Preparation - from May to 8th August

Ok - This idea to do a walk from Wearmouth and Jarrow first hit me in Latino's Coffee Bar in Jarrow Shopping Centre on the 17th of May 2009. It was the day of the Jarrow Festival in Charlie's Park (or 'The Drewett Playing Fields' if you're being posh), and I'd noticed that the World Heritage Bid had a stall near the entrance to St Paul's. I'd lingered around a bit, and shuffled a few forms, but this only reminded me that I was a little frustrated about my lack of involvement in the entire WH bid. Prior to the 17th, my input had been restricted to going in every month or so, and asking Jimmy Guy what the latest news was. Always entertaining, but as I walked back to the centre of Jarrow, I still wanted to be more than an interested armchair viewer.

..so, over my large, white filter with sugar, I thought, then said 'no', then thought again. Then I was up, and out, and back down to the festival in five minutes, and to the stall. First difficulty: prove to the volunteers that I wasn't a drunk; second: prove to them that my words 'what about I walk to London to promote the bid and get signatures?' didn't come across as ' I'm some fly-by-night who's come up with something that seems like a good idea now, but will regret saying it tomorrow.'

No chance of that: in a few minutes I'd let Jimmy know, and he'd told me to hang around for 'Jenny' , who turned up ten minutes later, and loved the idea. So that was it sorted, then. I don't have a photo of these momentous actions, but here's one of an Eagle Owl who wisely watched events from the side of the park that day, doing nothing, saying nothing, and knowing all.












Ok - I had intended the rest of this section to describe the rest of the preparation, but...I'm writing this sitting on a bed in Northallerton, four days into the walk. It's difficult to find the time to get all the blog up to date in time, but I'm trying, and the priority at the moment is to start the diary part. I'll finish the rest of this over the course of the next few weeks...