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| A GUINEA PIG AT SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY |
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| KENTON COOL SPEAKS AT COTSWOLD STORE |
It’s just over two
weeks now since I completed my 1,200 mile trek. When asked on the radio
interview how it felt when I touched the finish post at Land’s End, the first
word that came to my mind was ‘anticlimax’. The stage-lights didn’t come on,
there was no trumpet fanfare and I didn’t magically feel any different. I think
it’s a bit like receiving a successful exam result. Only when failure is a
distinct possibility does a high level of excitement accompany the confirmation
of success. If you are confident of passing anyway, then the blood pressure
won’t rise very much. With a long-distance walk, the uncertainty of success is
greatest right at the start. By the time you are half-way through, it seems
quite likely that you will make it to the end. When just a few miles from the
end you know that nothing short of a spontaneous heart attack, being hit by a
meteor or (in my case) falling off the Coast Path will stop you getting there.
Don’t get me wrong.
Just because I am not leaping around with glee, it doesn’t mean that I am not
extremely happy about the achievement. However, my pleasure is a quieter sort
derived from the experience as a whole rather than from any feelings of
euphoria in simply having reached the finish post.
Although the
walking has taken three months, the venture germinated in my head some two
years ago. I started planning the route well over a year ago. Construction of
the website started last November. Sponsors started committing their support at
the beginning of this year. During the Spring I was out training in the Lake
District and on Dartmoor. The dissemination of publicity started about a month
before I left. Right up to the moment of my departure, I was distributing
posters, placing collecting boxes for the charities and writing further
material for the website.
Thus, when I
boarded the train to Scotland on the 13th of July I felt relieved that the huge
workload that accompanied my preparations for this venture was now over, and I
could now just ‘get on with the job’. With Simon looking after the website, Kay
heading the publicity machine (supported by Mike and John), Sarah keeping a
track on donations and Chris keeping an eye on my house, I was spared any need
to worry about what was happening back home. So, in truth, although I am the
one who did the walk, I owe a debt of gratitude to my friends for the success
of the project as a whole.
I also owe a debt
of gratitude to my generous sponsors who reduced my initial outgoings greatly,
and all the other people I met along the way who provided me with shelter, gave
me food, donated to my charities or simply passed some time with me. The
weather may have been miserable at times; the terrain may sometimes have left
me exhausted; my feet and legs often hurt; my kit sometimes let me down. On the
other hand, I have been privileged to experience places and see things that few
others have. But most of all, it is the people that I will remember most
dearly.
Well, now the walk
is done, what’s the score?
Firstly, I am
pleased to see that contributions to my charities have exceeded £6,000, but I
am keen to push this nearer to my £10,000 target. There is still money to come
from people collecting on my behalf. Also, several local organisations have
asked me to give an illustrated talk about my adventure. I will naturally be
taking my charity bucket with me.
Health-wise, I have
used the past two weeks to restore my body by resting and eating healthily.
During the hardest parts of the walk (in Scotland and on the Pennines) I lost
an incredible 3 inches off my waist. Any more and I would have been unable to
fully tighten my rucksack hip-belt. My weight is now almost exactly the same as
when I started, although I suspect that the muscle percentage might be higher.
Whether this is true or not may be revealed by the second set of tests that
Professor Maria Stokes and her team subjected me to last Wednesday at
Southampton University’s School of Health Sciences (the original tests are
mentioned in the 12 July ’09 entry under ‘Before the walk’).
There are a couple
of physical after-effects from my walk that still remain. The main one is
numbness and tingling of my big toes. My guess is that my feet expanded during
the walk, making my boots over-tight and thus cramping my toes. Combined with a
rather abusive 3.2 million impacts on each foot as I walked, nerve damage has
almost certainly occurred which could take six months or so to repair itself.
My knees also ache, but this feels ‘muscular’ rather than ‘joint’. Given what I
have been carrying on my back for the past three months, I’m not really
surprised at this and feel sure that the aches will soon fade away.
Anyway, with a pile
of bills awaiting payment on my return home I have been catapulted straight
back into the life I lived before my walk! I suppose it’s inevitable that I
should question if that is what I want. Despite the discomforts of being
itinerant, there were few things that I missed and I felt little of the kind of
stress that seems to accompany 21st century living. Last Thursday I listened to
Kenton Cool talking about how he guided Ranulph Fiennes up Everest and the
north face of the Eiger. Whilst I felt no inclination to pursue quite such
hazardous adventures myself, I was aware that my feet were starting to itch
again!!