On the first weekend of May 2017 I’m going to have a second attempt at becoming the first person to circumnavigate the M25 motorway non-stop, on foot. The walk will be approximately 160 miles and I hope to complete it in under 48 hours without sitting down at any time between when I start and when I finish.
I’m doing the walk to raise money for Limbless Association, a London based charity that provide support to people who have lost one or more limbs, and the people who care for them.
I consider myself very lucky to be able to walk the distances that I do. I have two good legs and two good arms, but not everyone does, which is why I have chosen to support Limbless Association in 2017.
In March 2016 I attempted to walk non-stop around the M25 motorway when I raised money for Sport Relief, and whilst I managed to complete the walk, I didn’t do it non-stop. You can read about last year’s walk here, but as a quick summary, I started at 2pm on the afternoon of Friday 11th March and went well until it good dark. Overnight the temperature fell and I suffered in the cold. By Saturday night I couldn’t face another night walking in the cold and after 32 hours I sat down (lay down) for the first time, and at 34 ½ hours I had had enough and I quit. I had completed just over 120 miles at that stage. On Monday morning I decided I was fully recovered and went back to where I had stopped, resumed walking, and finished at 7am on Tuesday morning.
This year I’m making a few changes that will hopefully ensure that I can achieve my goal.
- Firstly, I will be starting at 8am on Friday 5th May which means that I can get a full day (50+ miles) before nightfall. Doing the walk in May hopefully also means warmer weather, but nothing is guaranteed when it comes to English weather!
- Secondly, I’m going to walk anti-clockwise. You might not think that will make a difference which way I walk, but it means that by the time I get to Saturday afternoon/night, I’ll be walking through countryside that is more familiar to me. I’ve done a reasonable amount of walking and cycling on the southern side of the M25 and mentally, it will make a big difference walking in an area I know rather than somewhere I have never been before when I am struggling through the last 50 or 60 miles.
- Lastly, I have mapped out a new route which is 99% on roads that I have been able to check via Google Maps street view. Last year I mapped out the course using Google maps but a lot of the time I found myself walking on muddy trails and down narrow alleyways that my support crew couldn’t drive down. There are only two small parts that are on trails and I will walk them at some stage between now and May to ensure that I know the route in advance. I’m also going to rely on an electronic map on my phone more this year than I did last year (when I had printed maps that I couldn’t see clearly due to tiredness), which will hopefully prevent me getting lost too much. Last year the walk ended up being 177 miles when I had mapped it as 165 miles – I got lost more than a few times. This year’s route should be 160 miles.
As with last year I have support from Fitbit, who will be providing a Fitbit Charge HR or Charge 2 (you can choose from one of the Fitbit’s shown below) as a prize to someone who makes a donation. To enter the prize draw simply make a donation via my Just Giving page. To increase your chances of winning, make a donation AND share at least one of my promotional posts on facebook or twitter, so please keep an eye out for these.
Please click the ‘just giving’ link below to make a donation. Limbless Association will appreciate even the smallest donation.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/RichardWalksLondon2017
Lastly, if you’ve got nothing better to do on the first weekend of May, and would like to be a part of my support crew for a part or all of the walk, please let me know. All help will be greatly appreciated.
Update:
On the Thursday before Easter Joel Clark, Funding & Communications Officer for Limbless Association interviewed me about the walk. Given that the walk is all about walking around the M25 motorway, we decided what better place to do the interview than the M25 itself!
Having watched the video, please click here to donate to Limbless Association via my Just Giving page.
Track my progress:
From 8am on the 5th of May you will be able to track my progress here: http://live.opentracking.co.uk/richardswalk17/
Thanks
Richard