Though a straight line appears to be the shortest distance between 2 points, life has a way of confounding geography. Often it is the dalliances and the detours that define us. There are no maps to guide our most important searches; we must rely on hope, chance, intuition and a willingness to be surprised.

Monday, August 28, 2006

THE (MAGIC) NUMBER


August 27th, 8am. Got up. Had breakfast - 3 Weatabix, 2 pieces of Sainsburys extra special butter fudge, 2 ibuprofen. Put trainers on for the last time and packed novelty outfit. Ten weeks ago to the day, I walked the first 12 of 500 miles from Linlithgow to Falkirk. Now I just had to walk another 12 miles to finish it off.

I’ve been blessed with superb weather for about 450 of the miles done so far and the last day was no different. In the morning I walked 10 miles from the Scottish Parliament down to Portobello and back. With the end in sight, it was possibly the easiest walk I've done and just seemed to fly by.


At lunchtime, with just 2 miles left to do, I stretched my weary leg muscles and shook out my skinny ankles for the last time, ready to set off on the home straight. To finish in ‘style’ I had a quick change of racing togs before my assault on the Royal Mile.


At the top of the Royal Mile my mum and dad and Stuart and Lorna were waiting to walk the very last mile with me, down to Holyrood Palace.


The finishing line. Dad confessed that his first thought on seeing me was – ‘he’s growing his hair again’. On the one hand, that’s even more bonkers than it sounds as dad had seen me just the week before. On the other hand, my hair did look exactly like that in 1993. (Sadly I’ve never been able to grow such a cracking moustache though).

Way – hey!!!!! Can hardly believe I made it. 500 miles in 10 weeks, never going the same way twice. Get in there!!!

It’s been a pretty big undertaking, more of a mental challenge than a physical one in the end, (though without the help of a sports podiatrist I would never have made it). Just a few things I’ve learned, looking back:

- Places seem much closer together if you walk between them. Walk from where you live to anywhere that you’d normally think was too far to walk to and you’ll see what I mean.

- Walking isn’t the most stimulating of sports. Personally, I just couldn’t have done this without all the support I got. The miles seemed half as far when walking with friends and knowing I had so many people keeping an eye on my progress was a real driver – guilt is good!

- If you are going to dress up in a ridiculous costume, the best time and place to do it is on the Royal Mile in the middle of the Edinburgh Festival. You just blend in…

I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who’s tuned in to the blog. A big thank you too to everyone who’s donated and an extra special thank-you to all the walkers: Adamski, Tom, my uncle Tom, Sturt, the Jaxster, Kate and Tony, the Svenster, Stuart and Lorna, and lastly my mum and dad who deserve a big thanks too for all their ‘logistical’ and other help in the last couple of months.

I was determined and eventually relieved to make it to the end as – happily – fundraising success had piled on the pressure! As of writing this, I had raised £3022.44. I’m very grateful for all of this, it’s much more than I’d hoped for. After much thought, I’m going to use the money as follows:

* £2150 to CWW to pay for my project.
* £55 donation to Climatecare to offset the 7.25 tonnes of CO2 Emissions that my round-the-world flights will cause (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatecare)
And the rest will be put into a mini-donation fund that I’m going to use as best I can to support local projects as I travel about, for example, in Peru, Bolivia and some of the poorest parts of Africa. I’ll keep a record on this blog of all donations spent.

So that’s it! I can kick off my shoes and lie back on the sofa…

…except that I fly out to Belize next Monday (via 3 days much needed holiday in New York). And that’s where the real hard work begins.

I could write some more at the moment about what I’m hoping to do, but I think I’ll now leave that until I get there. This seems to be a good point to sign off for a couple of weeks. After that I’m going to keep the blog updated with how I’m getting on in Belize and beyond that over the next 12 months. The itinerary (at the moment) is…

September to November – charity project in Belize.
December – Peru, Bolivia.
January – Chile, Easter Island, Tahiti.
February/March – Australia.
April – Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos.
May – Nepal, Tibet, India.
June – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda.
July – Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe.
August – Botswana, Namibia, South Africa


Next stop New York…

12 miles done… for a total of 500 miles. Time for a nice lie down.

5 comments:

Graeme said...

Well done mate. I never thought you do it in the time allowed, especially given your two week break. For your next round the world trip, I'd recommend basing the pre-requisite charidee activity on one of the following songs instead -
8 miles high (using different elevators of Scotland only)
Amarillo (using the fewest airline connections possible from Prestwick)
Loch Lomond (using the fewest SPT connections possible from Girvan)
I can see for miles (a round the world trip on various airlines constantly looking out the window -surely a test of endurance)
From Paris to Berlin (by TGV - endurance test would be having to listen to the song for the entire journey)
Anybody got any more suggestions?

Daniel & Libby said...

Well done Callum. I don't know you and you don't know me, but I'm impressed anyway. Got to your blog via www.clanblack.com. If you need a place to stay when you're in Tanzania, and you're passing through Dodoma, get in touch with us via Jo & Adam.

Have fun...

Calum said...

Superb(??) suggestions Graeme! From Paris to Berlin would be the toughest challenge. I can't listen to that for more than a few seconds without feeling nauseous. And it just brings back memories of when we saw them live on TOTP. Did that really happen???

How about Tie a Yellow Ribbon round the Old Oak Tree, where I tie a yellow ribbon round a rather old oak tree. Sounds like it would be much easier on my feet. Though wouldn't do much for my image...

Calum said...

Hi Daniel and Libby.

Many thanks for the kind offer. I'm going to be in Tazzy in February and I'll definitely make an effort to come and see you if I'm anywhere near Dodoma.

All the best

Calum

Calum said...

Daniel & Libby
Sincere apologies (and thanks Chris for pointing out my buffoonishness) - I had misread Tanzania as Tasmania! I guess this is a peril that globetrotters must face? I will probably turn up in Lhasa and discover i've booked a hotel room in Lesmahagow.
If i make it to Tanzania without getting lost/cannabalised/investituted I will be sure to look you up.