After 32,000 miles, 1,029 days and 42 countries, a sailing couple have tied the knot after returning home.

Jim Brockett, 42, and Gerardine McNulty, 35, started their cruise as friends but upon their return, married last month in Malmesbury. They sailed their yacht, Albert II from Lymington to the Caribbean in 2006, and then on to Panama. They crossed the Pacific, visiting the Galapagos Islands, and French Polynesia, before touching at Australia and making their way home by way of Thailand, the Maldives and Egypt, visiting 42 countries in total.

Mr Brockett, a former RAF pilot with 15 years sailing experience, told the Telegraph: “It truly was a dream come true for me – it was a trip that will stay with me for the rest of my life. We got on together so well and things just seemed to click and fit in place perfectly. We never really had any major fallouts.”

Now Mr Brockett says they plan to look for jobs and settle back into “normal life” together.