We grimaced a bit. We laughed a lot. We raced. We hobbled. We hopped. We drank a lot of tea. We longed for a G & T. We questioned our sanity. We wondered whether we’d make it to the finish. We made new friends and rejoiced in old ones. We talked drivel. We set the world to right. We marvelled at London. We were flabbergasted by London. We learnt about London. We learnt about ourselves.
Maggie’s Night Hike is just incredible. Twenty miles is such a very loooong walk, but the euphoria at managing to finish it, and the pride, and the joy of (nearly – but there’s still time) reaching one’s fund-raising target – these are worth all the pain and more. The camaraderie of walkers and fellowship of purpose means that it is like walking inside one large group hug for the night.
The fact that it was part of the Open House Weekend gave us privileged (and slightly surreal) night time access to some of London’s most iconic buildings. But the convolutions of the route also gave us a glimpse of every shade of London nightlife, from the optimism of early Friday evening to the sordid repercussions of club turn out time early Saturday morning.
The Maggie organisers are very good at what they do. There was tea, and applause, and massage, and little yellow arrows, and smiles, and water – all at exactly the right time they were needed. If you get the chance to try this extraordinary challenge next year, take it: it is a rewarding experience.
Anyway: enough of what fun we had. Thanks to the generosity of friends, suppliers and customers we have very nearly made our target of £1,200.00. We just need ONE MORE LITTLE PUSH to get there. So if you’ve got a couple of spare bob, just CLICK HERE and chuck it into our kitty. Thank you. 🙂 Now, back to our foot bath….
Apart from Mrs. Shopkeeper, Team P comprised the lovely Ruth, the long-suffering Lisette, and token male/morale officer Mark. We think they rock.