We still have the tee shirts and each of the research charities will be finding some use for well over one thousand pounds each. Each and every one of your contributions being put to a good cause and maybe diverting some tax too.
Contributions are still coming in so feel free to join the stream.
Sun up in Epping Forest and breakfast down by the river Lea
We left you last time having mounted our commando assault on reservoir hill by cover of darkness, making the succesful ascent of the defensive earth work led on the by a bright red mysterious star in the sky above us.
The “red star” turned out to be the light on a tower crane and our view from the summit of London was curtailed by the soft rain still hanging in the air but we marched on to breach the first ring blocking our exit and separating the city from its green belt.
The North Circular
The north circular road deserted, unpatrolled and passable even at ground level and eerily silent
Looking dwon from the bridge here at 03:14 on a damp Saturday morning who in their right minds was on the road?
In fact for the next three hours, we would see no sign of anybody but as we marched on through the forest paths by torch light the forest woke up around us. First we heard one solitary bird singing in the pitch dark to our left, then another and another.
Out of the darkeness
As we wandered on through the forest, and ruffled feathers joined chorus around us, it gradually became lighter. There was no rosy glow but just a gradual disapperance of the dark. Our eyes did better than our phones but gradually we realised that the sky was brighter than the trees and the head torches had served their purpose and we could see our toes and each other again outside our personal patches of light.
Into the light
At the hunting lodge the lights were still on but all was silent as we grabbed a coffee. Later on we spotted an early morning milk float parked up wiating to start his deliveries. And we walked on up to High Beach
before we saw our first couple of isolated cars moving past us at 5am. The car park by the pillow mounds was empty and the mist still hang damply obscuring the view.
By the time we reached the next defensive ring, a high altitude traverse was the only option.
The M25 one hundred and twenty miles around London
The M25 dawn patrols already gearing into life at 6am on a damp grey Saturday.
The next few miles saw us emerge from the forest into the fields and into villages and signs of human life with dog walkers and over keen golfers braving the miserable Summer dawn. We took a short break at a seat by a top hole, watching the golfers start their slow progress up from the distant clubhouse down below. Then on through the well kept family seats of Essex and down into Roydon for breakfast delivered to us by our support crew in the sanctuary of the churchyard, 24 miles in and our first chance to rest long enough to examine the damage and change the feet into dry shoes and socks.
Still nearly two thirds of the trip left so a couple more installments to look forward to …