12 th FEBRUARY 2005

On the 12 th February Nicky and myself (Kieran) set off on a 40 mile walk around London in preparation for ‘The Long Walk’.

Leaving South London at 7.30 am (Campbell was up, but I questioned whether he was awake) we strode out across Clapham Common. The cold fresh morning felt good and we were quite excited about the day that was due to unfold.

Banter was good at the early stages. We got a call at 10 am from Captain Mitchell who was mirroring the exercise in deepest , darkest Somerset.

15 miles later and we had a problem - my feet had blistered badly (I’d stupidly worn brand new shoes on the day). Needed Vaseline badly! We reached the Finchley area and while dressing my feet we met a lovely old lady who offered us tea, plasters and sustenance to further our journey.

We were amazed by the beauty of the Vale of Heath, particularly as we looked back on the wonderful London skyline.

I don’t quite remember the road we went down, but we saw some of the most vulgar displays of capitalist housing ever - it was eye dropping. These were homes - actually no!!! - they were hideous monstrosities with Grecian pillars, huge entrances, but with no taste whatsoever. Thought - did the architect really enjoy putting this garbled mess together or did he/she think " well, this is what the client wants"? What about planning laws etc?

At about 25 miles we were still talking (great result) - the sarcasm, the bad jokes and innuendoes were still going well.

We spoke again to Captain Mitchell who had got his dog walking with him now and was rather frustrated. The dog somehow had not got the same walking rhythm and had completely ignored the rules of walking in straight lines ( Funny that!!!!).
We told him that we had just completed 35 miles but he knew we were lying, and he just let it ride. In truth, we were both feeling the pain and very tired, but not one word of defeat would we utter.

Marching on we continued to admire the beauty and note the ugliness of London that changed from one area to the next at such a rate. This created great confusion as our minds melted from sleepy hamlet to dank, dark streets with faceless drones of people who didn’t seem happy at all, but heh!!, who am I to judge?

I discovered what was the inspiration for the running style of "Forest Gump" - a revelation of truly great insignificance, yet great fun in the ensuing sarcastic repartee between two exhausted friends.

Another call from Captain Mitchell, real worry, the noise in the background sounded like a dog being chastised rather crudely (though not cruelly). He had had enough, tripped up by the lead 4 times, sore feet, almost run over twice by chasing said animal across a road. Spirits still high overall as we took the proverbial mick and ignored his paltry excuses.

Home run along the " Thames pathway" - great crowds around the London Eye but we ploughed through them with a sudden burst of energy (an audience always helps) although feet were destroyed by this stage. We ran out of water and needed sugar badly, we shared a bit of Mars Bar and it tasted so good!!!!

At last Clapham Common and only 1 mile to go - everyone was wrapped up because of the wind and cold but we felt nothing, even the pain was dissipating with the excitement of our achievement.

Arriving at last at Chez Campbell we couldn’t speak or walk, and were afraid to sit down for fear of not being able to get up again! Campbell looked fine (but of course he is super fit).
I was speechless - I felt as if my chi, energy, yin/yang or whatever had left my body for good. Everything was numb, feet were swollen with blister on blister on blister. But the sense of achievement was phenomenal.