Petrol prices be blowed I’m walking home!

by Dave Sandell

I had a bright idea a few months ago, a 20 mile walk home on a Friday afternoon in early Spring; it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Then suddenly it was Sports Relief weekend and I decided to combine the two. My route was to be as straight a line as I could plot across the county between Holdenby in Northampton and Barton Seagrave using mainly fields and footpaths, basically avoiding roads as much as possible.

Just shy of 20 miles in 5 hours, this was a bit less than a marathon but taking a cross country route in boots made it feel like a marathon. I tried to keep to 4 mph, which meant jogging quite often to keep on schedule. When I wore a younger man's clothes I was used to competitive running; this was a gentler pursuit but I'd recommend it to anyone.

Until I reached the outskirts of Kettering the only creature I met was a rather large and proverbial mad March hare. I tried to open conversation with him but I couldn’t match his pace. Tiring but rewarding, I wasn’t much use to anyone the next day. I'd like to thank everyone for their support.

David Sandell