Sunday 20th July - Stages 10 and 11 - to the Finish Line, and beyond?

The final two legs of the walk combined come to about 11.5km, but each felt as long as each individual leg we’d done before. Stage 10 has a vicious hill, but sleep deprivation ensured that the “one-leg-in-front-of-another” routine was more than adequate to get us through. We had a close encounter with a field of cows, which at just gone 5am were hoping to be milked, before a very brief sojourn at CP10. And then it was the final leg.

Stage 11 purports to be 5.8km long, however, it felt as though we’d walked for miles and miles before the object of our hearts’ desire, the “1km to go” sign appeared. We caught glimpses of the grandstand at Brighton Racecourse, the finish line, all along this stage, appearing tantalisingly close at one moment, then disappearing from view the next. And finally, we were there – quite literally on the home straight. A quick debate as to whether we should sprint across the line was terminated when we realised we simply couldn’t run. And finally, we did it. We crossed the line together as a team in 24 hours and 42 minutes.