Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We started early, at about 7.30am, in order to minimise the amount of people that would
have to witness our scrawny bodies. The coastline around Land's End is impressive, but
there is no sense whatsoever of being at the end of the country. Try standing there in your
pants in the wind and rain, however, and it definitely heightens the experience.
The footpaths around the Land's End complex were not designed with the barefoot
walkerinmind,andtheheavygravelcutintoourfeetateverystep.Infairness,itisunlikely
that many visitors to that part of Cornwall come without shoes. Even the notorious 'Naked
Rambler' wore a pair of walking boots. The cheating bastard. You can visit his boots - if
you are really bored - in the 'End to End Experience' museum, which forms part of the
Land's End complex. He is mentioned alongside Ian Botham, who has famously walked
the route twice, and next to the story of a man who tried to push a pea with his nose the
entire way. He got about two miles before he realised that it made his nose hurt.
We met up with Jemma - the End to End co-ordinator. Jemma had possibly the most
enviable job in the world. Her working day involved sitting in a little office by a log fire,
looking out to sea. She occasionally had to say 'Good Luck' to people like us who were
setting off to John O'Groats, or 'Well-done' to those who had finished their journey. This,
it seemed, was all she did. I was incredibly jealous.
We asked her if she had any interesting stories of fellow End to Enders, and she told
us about a cyclist being hit by a car and killed, and another one concerning a group being
robbed at gunpoint. These were not the inspirational, feel-good stories we were hoping for.
The idea ofthe penniless challenge was foundedonthe belief, that, asanation, wehave
lost sight of the basic values of humanity and kinship. We tend to be very suspicious of
thosethatwedon'tknow,andofanythingthatfallsoutsidetherealmsofnormality.Britain
is broken, or so we are led to believe, and every unfamiliar face masks an axe murderer or
terrorist. We choose to close our doors and hide from the outside world.
I wanted to prove this notion wrong. I strongly believed that there was still a lot of good
tobefoundinsociety,andthattherelieswithineveryone,thedesiretohelpothers.Bytrav-
elling without money and provisions, we were putting ourselves completely at the mercy
of strangers, relying on their generosity to get us through.
The Land's End to John O'Groats challenge is an iconic British journey, and it seemed
totieinperfectly withthepenniless formatofthetripasitencapsulated thewholeofGreat
Britain.
Clothes were a priority.
We stood little chance of getting food, accommodation or bikes with our pasty bodies
on full show. Also, it was bloody freezing and we didn't want to become the first people to
die at Land's End before crossing the official start line. Although, if we had, Jemma would
have had another story to tell other End to Enders before they set off.
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