(A) London Marathon

With the Keswick to Barrow, 42 mile monolith looming large, Chris Smith and I thought it would be good to get a fairly decent long walk in the bank before that fateful day. We needed something big, something easy to get to for the both of us and something easy to navigate. Thankfully(?) we both live close to our capital city which happens to have a large river winding it's way through it's heart.
We decided to meet at Richmond and follow the Thames all way through the centre of London to Greenwich. Now this doesn't sound overly far, and as the crow flies it is a mere 15 miles. With a rough estimate of 25+ miles we set off with the goal of pushing ourselves as if it were K2B-Day.
Heading down the Thames out of Richmond was really quite pleasant if a bit cold, we past the Royal Gardens at Kew - no hogweed to assail us. At a consistent 4 miles an hour we quickly made our way past Barnes/Chiswick and into the heart of the city. Whilst the path clung to the banks of the Thames for the most part, some detours had to be made, the biggest came at Battersea where our path became very confusing to follow and we very nearly ended up in a construction site.
After a brief pause for lunch we made our assault on London. Battling through hordes of tourists and Shakespearian admirers we passed Parliament, The Eye, The Globe, HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge we breathed a sigh of relief as our path became clearer. Pushing past the 20 mile mark, both of us were in uncharted territory. The pain increased but we spurred each other on with our end goal being The O2 at North Greenwich. As we made it back to the riverside after our last major inland diversion where we could see the yellow spines of The O2 across the skyline. Just one last large outside meander to tackle and we would be there. We passed the observatory and the Cutty Sark, even venturing onto the official London Marathon route which would be pounded by thousands of runners the next day. The both of us were in a bit of pain but ploughed on to our end goal. As we approached the entrance of the dome the tracker clicked over onto 27 Miles.
As strange as it sounds, I am really looking forward to pushing this even further come K2B-Day! As I waddled off the train at Leatherhead there was a smile on my face!
Walk total: 27.0 Miles
Overall Total: 126.6

Please do donate to the Rainbow Trust who support the families of terminally or seriously ill children at their most difficult times:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/500mileschallenge

Or Donate to Ulverston Charities for my Keswick To Barrow walk:  http://k2b.furness.net/product/charlie-day/