It may have taken 17 years, but Norman Smith has finally completed his goal of walking 50,000 miles.

The 68-year-old started walking as a hobby aged 51 and has clocked up an average of just over 14 miles a day over 3,551 days.

And he has worn out 93 pairs of socks and 19 pairs of boots in the process.

He thinks nothing of walking 14 miles from Bicester to Brackley to sort out his car insurance and knows the local countryside like the back of his hand.

A former pilot, he joined the Ramblers Association in 1995, then progressed to the Long Distance Walkers’ Club.

Having whetted his appetite, Mr Smith joined the Centurions of 1911, a group for those who have walked 100 miles in 24 hours.

His conquests include the 234-mile Seven Shires Way, the 171-mile Roman Way, which starts in Chesterton, and 84-mile Hadrian’s Wall.

And in 2007 Mr Smith did a 20-mile walk on Remembrance Day to visit memorials to fallen servicemen and women in Bicester and surrounding villages.

He was back at St Edburg’s Church in the town by 11am to take part in the two-minute silence.

Mr Smith, of Macaulay Close, Bicester, lived and worked in Africa for 18 years as a pilot in various countries and was in the RAF for 10 years. He retired in 1991.

He said: “I flew planes and gliders but because you don’t do something for a whole lifetime, in 1994 I discovered walking.

“My first big milestone was 24,906 miles, the equivalent of the circumference of the Earth, and it took eight years.”

Last month he passed the 50,000-mile mark thanks to an early vow to record how long he walked each time.

Each year he tries to walk about 3,000 miles.

Mr Smith, who records his distances in a notebook after calculating them using dividers and a map, said: “Walking is the greatest way to get superfit – and it’s free.

“There are as many miles of footpaths as roads and they are empty. I enjoy putting my boots on then going walking. I feel fit enough to jump over the moon.

“People said it will wear out my joints but it hasn’t.”

Mr Smith, who plans to scale down his walking a little since reaching his goal, added: “After 17 years, I have got the house to paint and the chimney to sweep.”