Thursday 19 April 2012

License to Indulge....


An enormous and excellent lunch at Wilton's with my dear friend James Keatley - an extravagance of and excuse for unapologetic carb loading, or something like that, prior to departure on one of the longest and most arduous slimming events of my life...

Oh, and the apple and raisin crumble with calvados was, as you can imagine, quite out of this world; as the roast ham before and a dozen Jersey Rock oysters to kick off washed down with the silkiest Chablis.

I intend to leave London looking like Humpty Dumpty - I shall return, I have every confidence, looking more like someone from a Michael Buerk news report.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Monday 16 April 2012

Three Weeks To Go...

Yesterday, pre-departure nerves set in - was this really a wise idea? To swap my flat, my job and essentially what adds up to a contented existence for a rucksack and 1500 miles of slog and pain.

I recce'd my route from St Paul's Cathedral to Dartford (the first night stop) and, despite assurances to the contrary, I remain convinced that it is a lot further than the 17 miles reported to me. "Oh, yes", when I returned with my findings, "it did seem rather a long day when I walked it", my resident expert replied with some glee. I retired to bed less than happy.

But today, my fears were allayed when I met with my dear friend and walker par excellence, Andrew Bruce outside Cotswold Camping in Knightsbridge; Andrew walks everywhere - Santiago, Rome, Turkey, Balham, Covent Garden, even in his sleep I am quite sure. Soon, I was in the capable of hands of Tansin Norbu and Sonny Bull - the former a trekking expert from Ladakh, the latter a survival expert to make Bear Grills smart with envy at what he can do within the M25 given a bag of nettles and a piece of string. Two hours later and a considerable part of my bank balance depleted, I walk out into the sun with an enormous bergen on my back filled with every walking aid known to man, including a handsome pair of Asola GTX boots, which were fitted, tested, pinched and pulled at by the professorial Norbu in a series of complex measurings and algorhythms to ensure that they were precisely what the pilgrim ordered and needed for the next 3 months, 3 years or 3 decades. I left with a spring in my step, even if I did look ever so slightly out of place among the beautiful monde of London's premier shopping district...

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Last night...

...I was reminded by my friend, Michaelis, that it is not for the money that we pursue our craft, but for the love of the craft itself; ha, would that it were for the money!

But how right he is, for if my writing brings a smile to someone's face or a tear to another's eye, then that alone is reward enough for me ...

Monday 9 April 2012

4 Weeks To Go....

Northumberland; it is four weeks to go today before I set off for Rome, after early morning eucharist at St Paul's Cathedral, across Millenium Bridge into Southwark for breakfast, along the Thames Path to Greenwich and out to Dartford. My route will take me thence to Chatham, down the North Downs Way to Canterbury, reaching Dover on 13th May where I will catch a ferry to Calais, the Continent and the adventure continuing.

The next four weeks will be busy, as I prepare my kit, finalise my route and prepare to depart.

Today,however, as I get ready to drive back to London following the Easter week end, it has occurred to me that from now on, until I reach Rome in mid to late July, I will only be heading South so as such my journey is about to begun; like suddenly finding yourself riding a tsunami with a skateboard it is a rather daunting yet exhilarating feeling...