No, GP does mean spinning there. As they walk around the earth, their head points away from the north pole, then away from the equator, then away from the south pole, then away from the equator, then away from the north pole again.
It happens that they also went around the earth, but the "rotations" in the part you quoted refers to the spinning.
0. Walking in a circle is different from spinning. They are 2 separate things that should be counted separately.
Adding them together should be a type error.