I Would Walk 1000 Miles

Nervous? Yes. Panicking? Yes. Organised? Hell, no. We just checked the post this morning and the tent which Viv kindly shipped express/very fast/urgent/should be there in 2-3 days from the UK still hasn’t arrived. According to the Royal Mail tracking system it’s "in France". Which helps. Not. The post arrives here "sometime before midday" which means it’s highly unlikely to arrive before I have to set off in the morning. Therefore I have options:

1. Buy another tent - expensive as the lightest one-person one here is almost three times the cost of the one Viv’s sent
2. Borrow Delphine’s 2-person one - this weighs three times as much as the one I’m waiting for and takes up at least twice the space in my rucksack
3. Set off without one and hope it turns up and Delphine can drive it to Sospel for me… or I end up staying at (and paying for) a Gîte for the night. And possibly many more nights after that

I’m not having a go at Viv - far from it. She’s an angel and a sweetheart. But I’ve had problems with postal services all over, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the French one’s one a par with everyone else’s! And as usual, the Law of Sod comes into account as well. The worst possible item for them to delay at the worst possible time. Oh, and the NUFC shirt I’m waiting for via ParcelForce hasn’t shown up either. Grr. Regardless. Still got a million things to do, and half a day to get through them all. Including an interview for the Evening Chronicle - will someone please get me a copy once I know what issue it’ll be in? Thanks! I just got off the phone to a nice lady at TFM who’s taken a short statement for their news as well. Hopefully the interest will raise some more cash. As far as the route goes, I will definitely have to make some changes. The roads I intended to go along are potentially too dangerous, but fortunately there are some well-mapped hiking trails which follow the same general direction. I will be using the pedometer that Sheilah got for me, so I’ll be able to calculate any shortfall in mileage as it occurs and make it up later on. 1000 miles I said, and 1000 miles I’ll do! I’ve also been making full use of the hospitality of the Couchsurfing community and have accommodation sorted in a handful of places up to and including Turin and Geneva. In fact, I have more offers than I can accept in some places! Here’s hoping this will result in a few get-togethers for some people who live near each other. I’ll try and get at least one more post up here before I set off. Wish me luck. I obviously need more of it than I anticipated!

Many thanks to Graham Mack, a North East DJ who’s been in touch to grab a few words from me. I recorded a brief interview this morning for broadcast on tomorrow’s (July 31st) breakfast show on TFM, available across the Tees Valley and surrounding area. I used to be able to get it as far afield as North Yorkshire. Of course, you can also listen online as well. Graham will be calling me every couple of days for updates as well, so keep listening to the show if you want to hear - verbally - how much my feet ache as the walk progresses. Please listen to the show and ring the guy to tell him how amazing you think I am - even if you don’t! The more feedback he gets, I’m sure the more coverage I’ll get in return which - hopefully - means more cash for the Blue Dragon!

Last night I sent somewhere around 350 emails, all to people I know or who I’ve met while travelling. I also dropped messages to every local newspaper and radio station back in the North East that I could think of.

So far I’ve had some nice responses from one donation already sent, to some ideas of where else to contact. Scaryduck (not safe for those with a nervous disposition to four letter words and bowel-shaking humour) has promised me a dedicated post on his rather popular blog at the weekend. A few of you mentioned using JustGiving.com but I can’t - BDCF is registered in Vietnam, not the UK. I have already looked into that. A shame as it would make things so much easier!

For those who’ve come to the page because of the email - thanks for clicking on the link and please do tell everyone. And open your purses, wallets, savings account, jam jars full of twenties you hide from the taxman, spouses’ wallets, kids’ piggy-banks and so on. Every penny that PayPal doesn’t filch in transaction fees will go towards helping some incredibly hard-working and deserving kids.

I’m off hiking for three days as of 5pm today (French time) and won’t be back until Sunday night but please do mail if you want. I’ll get back to everyone on Sun/Mon/Tue before I kick off from Monaco on Wednesday.

OK, folks - time to ask a favour. I’m not after a freebie but some help getting hold of something for which I’ll pay in full. I’m after a Sony Mylo for the walk, which will help no ends in keeping me in touch with the masses (i.e. you lot). Thing is, Sony in its infinite wisdom has decided that this particular little toy will only be marketted in the US so I can’t buy one without going there or incurring insane import duty by purchasing mail order.

Is anyone going to the US in the very near future who can pick one up for me and bring it back? I’d need it sent to somewhere in France or Italy ASAP. Or is there anyone out there who works for the US Armed Forces and it based somewhere in Europe so they can get one sent in a diplomatic / military shipment thus avoiding the duty?

Let me know if you can help. As I said, I’ll pay you in full on delivery.

OK, here’s a weird one. I was walking through Bratislava today, as you do, when I came across some posh cars (and a Rover) with little Union Jacks flying from them. Obviously something slightly diplomatic. As I strolled past, I heard a voice say something. It was a gentleman in somewhat smarter clothing than mine commenting on my Newcastle shirt. We got talking very briefly. It turned out he’s a Member of Parliament in the UK and I am a mad Brit about to do a charity walk. And courtesy of the generosity of one Mr Brian Binley (MP for Northampton South), the fund is now 1000 Slovakian Crowns (approximately $US40) better off. I don’t know about this guy’s politics, but I can’t fault his generosity. Brian - thank you.

A huge thank you to two Swedes I met in Krakow, and who I caught up with again in Prague. Tommie and Michael gave me a little gift to help me on my way on the walk - a new cap! My old Darwin one had definitely seen better days and "old faithful" could do with retiring. I met the guys for a few beers last night and they presented me with a new headcovering - and it’s personalised! I’ve promised that I will wear it for the entire duration of the walk, so look out for it. I will try to get a photo on here when I’m able (done!), but it’s a nice plain white (that won’t last…) with their message on the front. Guys - you’re probably the best Swedes in the world!

Another quick catchup to let people know I’m still here. A few more members of my family have kindly donated some cash to the walk, bringing the current total to $200 plus £500. Please, please go to the How To Donate page and add to the total. Over the last few days I have been in Poland. Thanks to a good friend (and ex work colleague), I have been tramping around some lovely mountains and definitely broken my boots in. Thank you, Gosia! I have calluses where I’d normally blister, which is a good sign! I reckon we walked around 9 miles on Saturday, a lot of it along some very dodgy broken up stones, taking around four hours if you knock out the stops and photo breaks. Given that a lot of this was up some very steep hills, this is a good speed. Distances measured with the pedometer kindly supplied by Sheilah. I’ll be mainly plodding around cities for the next week or so before hitting the south of France. I expect to be doing a lot of hiking with Delphine while I’m there, which should also be good preparation.