anything you want to if you put your mind to it and you want to work really hard.

"I seek out the wilder sense of travel and I wouldn’t want to just go to the Canary Islands. I love the rough edges of those experiences and I like not having everything booked in advance."

Born in Swansea, Ursula was brought up in England, and returned to Wales as an adult, including living at Machynlleth. She's no stranger to marathon walking adventures either - In 2015, after treatment for ovarian cancer, she walked 3,700 miles along every long distance path in Wales, releasing a book documenting her experiences several years later.

The global pandemic hit in 2019, and she found herself locked down in Spain as she took on the famous Camino De Santiago walk.

"The Camino was going to be a real highlight of the journey. When you walk alone for two years, you look forward to being with other people and listening to their stories, sharing their journeys and walking the same route people have walked for a thousand years.

"Yet, it was been completely empty for most of the time. It makes me feel like I am just ready to finish now as I am feeling it and I am ground down and tired of the pandemic.

"An adventure like this brings me total joy. I have loved the freedom, spontaneity and complete immersion in nature. It makes all the hardship and loneliness worthwhile." 

Ursula is expecting to reach home turf back in Llanidloes on the afternoon of Sunday, June 6, where she says she's looking forward to a "very British tea and cake celebration". After so long on the road, few would doubt that she's earned it.