I Would Walk 1000 Miles

[NOTE: Having WordPress issues uploading images at the moment, so I’ve posted pics of the shirt on Flickr]OK, folks. Here is a chance to own a very exclusive Real Betis Vietnam football shirt as worn by the amazing kids at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. There were never many of these shirts and BDCF are looking for new sponsors so there simply will not be any more of this particular design.Featuring the Real Betis badge and name, BDCF logo and Catholic Relief Services on the sleeve, the shirt has a large number 7 on the back along with the charity URL. It’s lightweight material with “breathable” fabric under the arms and down the sides. It is brand new - I’ve worn it once to check it for size and fit.The size is “XL” and this is a western XL by my judgement, not a Vietnamese one. The V-collar means it hangs off me. I’m an average size for a 35 year-old white guy.So here’s how it works. I will cover all costs involved in this little raffle including postage to wherever the lucky winner resides. Hopefully we’ll raise more than the overheads! “Tickets” are one Australian Dollar each and you “buy” them by making a donation to Blue Dragon via PayPal. When you donate, please leave a comment here and tell me how much you donated and therefore how many times your name will be popped into the hat.

The donation page is here

We’ll say the deadline is October 15th 2009 which gives you the thick end of a month to save up. I’ll pick the winner at random then and get in touch with them via email, so please include a valid mail address on your comment. Don’t worry - nobody can see your email address except me and I promise with hand on heart that I will only use said address to let you know if you’ve won and to get a mailing address from you.So… what are you waiting for?

I’ll be cross-posting this to the other blogs shortly so apologies for duplication. I just heard from Mike at Blue Dragon about an author, John Shors, who’s written a novel based on street kids in Vietnam. Mike read the draft and has approved it - which is impressive given the usual stereotypes of street children. Apparently Shors has avoided all of these and Mike should know, given the fact he’s been working with these kids for so many years.The book, Dragon House, is published by Penguin and available pretty much anywhere. You can order an autographed copy direct from John at the official web site… or if you go to Blue Dragon’s page and donate upwards of $100, John will send you a free one! Either way, part of the proceeds from the novel will be wending their way to the kids in Vietnam.

Not one by me (yet!), but one that will benefit the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. Rather than just direct you over to Mike’s Blog post about it, I’ll repeat the details here:

Quotations for Positive People is a collection of inspiring quotes that has been compiled by Larry Welch - and he’s offered to donate all of the profits to Blue Dragon! Thanks, Larry!

We’re going to use the funds for some of our most positive work - providing homes to children who live on the streets. So, buy the book! Give it to your friends! Pay your staff in copies of the book rather than boring old cash!

Click here for more info: http://www.trafford.com/07-1419

I am a bad, bad man. I have been going over this web page (moving it to another server, and gradually mothballing it) when I noticed that I’d forgotten to thank someone hugely important. An unsung heroine, if you will.

Stand up and take a bow, Marina. She did a lot of letter-writing and sending on my behalf, bought me a copy of Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring, and ferried some of the supplies I needed from the UK into Europe when I met her for Graspop last year.

So I apologise for missing you off the Acknowledgements page, where you now have a rightful place!

The last handful of videos are up at YouTube. You can find them on pages 4 and 5 of the 1000 Miles playlist, or at the top (in reverse order) of my complete video list.

This video from YouTube almost had me in tears. Thanks, everyone. It was my pleasure!

I’ve just uploaded about eight new videos to YouTube. The link to all my videos is permanently down the sidebar there –> as I can’t be bothered with their rubbish interface for the Channels and so forth.

To save you looking to the side, just this once - there all here.

That question comes up a lot when I tell people that I walk for upwards of 8 hours each day. The other question is “what is the biggest problem you have” or “what is the best / worst thing to happen”. Graham Mack never seems to tire of asking me these questions when he calls me each week for the breakfast show on TFM so I’ll try to answer them here for those who don’t live in the broadcast area.

The thinking thing varies. A lot of the time I’m thinking about blog posts, and how I can relay to you lot on here and on the tour blog how I’m doing and what it’s all like. Sometimes I’m thinking how much further I can walk in the damn rain until I reach shelter of have to unpack a waterproof. I confess that a lot of the time I do still think about “the ex” and how it all fell apart and what minuscule fraction of a percentage chance I have of getting back with her and if there is genuinely a number that close to zero as to actually exist.

I think about what I’m looking at, how far I have to go and how much my shoulders hurt. My feet don’t hurt too much any more - thanks to all who keep asking! I think about the kids in Vietnam. I know this sounds “obvious” or maybe a little soppy but they really do keep me going. That’s what the walk’s about and I do spend a few minutes here and there remembering the little blighters making a complete fool of me at football. And beating me at Jenga. And being cheeky. And tickling me.

Hey, why am I helping them again?
Right now I’m so close to my goal that I have that annoying, aching, “so far but not quite” feeling. One entire hemisphere of my brain seems to be having the same effect of a busload of 7-year-olds all screaming “are we there yet!?” behind a driver who’s taken them from Bognor Regis to Bratislava. I am so near, but still have just a little bit too far to go to feel complete relief yet. It’s almost a physical pull in the chest. Imagine that feeling you get around 3pm on a Friday afternoon when you have the best weekend in the world lined up but you can’t leave till 5:30. Now magnify.

I have also tried counting steps and comparing them to my pedometer to see if 1 mile on there really matches 1.6km on the road, but my stride and its reckoning are out. Or I lose count. But it does while away the time. If my mind wanders in unexpected directions I dig out my notebook and jot some things down. These random brain dumps often make their way into blog postings somewhere.

What are my problems? One is the above - thinking about Louise far too often. Well, you asked. Another is how sick I’m getting of camping. From now on it is reserved purely for festivals! I may relax this rule should I ever get or have to look after kids. That could be fun. But I’ll have an inflatable mattress if I ever camp again. I’m sure I’ve permanently bruised my hip bone. My feet are as fine as can be expected after the agony and disfigurement around Turin. They ache a bit and I sometimes get blisters (I think the pair of socks I wear actually makes a difference) but nothing serious. My shoulders also aren’t as bad as they were, but are still the most frequent excuse for me to stop for a break.

As for the “best / worst” things… Tough. The worst was the pain when I got to Turin, or perhaps losing a load of pictures and video when my camera’s memory card fritzed. The best was probably getting to the top of the mountain pass in the Gran Paradiso two hours behind schedule and not dying. Or meeting and being hosted by such amazing people. None of them knew me from that guy in chapter one of the Bible. You know, the one with the apple fetish. Yet every one opened their doors, fold-down sofas and larders to the mad Englishman with the smelly feet.

If you’ve yet to host me and I’m heading your way, please ignore the bit about smelly feet.

I hope that answers some of your questions. Like I said, those are the most common ones. If you have any more, click on the comments button and ask, ask, ask!

This is the most common question at the moment. How far have I walked? Well, I spent some time this evening going over this. I’ve checked my readings from the pedometer and compared them against Google Maps as closely as I can follow the route I walked. Allowing for differences, averages, skipped corners, map inaccuracies, pedometer inaccuracies and so forth… 962.29 miles. This means I should pass the 1000 mile mark by the time I reach Utrecht!