9.01 pm south tip of St Albans towards M25, I am right next to the “technical” London boundary.
Failed to visit my friend in Durham (sorry Galina!), I was in search of
another adventure (as I always do) Next exciting event on my list is the 21st
century challenge at RGS in London. Hmm, what to do until then? I have explored
most places in Coventry, least all the bushes and park are “discovered”.
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| Sticky rice and chocolate - food for the trip! |
As soon as the crazy idea form, I knew this would be a
little fun adventure for myself. Friends thought I was plain mad however they
were supportive! Knowing me, there is no way they can stop me anyway.
Planning for this trip proves how useful geography is in real
life. I ustilised Google map to sketch out my routes. Google map direction for
walking was mostly to stick to the A45 (Kenpas Highway in Coventry) then makes
a turn to the A5 until London Colney, meeting M25. Fortunately, a day before I start, a tweet arrived
suggesting I should walk by the side of the Grand Union Canal to avoid the busy
A road. This was to be my escape from the danger of walking by the side of cars
at 60 mph.
There were calculation to be made of stopping points and
possible miles per day. The plan was to follow this route, walk 40 miles a day;
Day 1 stopping at some point between Weedon Bec and Milton Keynes, and Day2
reaching St Albans.
I shall be walking during the night or early morning if this
was permitted, urban camp and head on.
Finally see why I should appreciate OS map in England. Shout
out to whoever made the “freeOS” online.
With the aid of Satellite print screen and the OS, I made my own map
like a piece puzzle.
Monday 28 October 2013
6.00 am in the morning, I left the house diving into the
gloomy darkness with my sweet sister giving me a hug and told me to be safe. I
headed south towards London from the A45 which the house situated on. It was
very early on a Monday morning. MET office said to expect wind with rain. It
was drizzled with rain.
Obviously, walking from Coventry to London at a distance of
nearly 90 miles was not going to be easy. Cars with their headlights still on,
sprint pass me. I thought may be this was not a good idea after all and perhaps
I should just gave up and head back… However, think of it this way: in two days
I will have achieved the greatest accomplishment in my life and have something
to tell.
The A roads are evidently not designed for people to walk
on, let alone this crazy girl with a plan of madness. I realized that I would
have to figure out alternative routes when the footpath diminished as I
continue to walk.
It is silly but I felt safe walking beside the busy roads. I
could follow the sign without getting furiously lost and security of being
close to “people”. All vehicles at this time of the day were heading south.
There was a massive queue on A45 south whereas I was walking by the side of the
North. I felt slightly embarrassed to be the only person walking on the road
geared to cars. The rain was intimidating me, created this massive flood on the
road which meant I had to take my shoes off treaded on the cold water to keep
my shoes dry…
Eventually, I made an exit out of Coventry but this also
meant, public footpath has diminished because who would be walking alongside
the road now? I stuck to the grasses bit on the side and kept going.
There is an excitement everytime I began to come close to a
town or a village because traffic slow down, footpath appeared and I knew where
I was.
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| Arriving at Northampshire. |
By lunchtime, I was walking through Daventry. I stopped here
for a SHORT lunch break. Sticky rice wrapped in plastic bag. Kids were looking
at me oddly. I must look like some hobo living day to day on the street…
It kept raining on and off for the entire day. My shoes were getting dry and wet constantly... However, I was rewarded with the most beautiful scene of this stunning rainbow, a complete semi circle with the the green fields shinning below.
I reached Weedon around 4 in the afternoon. November short
day light of Britain was catching up. I was tired and thought may be I should
stop here and continued to walk early in the morning. Sister insisted I should
find accommodation instead of sleeping outside. So I did look for one but at
the price of £60 – no thanks! I made a turn to the A5 and began walking in the
dark.
Have to admit, I was scared but I was also filled with the
adrenaline rush of excitement as though I was heading towards nowhere. My aim
tonight was to pass Towncester and ended up somewhere halfway to Milton Keynes.
Found a public footpath, by the side of the road, leading to
freshly cut grass field. Oh I am so exhausted! My socks and shoes were wet. I
need to stop. Hoping this is not trespassing… I learnt that because I decided
to power in the rain with wet shoes, I now have extremely white blistery feet. In
the dark gloomy night, as the yellow streetlight peaked through behind the
trees, I managed to pull out my sleeping bags, bivvy and a survival bag. It is
cold and to prevent hypothermia I needed to sleep in three layers. Wore
everything I have, put heat pack in my socks and wore gloved to sleep.
I slipped inside my little cocoon for the night, ate what is
left from my food portion of the day and zipped tight inside the bivvy. The
cold seeped through the thin layer of a summer night bag, and now I was glad I
brought those heat packs with me.
My feet are dead.
Tuesday, 29th October
3.00 am I woke up to the most beautiful night sky. I have
forgotten how beautiful the night sky is living in light-polluted cities. The
half moon was bright and stars were sparking on the sky.
The night dews have covered wet the outer plastic bags.
Despite feeling like I should continue cocooning inside this relatively more
warm than the outside air haven, I got up and started packing. Considering the
state of my feet at the moment, it will take me longer than expected to reach
St Albans tonight. I must get on.
4.00 am Hit the road once again, looking to reach Milton
Keynes by 8.00 am. I made a quick stop at Tesco to buy water. Since I was the
only one in the store at this early in the morning, the manager asked me about
what I was doing. She was laughing at what I was trying to do. I told her I was
trying to raise some money to possible go to Africa and send some back home for
the flood damage in Vietnam, tried my best to justify myself to not sound like
some mad person. The woman kindly let me use their restroom to wash up before
heading on. How wonderfully kind!
The golden sunlight loom over the green grass field. Daylight was to officially open up a new day.
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| Do not make a turn here... |
When I got lost from finding the Grand Union Canal and
started to look for directions, two truck drivers made a good laugh out of me.
They thought I was crazy to do such a thing and that I should get a boy to do
this. Now that just infuriated me! It is crazy what I am doing and that is okay.
But, telling me I need to have a boy to do anything is just sexist. Women can
do things just as well as men if not better! I walked away.
From the roundabout of the A5 to Milton Keynes was around 6
miles, I am going to have to walk beside the narrow road side. After awhile, I
rest under a bridge to have some breakfast. Cars were shooting pass. Here I am
below a bridge, unnoticed by civilization.
“Can you speak English?” Funnily enough, the police must
have thought I was some illegal immigrant. That was the most hilarious question
to which I quickly said Yes! They stopped by questioning: “What are you doing?”
I explained everything. They thought my walk was quite cool and that I have
made quite a progress walking all the way from Coventry yesterday. However for my safety, they offered to take
me to the next bit of the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes. Incidentally,
this speeded up my trip.
I continued now to walk beside the beautiful and peaceful
Grand Union Canal. Houses here are gorgeous. I remembered thinking – some very
rich people must have this as their second home for relaxing. The ducks were
paddling quick on the calm water. Trees shuffling sheltering boats below.
People live on the canal, on their boat. It was nice to walk alongside the silence
away from the busy roads. Some old men
greeted me as I walk pass them fishing. Happy people were enjoying their walk
with their dogs.
I rested my tired feet on a bench beside the footpath. Here
I am gnawling on my pack of sticky rice while other people are relaxing and
enjoying the scenery around them… I am STARVING!
Having a look at my map, I thought if I wanted to reach
London by tonight, I would have to continue walking nonstop to the night. I
will have to take a turn, out of the Grand Union Canal, walking beside the
road. I am not now officially in a race with myself.
My fitness level have gone down so much since last year and
my feet really were screaming at me to stop. I half wanted to give up and head
home but I really have to finish this. At least reach M45 at London Colney…
I continued to tread along the Grand Union Canal until
reaching Leighton Buzzard where I made a turn, back on the road of A505,
hopefully reaching A5 in a few hours.
I was estatic to arrived at the A5 again and this time with
a footpath beside it. I imagined myself
in a race with the cars by my side. Soon enough I reached Dunstable and
darkness consume us quickly. I only have a few miles left until St. Albans. I
began to feel the pain in my leg. It took a lot of self- motivation for me to
not give up at this point.
You could not imagine the excitement I felt as I arrived in
St. Albans. It would now take me around an hour to get to my finish point. I
need to reach London Colney and the M25.
Tweet: 9.01pmReach tip point of StAlbans to M25, toodarkforpicture no more walking, feet dead, head home #tired #microadventure #coventrytolondon
I did nothing but dropped down to the floor. I am EXHAUSTED!
Cars continued to hurdle along the highway and the motorway below lit up like
flower works, celebrating my achievement.
I have done it! I
have done what I thought I could not.
Heading back to my sister in Coventry now. A hot shower,
warm bed and food is waiting for me!
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| Arriving home, selfie at the door, what a trip! |
Being on the road really made me appreciate transport, especially
cars. It took me a little over 2 hours to get home on buses and train, probably
under 2 hours by cars yet it would take 2 days of strenuous walking for that
over 80 miles distance.
