I Would Walk 1000 Miles

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.

Roughly 1030 miles, 9 countries, just over 2 months, one pair of (very smelly) shoes…

I landed at North Shields around 9am this morning where I was greated by a photographer from the Evening Chronicle, two excitable dogs, a father and a tearful mother. The parents and the dogs were a surprise! After hugs and so forth were exchanged (not with the photographer), some pictures were taken for tomorrow night’s edition and then I began my hike into town - only 2 or so hours away.

I’ve got a ton of footage to upload to YouTube which I’ll try to do tomorrow. The walk in was pleasant, the weather just right. By way of a small detour onto the Tyne Bridge (habit, superstition, call it what you will), I made it to The Strawberry, where the staff very kindly laid on two bottles of Newcastle Brown… in a wine bucket with ice! They’d also hassled the Chronicle to ensure I got some attention and another photographer was there waiting for me (with my folks and two good friends, Tony and June) to take some more snaps, this time around St James’ Park.

After my liquid lunch, my parents had to head back to Perth (the original one, not the one I was in more recently in Oz) and I was driven down to Durham were I’ll be staying for a couple of days. BBC Radio Newcastle gave me 2 minutes on their drive-in show and Tyne Tees Television I think are wanting to do something tomorrow. NUFC.com and Black And White And Read All Over have both featured me on their pages as well. It all helps!

What can I say? There is more info to come (mainly on the Tour Blog and most of what I have left is a huge list of “thank you”s. I’ll add these to the Acknowledgements and Thanks page shortly. Well, tomorrow. Briefly, though, as well as those mentioned just from today - everyone I’ve couchsurfed with. You’ll all get a mention somewhere! And to all those who donated, the biggest thanks of the lot. If you haven’t then please do!