I Would Walk 1000 Miles

OK, so far I have received a couple of replies back from emails sent. Nothing much positive, but:

Adidas said “no, sorry - we have two named charities”

GlaxoSmithKline said “send us a written letter”

Elastoplast said “send us your address”

And… Shooting Parrots has agreed to give me £100 should I complete the walk. What a superb first sponsor. Thank you!

I will be in New South Wales next week, during which time I’ll do some practise walks and also try to get into the library and pin down a route. Looks like I’ll be getting the ferry from Holland as it’s daily, not twice-weekly as the one from Bergen is.

Also, Louise got in touch and definitely put the ix nay on arriving at her place! I’d pretty much expected this, in honesty, and had already asked NUFC if I could perhaps finish at St James’ Park with their blessing. I may be writing a letter or calling them instead shortly.

I’ve heard from Lou and - as I expected - she’s gracefully declined the world’s press turning up on her doorstep! Instead the walk will finish at St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United.

Now, I’ve emailed the club to ask if there’s anything they can do to help. I have no idea what response I’ll get. I may end up just finishing in the street outside the Strawberry. In my wildest fantasies I’ll get to finish inside the stadium. It never hurts to ask - so I have!

Regardless, this now means I have a point from which to start calculating. I should have a couple of days around Sydney when I’ll have time to sit down and work out what, where, how long and so forth.

At present I’m in a very pleasant coastal town on Tasmania, internet costs a bomb and I have no mobile reception!

This morning I have mostly been trying to get stuff for free. I’ve emailed the ferry company asking for a free crossing; SmithKlineBeecham for free Lucozade (well, I’ve asked someone to call them for me); The Proclaimers, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Gary Moore for publicity. I think I’ll try Elastoplast and see if I can get some blister plasters or something as well.

It never hurts to ask. The worst they can do is say no!

OK, I popped down to the State Library here in Perth today and browsed through a roadmap of Europe. And realised that 1000 miles is one hell of a long way. At a very rough estimate I could realistically walk from Prague through Poland, Germany and Holland, or take a slightly different route through Bulgaria or Switzerland.

Eek.

What I need is some decent route planning software. I used to have Autoroute on my laptop, but a) it only covered the UK in detail and b) I did say “decent” software and Autoroute’s always been a little dodgy in the past. Time to start checking out the online options.

I also need to check all possible ferry routes. Bergen’s still a possibility, but with the other water crossings necessary, it may make things awkwards to schedule. Walking northwest from Eastern Europe seems a plan as I was thinking of visiting Prague anyway.

What have I gotten myself into…?

Welcome to another of my now multitudinous blogs. The idea for this one has sprung from personal issues (being dumped), an urge to make a difference for some people who deserve it, and a huge amount of enjoyment experience by travelling the globe for the last 11 months. Essentially, the situation is this: my now-ex is heading back to the UK shortly. In a homage to the Proclaimers’ song 500 Miles, I intend to walk 1000 miles across Europe to "fall down at [her] door" as per the lyrics. In doing so, I hope to raise a decent amount of wonga, spondoolicks and cash for the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Vietnam who I worked with during my World Tour (part one). The walk will finish somewhere near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England by way of a ferry journey from the continent. Originally I’d intended to get the Bergen-Newcastle ferry as I’d love to walk across Scandanavia, but it’s only twice a week. So if I’m "off" in any mileage calculations and I miss the boat, I’m sat in Norway for 2-3 days. Instead, I’m now considering a different crossing from Holland to Newcastle, which is daily. On the off chance Lou goes mental and is so worried about my sanity that she refuses to allow me to shuffle my blister-clad feet up her driveway come late Aug/early Sept, I will re-arrange the walk to finish at St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United. It’s a similar distance, give or take. So. There you have it. All further details are in the Frequently Asked Questions document. Please, please, please do comment and contact me regarding this. I will need help, I will need information, I will need publicity. I will need accommodation, food and blister-easing salves and plasters. I will need your kind donations to make this worthwhile.