For reasons that will become apparent my laptop is tonight at large somewhere in Holland or Belgium. So I am having to write this blog on my iPhone, which is a fiddly old business, so please forgive brevity.

Today we were rejoined by our wonderful filmmaker Nora. She had had to return to New York for a few days to work on another film project (and yes, we ARE bugging her about her carbon footprint!) but today flew into Brussels and immediately set out to rejoin the Orange Jackets.

Meanwhile we had our work cut out. Many miles to cover today, and a few incipient injury worries. Having been the strongest walker throughout the first week of our trek, yesterday Laura developed a niggle in a thigh muscle. She had done all the right things – rest, massage, elevate, anti-inflammatories -but by midday today was clearly in quite a bit of pain. Mary has also been suffering since Day 1, when an old volleyball injury chose an inconvenient time to flare up again.

So it was with some relief that we learned that Nora and car were imminent. Not only could we get Laura and Mary off their feet, but Nora would have some drama for her documentary.

However, we ended up with a bit more drama than we’d counted on, and it was of our filmmaker’s own creation.

Nora arrives. Excited reunion. Quick bit of filming to record how Laura is feeling. Hit road again. 30 seconds later something else hits the road – Nora’s borrowed $7,000 camera. Something important-looking breaks open. I’m no technical expert but I know that when you can see circuit boards exposed it’s probably not a good sign. And when the jetlagged filmmaker spends several minutes desperately trying to cram the broken parts back together despite the obvious hopelessness of the task you know she’s probably going to be rather distraught about this latest development.

So tonight Nora is trying to find a replacement and/or a repair. Unfortunately my laptop had also been decanted into the car so Mary could use it when they got to the hotel ahead of us. So it is temporarily MIA.

On a happier note, we made good progress today in dry but overcast conditions. Most places in Holland are closed on a Monday, but around 11am we managed to find a hotel in Bergen op Zoom that was open for coffee. Thanks to blog follower Baldwin we were accosted on our way out of the town by two local reporters, who interviewed us as we pressed on out of the town. Thanks Baldwin!

P.S. 7pm We are now at the home of Baldwin and his wife Aey, who have very kindly invited us to join them for dinner. Sounds like we’re going to get to meet the neighbors and the parents as well. Happy days for our footsore team!

Laura - and a lot of not very much

When I am on the ocean I dream a lot. On dry land, less so, but last night was an exception. Maybe the monotony of the landscape we have been traversing since we reached Holland has triggered the same dream response that the ocean does.

My dreams are usually not much more than a re-hash of the day’s sensory input, jumbled up into some surreal juxtapositions – but while there is less sensory input, either on the ocean or in flat, grey Dutch landscapes, it takes less time for my sleeping brain to sort and assimilate it, leaving more time and headspace for dreams of a more interesting nature.

Last night’s dream started out in amusing enough fashion. Loosely based on Pirates of the Caribbean (but unfortunately not featuring Johnny Depp – boo!) I was the captain of a ship, breaking some news to the crew. The bad news was that all our booty had been plundered by another crew of pirates. The good news was that our boat had been chartered to make the next film in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga so we were going to have enough money to keep going.

But then a particular phrase popped out, which has been reverberating around my head all day – particularly this morning as we trudged through exceptionally flat and featureless surroundings, heads down into the rain.

The phrase was: He Who Controls The Wind Controls All The Ships.

Now, this might mean nothing, but given my current near-obsession with Copenhagen, and the fact that the phrase did not evaporate with the morning light as most of my dreams do, I had to give it due consideration. It does seem particularly relevant to Copenhagen. My goal in going to the conference is a little nebulous. What do I have to offer that is not already being offered by 350.org, the Climate Project, the Climate Group, WWF, or the multitude of other NGOs and individuals descending on the Danish capital?

Sign spotted by Alison in Essex - You've made the difference!

Yet despite the smallness of my individual voice in all this hubbub, I have a powerful feeling that I do have a message that, provided I get the opportunity to deliver it, might just be the one straw on the back of the one camel that could make a difference. My message may possibly strike a chord with someone, or some people, and end up changing the chemistry of the debate. This might sound big-headed, but you just never know – and for my own satisfaction I needed to know, when I look back on 2009 and this crucial moment in human history, that I did all I could to make a difference for the good.

This phrase from my dream seems to sum up what I hope to achieve. The wind is invisible, yet incredibly powerful (and don’t we know it after walking into or across it for the last few days!). If the wind represents the invisible energy of the Copenhagen conference, and the ships represent the countries which currently are heading every which way – with some on collision course – then if the wind of change can become strong enough to get all the ships moving in the same direction, there may be hope for a satisfactory outcome.

But my next question is, what IS the wind? What is this invisible force that could make all the difference? Is it the attitude of the US? Is it the governments of China and India? Is it the NGOs? Is it public opinion? Or is it something more spiritual – the intangible energy created wherever large numbers of humans congregate, especially when united by a common focus?

I don’t know the answer, but I’d welcome comments and opinions. Given the lead-up to the conference, it might seem impossible that we will see any decisive action. But who knows – if we can generate a sufficiently powerful wind of change, we may yet achieve the miracle we need in order to create a sustainable future for humanity.

Team BB2B with new friends Philip and Melanie in Holland

As we have passed through the countryside of England and Holland it has been interesting to gauge the level of awareness amongst Joe Public. Would a mention of Copenhagen produce blank looks, or an immediate recognition?

Generally it seems that, as marketing professionals would say, the Copenhagen climate change conference enjoys good brand awareness. Most people know what we are talking about. A few examples:

The postman in Dedham not only knew all about Copenhagen, but was planning to do his bit by going to London for the climate change march on December 5th.

A couple of men working in woodland in Essex, thinning out the trees, referred to their wood as a “carbon sink”. It was interesting to find that carbon sinks are now almost as much a part of the English vocabulary as kitchen sinks.

A Dutch chiropractor who got talking with us outside the Spar supermarket in Nieuwe Tonge not only knew about Copenhagen but had his own ideas about what countries should be there and what they should say. He had some interesting things to say about American representation… before realizing that we had two Americans in our party who were listening to his every word.

By definition, the people who have stopped to engage with us have been more than averagely engaged and interested – their curiosity about us probably extends to their attitude to the world at large, so they probably read the serious newspapers and pay attention to what is going on in the world. But even so, it has been heartening to find the level of awareness of the issues, the vocabulary, and what needs to be done to address the problem.

But are people taking action? That is harder to gauge. This is a problem that I have pondered at length. My perception is that awareness and action are both on the rise, but I am also keenly aware that the people I encounter are a self-selecting sample of the more actively engaged. And I have not been in a position (yet) to gauge awareness and action in countries such as India, China and Brazil.

I am sure that much work still remains to be done. There is no time for complacency.

Other Stuff:

Thanks, all, for your lovely comments! I’ve had very intermittent email access (most blogs have been posted by my mother after very hasty turning on of data roaming for just long enough to send her an email via my iPhone – ridiculously expensive otherwise), but whenever I manage to pick up my emails I pass your messages on to the team – and we all appreciate them very much!

(This message originally posted as a comment, but now replicated here to make sure everybody sees it.)

Loads of photos now posted online at our Flickr account – PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR GALLERY!!!

Today was challenging – flat, featureless and windy. But thankfully the rain that poured down throughout the night gave us a break, and we walked in mostly dry conditions. Heads down, chins up, striding out! Now in Oude Tonge, staying at the Hotel Lely.

The Hotel in Goedereede

Holland is flat, flat and low. Most of the land we were walking on today is below sea level, the water kept at bay by dykes and ditches. But today the element most on our minds was not water, but wind. We had to jag southwestwards in order to end up somewhere with accommodation, which took us straight into a headwind across some of the flattest, most exposed terrain that Holland can offer.

This morning we trekked across grey, wintry landscapes, huge vistas of grey clouds sweeping across the skies above us, while we passed humble, unadorned houses and smallholdings of goats, sheep, horses and hens – and even a few deer and rabbits. The terrain was bleak, and we just had to be grateful that it wasn’t raining, as the wind would have hurled the raindrops painfully into our faces. Settlements were few, and lunch was eaten quickly as we hunkered down in the one sheltered spot for miles around, in the lee of a park café closed for the winter.

This afternoon we had to cross a bridge across a dam, a huge feat of hydraulic engineering that left me feeling faintly scared of the gargantuan machinery, and the bridge seemed to go on forever – well, half an hour at least.

After a final stretch alongside a canal lined by leafless poplars we arrived at Goedereede, by far the prettiest place we had been since leaving Breille this morning. Narrow streets lined with old houses led us to our accommodation for the night – the Hotel de Gouden Leeuw, which we recognized by the eponymous golden lion projecting from its front wall.

With relief we dived out of the wind and into its main hall, a double-height room with a minstrels’ gallery, beamed wooden ceiling, iron chandelier, black and white tiled floor, and wooden wainscoting topped by a shelf along which are arranged assorted antique bric-a-brac – paintings of local scenes, a model boat, old-fashioned hotirons, woodcarvings, and a few traditional Dutch tiles. A huge ceramic beer pump dominates the bar. Up the narrow tiled staircase my spartan but clean little room on the top floor has a glorious view across the red roofs of the old town, and I can hear the church clock chiming the quarter hours. I feel like I have walked straight out of the 21st century and into a Vermeer painting.

Other Stuff:

It’s not easy being green….

One of the challenges of this venture from Big Ben to Brussels has been how to reconcile priorities that occasionally conflict. This morning was a good example.

A few days ago the team was falling apart – physically, not figuratively, I mean. Between us we had a list of injuries including blisters, swollen knees, potential stress fractures of the foot, and a couple of dodgy Achilles tendons. As the instigator of this whole crazy enterprise I had to think hard about how best to keep the show on the road.

Last night we went to sleep in Harwich, Essex, England. This morning we woke up in the Hook of Holland. After 5 days of having to create every inch of progress through our own efforts, this made a nice change. It was also a relief to the more seasick-prone among us that the crossing of the North Sea took place overnight while we were all safely horizontal – which I have found to be by far the best position to adopt when feeling queasy. But by my standards, last night’s crossing was blessedly calm, the motion of the ferry barely perceptible compared with the extreme tippiness of my little rowboat.

The breakfast was better too. No full English available on the Brocade. We were woken this morning by a tannoy announcement letting us know that food was now being served. Team BB2B has found that we walk best on a good bellyful of breakfast, so we stoked up well on hot eggs, tomatoes, and toast.

We had cause to be glad of the calories. We emerged from the warmth of the ferry into a dark, wet Dutch morning. For the first 3 or 4 hours of our day we walked on an exposed pathway along the top of a dike, through driving rain and gale force winds. The landscape was bleak and industrial. After yesterday’s mellow sunshine and the pretty late autumn landscape of Essex’s Constable country, today seemed especially brutal.

The one bright spot of the morning came when two smiling people caught up with us and introduced themselves as Melanie and Philip. Melanie had been following my blog and they had decided to come and join us for our day’s walk – our first BB2B day guests. They had missed us at the ferry terminal, but had then spotted our orange jackets and caught up with us. Yet another good reason to be glad of our brightly colored waterproofs. They were well field-tested in the worst of conditions today, and came up trumps. Thanks yet again to Marmot!

Aside: 8 reasons why we love our orange Marmot jackets (Palisades model):

1. Resistant to rainwater by the bucketful
2. Sleeve pocket ideal for storing chocolate – not too hot, not too cold
3. Great hood design – hood stays up (even with ponytail) and keeps rain out
4. Top of zip doesn’t rub painfully
5. Snuggly fleece collar
6. Highly visible to day guests and to each other
7. Good for team spirit and cohesiveness – great that we all match
8. Color symbolic of change – what we need to do in Copenhagen if humans are to survive

Although my jacket kept me nice and dry, I hadn’t put enough clothes on before leaving the ferry and started to feel cold. But I was reluctant to take my waterproof off in order to add more layers underneath. Even a couple of minutes of exposure to the elements would have soaked me to the skin. So I plodded on.

I was losing touch with my toes when at last we found the ferry that would take us on the short ride across an inlet from the sea – and to the refuge of a café on the other side. After putting on ALL the clothes from my rucksack, and gulping down a hot chocolate, with a large slice of apple pie on the side, I started to feel better. A bowl of mushroom soup completed my restoration to health and happiness.

We had to do a few more miles through the industrial landscape before at last our path turned towards Brielle, away from the road and into the countryside. The skies cleared and the sun came out, and my perception of Holland started to become more favourable.

After passing many modern wind turbines, we spotted a proper traditional wooden windmill as we took the final turn in the path that would lead us to Brielle. It turned out to be a gorgeous little town, with quaint old Dutch-gabled houses, restaurants and shops lining a canalful of boats. We are now sitting in the hotel bar with Melanie and Philip, drinking tea and munching on biscuits and chocolate. Chocophile Indian Ocean rower Sarah Outen texted me today to insist that we eat “copious amounts of Belgian chocolate” in her honor – so we are gladly obeying orders. The things I have to do for my friends…!

P.S. I have a load of really lovely photos that I want to use to illustrate this post. However… having spent 10 Euros for internet access, this is what happened:

a) I cannot log on from my MacBook – spent 1:30 hrs trying

b) I am now using the hotel PC, which allowed me to copy using the right mouse button, but did not allow paste using the same – 20 mins

c) Now refuses to recognize the photos on my USB drive, even though it was perfectly happy to recognize the text file of the blog – spent 40 mins trying

d) Now about to run out of minutes on my internet access. Now 10pm, and today started at 5am UK time. Have totally lost the will to live.

e) iPhone blogging (used several times in last few days to email blog and photos to Mum for her to post online) is far too expensive from here.

f) Have not been able to access emails. Probably have 100 unread by now – in addition to the existing backlog of 88.

g) So am going to bed in despair. Will try tomorrow to post the photos. Really sorry.

h) Sigh….

High spirits on the walk today-Laura in ebullient mood in the sunshine.

Sailing tonight from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, so abbreviated blog.

Just a swift update: Lovely day’s walking from picturesque Dedham to Harwich after fab breakfast at the Sun Inn. Have decided that humungous breakfast + sunshine = happy walkers.

Fun evening at The Ha’penny Pier bistro in Harwich. Long term blog reader Karen came to join us for dinner. Will be forever grateful to her for her incomparable text messages during Atlantic crossing in 2005. E.g., during especially low moment, “Chin up, tits out!”

Now on board ferry. Comfy bunks, en suite bathroom, all mod cons. Bit more luxurious than my rowboat!

Girls well supplied with ginger, hoping to avoid seasickness. Tomorrow we awake in Holland.

One country down, two to go!

Treading lightly on the earth/mud

It’s not easy to tread lightly upon the earth when you have 10lb of mud on each boot, but we try….

If yesterday was the hump day, maybe today was the clump day. The forecast was for sunshine and rain – but we got very little of either. It was a day of grey skies and grey fields. Thank heavens for our bright orange jackets and baseball caps to brighten up the day. I had the feeling that orange – as well as being symbolic of change – would be just the ray of sunshine we needed to boost our spirits on a drab winter’s day. And as I increasingly find as I tune into my intuition, it has turned out to be a great success.

The only dodgy orange moment was when we entered a field past a sign saying “Beware of the bull”. Laura asked the key question: “So what are we supposed to do about it?” To which I replied, “Not wave any red hankies in its direction?” “And what about bright orange jackets?” came the rather too pertinent response.

Shorthorn bull

Luckily the bulls, although large and funny-faced, were mostly benign. After a few faintly hostile glares they ambled off out of our way.

Today the challenges were less bovine, more medical. Jane has some new boots – alas, not Keens, our sponsor’s footwear not being available in Colchester at short notice – and by swapping between her new boots and Laura’s old boots was able to adjust the pressure points on her feet at regular intervals. Alison’s knee is like a melon, but she soldiers on stoically. We are considering how to make it through the rest of our journey without anyone suffering permanent injury, and have lined up a few environmentally friendly contingency plans.

Ouch! Jane's heel

It is fascinating to think that 200 years ago – even 100 years ago – walking was THE way to travel. Our 20th/21st century bodies are just not used to walking long mileages day after day. What softies we’ve become! Yet, no matter the aches and pains, it still feels pleasantly natural and, well, HUMAN to move at walking pace. When we cross over a motorway or major road, the traffic seems to whizz by at an indecently fast pace, the smell of exhaust fumes unpleasant, and the roar of internal combustion engines displeasing to our ears. By contrast walking, for all its limitations, seems to connect us to our human heritage. We have time to notice trees and wonder at their species, we surprise rabbits by approaching unheard, we send pheasants flapping hectically out of hedgerows as we pass. We see people working in their gardens and have time to say “Good morning” and comment on the weather.

It feels good.

Tomorrow night we take the ferry. Not as environmentally low impact as we’d hoped to be, but we didn’t manage to find a sailboat to take us across – and given the weather conditions the ferry is

probably a more reliable bet than sail. Out of interest, here are the CO2 comparisons:

Options for the outwards journey:

Flying from London to Brussels produces approximately 400 kg of CO2 per person.
Train (Eurostar) produces about 20 kg of CO2.
Our choice: Walking (with ferry across the North Sea to Holland) produces only 12 kg.

And for the return journey:

Flying from Copenhagen to London produces over 360 kg of CO2.
Our choice: A train ride from Copenhagen to London produces approximately 55 kg of CO2 per passenger.

To put this in perspective:

‣ The UK’s total carbon footprint is over 500 million tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of over 420 million flights from New York to Los Angeles. Individuals account for 45% of this.
‣ The average carbon footprint per person in the UK is 10 tonnes. The average Indian is less than 2 tonnes and the average American or Saudi is closer to 20 tonnes.

And Alison is sitting here in the Sun Inn, Dedham (home town of the painter Constable) reminding me that if we want to save our snow – and the planet – we ALL need to get down to 2 tonnes. Wow.

Other Stuff:

Lovely mention by Act on Copenhagen, a subdivision of the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change – click here to see it.

Please support my friend David Kroodsma, veteran of the Climate Ride (bicycle ride from New York to DC), tech guy for 350.org, long distance cyclist (San Francisco to Tierra del Fuego) and all-round good guy. He is hoping to be selectedby the Huffington Post as their Hopenhagen Ambassador to report back from Copenhagen. I personally would love to see him there, and believe he would make a great correspondent. Please watch his video and vote for him here!

[All photos today: credit to Alison Gannett and her trusty iPhone!]

The World's Most Confusing Signpost

We had wondered in advance which would be our “hump day”, as the Americans call it. This might possibly have rather different connotations in the UK, but in the context of an all-female hiking group it means the toughest day, when the aches and pains have kicked in but the new fitness levels haven’t.

I’m rather hoping that today was the hump day, because if we get much more decrepit than this we might be in trouble. We were not helped today by some very muddy sections, that in mere minutes added pounds of clodded earth to our boots and further slowed our weary legs.
Jane’s feet were causing her some problems, even though her boots are very well worn in, so she decided to start a new trend – hiking loafers. Her evening shoes provided a welcome break for her feet. They did the trick surprisingly well, at least until we were able to stop at a garden centre for our lunch break and she bought some very fetching pink wellies. Of course, what she REALLY needs is some Keen boots, but we tried phoning around nearby outdoor shops, to no avail, alas.
Dodgy knees are an occupational hazard of the extreme skier, and Alison’s have undergone 8 surgeries in their lifetime. She calls them her Frankenstein knees. Today she was finding it more comfortable to jog gently rather than walk, as jogging brought into play her well-developed skier’s thighs and took the pressure off her calves.

I’m feeling a little bit of general tiredness in my ankles and hips, but otherwise not too bad. And Laura is still fit as a fiddle.

We’re all generally holding it together, and spirits are good as ever, but we are lining up a few contingency plans just in case – possibly renting a couple of bicycles for a few days when we get to Holland. We just hope that our navigator, Jane, stays the course. She might get a lot of abuse during the final “Jane miles” of the day, but we’d be lost – literally! – without her.

Tonight we are staying in Marks Tey, at the home of Laura’s brother. Luckily he wasn’t here to see 4 bedraggled, mud-coated women traipse up his driveway just before dusk.

As I sit here typing this, Jane has gone into Colchester to seek better footwear. Alison is hobbling around getting organized. Laura, as the most able-bodied member of the team and at least a near relative of the homeowner, is on cooking duties. And Mary is on her way back to her studies at the University of Essex. We are hoping her absence is only temporarily, as we’re trying to press-gang her into coming over to Holland to help us out with logistics. She has proved herself so indispensable that we will drug and abduct her if need be.

It is quite amazing how the team has already gelled. For a very random assortment of distant acquaintances, we are getting along famously. Even our various decrepitudes have not caused tempers to fray. What a team – BB2B, or not 2B…. boom, boom!

Team BB2B: Laura, Jane and Roz

Today we finally got into the groove. Days 1 and 2 were a bit stoppy-starty, but today we had no time for delay. 18 miles planned, so after stoking ourselves up with a magnificent full English breakfast at Ivy Cottage (Greensted Green) we departed promptly at 8.15am.

Last night I had woken several times to the sound of torrential rain, so had been suitably apprehensive about what kind of day would greet us, but we set out under clear blue rainwashed skies, and the first few hours of walking were a sheer joy.

The film crew also got into their groove today – largely thanks to Mary, an American student at the University of Essex and an unofficial addition to our core team. She had had to drop out of walking after Day 1 due to an old sporting injury. But for the rest of us this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Last night she carefully plotted out our route, and figured out places where our film crew car could intercept our walk. Repeatedly today we would round a corner to be greeted by the sight of a bright orange Marmot jacket on the far side of a field, camera pointed in our direction. We were able to forge on without frequent phone calls between the two halves of our team trying to arrange rendezvous points.

[Note: the carbon emissions of the camera car are being offset by Carbon Foresight, as are our ferry journeys across the North Sea to the Hook of Holland.]

Roz clambering over a stile - in style. Note the Keen boots - stood up well to the ultimate wet test today!

But the mellow late autumn weather of the morning did not last. Gradually the clouds gathered and by lunchtime we had our heads down and hoods up, battling through torrential rain and hail, our boots growing heavy with accumulated mud. I started counting paces, just as I count strokes on the ocean when the going gets tough. The difference this time was having the rest of a team around me. When the going gets tough, it’s great to have partners in grime!

Luckily we had a welcome refuge to look forward to. Some good friends live in a house rejoicing in the name of Fridays, which lay directly on our route if we took a shortcut by diverging from the Essex Way. At 1pm, just as the rain stopped, we reached the home of the Cherrys. We were able to dry ourselves out in front of their Aga stove, and gorge ourselves on hot coffee and chocolate cake. After a blissful 30 minutes in their kitchen we hit the road again feeling restored, dry, and happy, leaving little evidence of our visit but a pile of cake crumbs and a few dollops of mud.

More good news – Jane our navigator discovered that 1 mile of the route repeated itself on the other side of the map, so what had looked like 5 miles turned out to be closer to 4. Happy days! So after a shorter than expected time we entered Chatham Green and saw a sign saying “Windmill Inn 100 yds”.

Checking the map: is that a statute mile, a nautical mile, a country mile, or a Jane mile?!

So we all had to eat our words. The last couple of days we had been getting tired and looking forward to reaching our destination, and had been reassured by our esteemed navigator that we had just one more mile to go. 20 minutes later, it would appear that we STILL had one more mile to go. And et cetera. So we had started to joke that there are statute miles, nautical miles, country miles, and Jane miles.

But today we were set up to expect 18 miles, and the final tally after the Fridays shortcut and the overlap mile between one side of the map and the other was a mere (!) 16 miles, or 31,648 steps.

Just goes to show, when you aim really high, to achieve even a little less is a major achievement.

Other Stuff:

We passed through another verb-ish sounding town today: Chipping Ongar. We thought of several possible meanings for Chipping:

a)    to feel chipper, cheerful
b)    to chip away at a long journey, one step or one mile at a time
c)    to eat lots of chips to restore carbohydrates after a long day’s walking
d)    to walk briskly in an attempt to keep up with the turbo-charged Jane.

Chipping along the Essex Way - Go Team BB2B!

So we have now Wapped, Epped and Chipped our way through East London and Essex. Oh, and walked a bit too. About 45 miles down, 205ish to go. But when you’re having as much fun as we are, who’s counting?!

Nora, our American filmmaker, left us this evening after dinner. She has to go back to the US for a few days to work on another project, but plans to return by Dec 1 at the latest. She recorded our dinnertime conversation tonight as we discussed sustainability, energy security, environmental messaging, politics, business, and financial strategies for a greener – and more prosperous – future. And the great thing was that the conversation was not at all contrived. These are just the things we care about and talk about in a genuine exchange of ideas and a search for solutions.

Team BB2B is putting the world to rights, one idea and one mile at a time!

Alison - Epping

Much of today has been spent walking through lovely woods of oak and beech as we headed out of London through Epping Forest. According to our navigator Jane, King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth 1 used to hunt in this ancient forest.  Once beyond Epping we got into rolling agricultural land, criss-crossed by streams and ditches and tiny villages and masses of farms.

We were lucky with the weather. Parts of the Lake District in the north of England are suffering floods after record-breaking rainfalls that one Labour MP described as “Biblical”. The Met Office gauging station at Seathwaite recorded 314.4mm (12.3 inches) in 24 hours, compared to the previous record of 279mm (11 inches) which fell in Martinstown, Dorset in 1955.

We, on the other hand, spent most of the day in lovely mellow autumn sunshine, bringing out the gorgeous golds and oranges of the leaves still clinging to the beech boughs. Only later on did we get a few drops of rain, which coincided with the muddiest stretch of our walk as we squelched along footpaths in the aforementioned “rolling agricultural land”. But, as Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” The same applies to mud. No way to go but onwards.

As we walked I chatted with Alison, the extreme skier who regularly hurls herself off the top of cliffs. She euphemistically describes them as “shower curtain slopes” – which gives you some idea how steep they are. We compared notes on our respective activities – and how we both find that the time we spend in our wildernesses help us to reconnect with what is important. We’ve both had people to say to us that they don’t know how we can be happy spending time alone, so far from “civilization”. I find this interesting.

Much as I love being around people, I really do love spending time alone. I get a bit stressed if I go too long without my me-time. 100 days of solitude at a stretch is almost too much of a good thing, but it’s a great time to step off the world, reflect, get to know myself, and remind ourselves what really matters. So many trivialities fall away when you’re in an extreme environment. The basic human needs of food, water, and rest become all-important – and you realize how little else is.

And you don’t even have to go to the top of a sheer cliff or the middle of the ocean to do it. Just walking through the wilds of Essex (which, to compare it to the US, is probably our equivalent of New Jersey, i.e. not very wild at all) is enough to feel like we’re getting away from it all, that all the clutter of email and internet and everyday life is receding into the distance. It’s not exactly Chris McCandless territory (Into The Wild), but I’m still getting a lovely feeling of reconnecting with nature, regrounding myself on the Earth.

This is a very special time, and I feel very lucky to be here with my fantastic BB2B teammates. Thanks, girls!

Other Stuff:

We seem to be walking through a lot of places that sound like verbs. Wapping yesterday. Epping today. We’re working on definitions.

Today we decided, while eating lunch in a lovely tearoom in Epping – which opened only a week ago, just in time for us – that Epping is what an American does when they steal the spoon out of the sugar bowl to stir their tea, resulting in a sticky spoon with sugar coating. See photo.

Definition for Wapping still open to debate. Any offers?!

I was using my solar-powered pedometer today  (Savage branded ones available on my store, in BB2B orange – only $5.59!). For most of the day I kept it clipped to my pocket, but then got worried it was too vulnerable there to being knocked off and lost. So I clipped it onto my sports bra, safe in my cleavage. Unfortunately I forgot it was solar-powered, and it’s probably rather dark in there. So now I want to tell you my final step count and I can’t. Aha!!! As I speak, the artificial light in the kitchen of our B&B has just resuscitated it. Final count = 29,742. About 15 miles. Not bad going!

Caption: Laura with Earth Ball (NOT the one that escaped) in front of Tower Bridge

Not apocalypse now, as it might sound, but one of our Earth Balls coming a cropper early today. After a start considerably delayed by a pleasing amount of media interest in our departure from Big Ben, we set out to start our walk to Brussels, packs on backs and inflated Earth Balls on packs. We were walking along the Thames Path towards Tower Bridge when my phone rang. It was the Associated Press news agency wanting to verify a few facts.

I was just talking with them when I heard a pop and turned around to see an Earth Ball (not mine, but I’m not going to name names) float over the railings and down into the Thames. I burst out laughing, at the same time gasping in horror that we had not only lost an Earth, but also inadvertently dropped a piece of plastic in the river. I then had to explain to the AP journalist what was going on.

“We just lost Planet Earth,” I said. “Luckily, we have another nine.” Then a useful soundbite popped into my head. “Unluckily the same can’t be said of the real Earth. That’s what we’re going to Copenhagen to say. We’ve got just the one Earth, and we have to look after it. In real life, we don’t have any spares.”

And that’s really what it’s all about. We need to clean up our act, and soon, if we’re going to have a nice clean, healthy planet to live on, rather than one polluted with toxins, trash, and, errr, errant Earth Balls.

Fortunately the rest of the day passed without incident. We walked along the Thames Path for a while, then turned north along Regent’s Canal, then followed the River Lea out towards Walthamstow. After an early downpour – which unfortunately coincided exactly with our photo shoot for the press on Westminster Bridge – the skies cleared and the winter sun shone weakly on us as we walked along footpaths and towpaths through the of East London. After our late start it was nearly a couple of hours after dark by the time Jane successfully navigated us to the County Hotel in Woodford.

We have already gathered quite a healthy number of signatures on our Earth Balls – everyone from the patrons of the tiny Caffe Nero where we assembled for our pre-walk breakfast to a group of schoolchildren we met on the canal towpath.

A few thank yous are in order:

Thanks to Marmot for our lovely matching orange waterproof jackets. They looked absolutely splendid for our photo shoot this morning, brightened up an otherwise dreary day, and also made it easy for us to spot each other if the group started to stretch out too much.

Thanks to Keen for my lovely walking boots. After a mere hour of breaking in yesterday, they performed magnificently today, with nary a blister in sight.

Thanks to Sue Losson of Green People for turning up to see us off this morning, despite the inhospitable weather. And to Alan Murray of Murray PR on a great job of getting the press along to witness our departure.

And – of course – to all our backers on Kickstarter, and all the other people who emailed or texted today to wish us good luck on our walk. 15 miles down, 235 to go!

And last but not least, the wonderful women of Team BB2B – Jane, Laura, Alison, Nora, and Mary. It makes a welcome change to have company  -  and such great company too.

Nothing like watching the end of the world on a Saturday night...

Last night, after too much talking at the Royal Geographical Society, I decided to give my vocal chords a rest and go see a movie. I was intrigued by 2012, and decided that there would be nothing I would rather do on a Saturday night than treat myself to a Premier seat at the Odeon Tottenham Court Road and watch the end of the world as we know it.

I’d read a couple of reviews that said the special effects in the movie 2012 were amazing – and they were absolutely right. I am not easily impressed by special effects. Too often they overwhelm the story, or are just plain silly – or plain dreadful. But these were seriously impressive. Unavoidably emotional seeing America crumble before your very eyes, so very realistically.

And the human side of the story was good – the characters were engaging and sympathetic, and not overwhelmed by the special effects as so often happens.

But my acid test for a film is: Was this a good use of 3 hours of my life? Did I come out feeling inspired (Schindler’s List) or enlightened (Slumdog Millionaire) or exceptionally well entertained (Pirates of the Caribbean)?

And in this case I’m not convinced.

Back in 2004, just before I decided to row the Atlantic, I had gone to a cottage in Sligo to read all kinds of books – several of which were about indigenous prophecies about an end of an era in 2012, or pole shifts, or other such doomsday scenarios. Some of them suggested that such a disaster could be averted by a raising of collective human consciousness.

So I suppose I had hoped that there might be some semi-serious take-home message about this – or at the very least that the humans in the film might show some kind of awareness of the need for a better way of doing things in the future.– but I didn’t see any hint of self-reproach about the mess we’d made of things in our last incarnation, or resolution to do things differently the next time around. I got the feeling that, give or take a couple of romances either new or rekindled, life in the new world would go on pretty much the same way as in the old.

The disaster in the film is not of man’s making – it is due to solar flares leading to increased movement of the earth’s continental plates leading to earthquakes, tsunamis and a pole shift – so maybe the makers felt that any self-reflection on the part of the humans was unnecessary.

I’m not into hellfire and brimstone, or repent for the end of the world is nigh. But maybe I do at heart like a bit of a morality tale, and would quite have appreciated just a teensy weensy bit of food for thought about how we might resolve to do a better job the next time we establish a civilization.

For myself back in 2004, I decided that the end of the world may not be nigh, but for sure one of these days my own personal world would be. I realized I didn’t have forever to make my dreams come true, and I wasn’t getting any younger, so if I was ever going to have a big adventure it was about time I got on and did it.

Within 6 months I had decided to row the Atlantic. And maybe, just maybe, at the back of my mind was the thought that if there ever was a catastrophic pole shift, about the safest place to be would be in a self-righting ocean rowboat…

P.S. Excellent review written by a proper film critic here!

Michael Palin (photogenic) and me (not photogenic) at the RGS today

I had a big day at the Royal Geographical Society today, speaking as part of their Explore seminar weekend, on “Journey with a Purpose”. The last time I attended Explore was in 2002, shortly after I launched myself into a life of adventure, when ocean rowing was not even a glint in my eye and I was getting ready for an archaeological expedition to Peru. I was the “sponsorship organizer” for the expedition, i.e. the muggins on the team who didn’t know just what a tough call sponsorship is!

Explore was an amazing induction into the life of adventure –an intense series of talks from all kinds of luminaries of the world of exploration, sharing the benefit of their accumulated wisdom. I can still remember some of the presentations now – and my memory isn’t usually that good, so they must have made an impact.

And now, 7 years on, I was there again. All those years ago I would never have dreamed that I would one day be hearing Shane Winser, the esteemed and universally respected doyenne of the Expedition Advisory Centre, describing me as “one of the foremost female explorers” or some such thing – incredibly high praise, coming from someone who has seen more than her fair share of adventurers. In fact, I wasn’t sure how I’d live up to the generosity of her introduction.

But it all seemed to go pretty well. I only had a few minutes, which happily restricted the amount of nonsense I could talk. My theme was how to use an expedition to serve a greater purpose – as an advocate for a cause. I was extremely happy when Shane asked me to speak on this subject, as this year has seen a big evolution in me finding my voice as an environmental advocate, and condensing that learning experience into a 10-minute talk in an attempt to share with others such things as I may have learned was a very good process for me.

And I must have made some sense, because many of the members of the audience came up to me afterwards to say that my words had resonated with them. Different people picked up on different things that I had said, so even if not every person found everything useful, at least most people found something useful.

So that was very cool. Also extremely cool was getting to meet Michael Palin, the new President of the RGS. He gave his talk just after me, and I bagged him outside the coffee room to thank him for the wonderful audiobooks that kept me entertained for so many hours at the oars this summer. My favorite Palin books:

1. Around the World in 80 Days

2. Full Circle

3. Himalaya

4. Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure

5. Sahara

He was most gracious, and agreed to be photographed with me. He also asked if I would like to lecture at the RGS. Yes please – was my most emphatic reply! So maybe one day….I also confided in him that one day I want his job – to be paid by the BBC to go travel the world and write books about it. Would be amazing if that dream came true.

In case I got too carried away with my big dreams, tonight I decided to put things in perspective by going to the movies for a dose of disaster – 2012, which was released yesterday. But I’m tired now, and back to the RGS early in the morning for some lectures on expedition technology. Although I reckon I know a thing or two about it, there’s always more to learn. So review for 2012 coming tomorrow.

P.S. An afterthought – I was only able to stick around for a few of the other lectures today, as I’m in the thick of organizing our Big Ben to Brussels walk, but of the other ones I heard, all seemed to include some element of advocacy or research – often relating to environmental issues such as extinction of species or climate change. So now that “adventure” is what so many travel companies are selling – and it still baffles me how you can sell a prepackaged and prescheduled “adventure” – maybe the people that we would once have called adventurers are now classified as expeditioners to differentiate them from the tourist-adventurers. And explorers? Do we have anything left that can feasibly be explored? Or are explorers now also an extinct species – or at least on the endangered list?

By Rita Savage

Recycled Larabar wrappers (photo by Rita Savage)

On July 2nd 2009, day 39 of Roz’s row across the Pacific, she wrote a blog about her food, and made particular mention of Larabars. She is a big fan of these healthy rawfood snack bars – as well as tasting great, the minimal processing involved in their manufacture means they have a low carbon footprint. She knew she would munch her way through about 300 bars during her 100 or so days at sea, and was keeping all the Larabar wrappers with a view to making something out of them – but wasn’t sure what, so she asked for suggestions. Richard Cort in Austin, Texas, came up with this excellent idea:

“Each one could be easily laminated, and turned into an excellent bookmark. Then enclose one with special copies of the Atlantic book, as a souvenir from the Pacific trip. I would think that it would be a treat for readers to have a (Larabar) bookmark that had actually been on one of the journeys. I know that I’d want one.”

Work on the bookmarks could’t start until a) Roz had finished her row and brought the wrappers to land, and then b) the bookmarks had been signed and shipped from Hawaii to England, so it was not possible to have the bookmarks ready in time to go out with the copies of Rowing The Atlantic which people had ordered from Amazon. But work is now underway in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where Roz’s mother, Rita, is busy as a bee assembling and laminating them, and will be sent out shortly.

Each bookmark has a personally signed card on one side, and  a Larabar wrapper on the reverse. It has not been easy to remove all the wrinkles from the wrappers, so Rita has been carefully ironing each wrapper to get it as flat as possible. Some of the wrappers have been a bit sticky – especially the Jocolat ones – but don’t worry, once they’re laminated you won’t have the bookmark getting stuck to the pages of your copy of Rowing The Atlantic!

May these bookmarks be a reminder, as the years go by, of what Roz was doing to draw attention to the plight of our planet and its oceans – and how recycling our rubbish is a great way to reduce the amount of stuff that ends up in landfill.

Time to clean up our act (Photo by Natalie Behring for Bloomberg)

Let’s forget about climate change.

WHAT??! I hear you gasp. But that’s all she’s been able to talk about ever since she got back from Kiribati. Is she having a crisis of faith?

No, I’m not. Nor am I caving in under pressure from negative comments on this blog. If 100+ days on the ocean couldn’t break my spirit, then a few naysayers don’t bother me.

All I’m saying is that from now on, my stance is going to be officially pro-sustainability rather than anti-climate change. You might think this is just playing on words, but there are two important points to be made here.

1. Focus on the positive

Regular readers might remember the mini-epiphany I had during the last stage of my row – that we need to focus on the solution rather than the problem. Click here to refresh your memory.

To quote Mother Teresa: “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.” I am going to take a leaf out of that wise woman’s book, and suggest that we focus on what we DO want rather than what we DON’T want.

2. Pulling Together

For certain people, “climate change” has become an emotionally charged phrase. Reading certain comments posted on this site, and possibly the comments of Lord Monckton, it seems they perceive a global conspiracy to overthrow capitalism and democracy. They think that climate campaigners are scamming the public to line their own pockets (I can’t speak for every campaigner, but I can assure you that my pockets are most decidedly empty – and you can ask my unimpeachable mother if you doubt me). They see environmental campaigning being used as a vehicle for self-promotion and aggrandisement.

There is little to be gained by engaging in a tit-for-tat exchange of defense and counter-attack. The personal comments are just a distraction from striving towards a solution. So we’ll move swiftly on.

Both believers and deniers point at the statistics to back up their arguments. Well, we all know there are lies, damned lies, and statistics, and it is generally possible to find evidence to support any preconceived point of view. We are bombarded with so much information that it can be bewildering to try and make sense of it all, so our natural tendency is to apply filters and see only what we want to see.

Even some of my best friends are climate change deniers – and yes, I do still speak to them. They have done their research, considered the facts, and arrived at a different conclusion. I respect that. They are at least engaged, informed, and conscious. Provided that they respect me and my beliefs, then I will extend them the same courtesy.

Too much time and energy has been expended, by both sides, on attacking each other’s facts and each other’s champions. Instead of uniting mankind against a common enemy, “climate change” has instead become a divisive issue just at the time when we are most in need of unity.

So let’s forget it. Hopefully I can show that ultimately it doesn’t matter whether we believe in climate change or not – that we still actually want the same things.

Let’s instead focus on these questions:

1.    Do we agree that we live on a finite earth, and are unlikely to colonise any other planets in the near future?
2.    The first oil was drilled in 1859, just 150 years ago. We have now used around half of it. In 1996 the oil industry estimated we had only 45 years left – at 1996 rates of consumption. But consumption is escalating. Even if you think these figures are pessimistic, do we agree that oil reserves must at some point run out, given that they are a non-renewable resource?
3.    Does anybody enjoy inhaling exhaust fumes? Have you read about the appalling air quality in some Chinese cities – largely due to coal-fired power plants? Would you want to live there? If you live in LA, are you happy about the fact that 25% of your air pollution comes from China?
4.    Would you prefer that your country (whatever country that may be) is engaged in sustainable industries based on renewable energy sources? Or would you prefer that investment continues to flow into industries that depend on energy and fuel sources that must one day run out?
5.    Would you prefer that your country (again, whatever country that may be) is at the leading edge of innovation, a global leader? Or would you prefer to see your economy overtaken by other nations that preferred to invest in industries that will be sustainable, not just in the long term, but in the forever term (or at least as long as the sun continues to shine)?

So let’s raise the tone of the debate. Too often at the moment we look like schoolchildren squabbling over a toy – our most precious toy, the Earth. And the danger is that as we pull in opposite directions in our global tug of war, the Earth will end up broken – or at least unable to sustain human life. That is the worst case scenario – or maybe, from the Earth’s point of view, the best.

A new version of our logo - but one final refinement still to come...

This evening Jane emailed through an outline plan for Belgium, so for anyone who would like to join us for the whole walk, or for the European side of the journey, here we go – the combined UK and Belgium routes. Both countries well known for their beer! Well, we have to replenish our carbs somehow…

Day 1 Friday 20th November 2009
About 14 miles (5 from Big Ben to Limehouse Basin, 2.5 to the Foot Tunnel, 5 to Eltham, 2 to Sunridge Park)
10.00 am Big Ben London – meet with the media
10.30 start walk – head East along the Thames Path on the Northern side of the river
12.30 Limehouse Basin
1.15 Northern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel
1.30 Southern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel then walk south through Greenwich Park, Blackheath, cross the A2 and turn to the east along Shooters Hill until turning south into Kidbrooke Grove.  Take first east into Westbrook Road and continue until the T junction with Rochester Way.  Turn south down Rochester Way and continue along, over the A2 until Bridbook Road.  Turn down Bridbrook Road (south/south/west) and continue under the A2 and into Eltham Green Road (south).  Continue southward until the A210, Eltham Road, cross the road, and cross Westhorne Avenue, turn eastward to the major roundabout and pick up Middle Park Avenue.  Continue down Middle Park Avenue until the junction with Eltham Palace Road, turn east, continue until Eltham Palace and the grounds are in front of you and pick up St John’s Walk.
3.00 Pick up St John’s Walk at Eltham Palace and follow to Mottingham, picking up the Green Chain Walk.
At Elmstead Wood leave the Green Chain Walk and walk through to Sunridge Park and the Sunridge Park Hotel

Day 1 Accommodation: Sunridge Park Hotel

Day 2 Saturday 21st November
Approximately 16 miles (10 to Eynsford and then 6 to South Street)
8.30 start from Sunridge Park Hotel – walk north/east to pick up the Green Chain Walk at the edge of Elmstead Wood.  Walk through Chislehurst west to Chislehurst Common.
9.15 Chisltehurst Common then through the edge of Park Wood and into St Paul’s Cray.  Cross the River Cray at Brooks Way, and pick up the footpath that joins to Chapmans Lane between Cray Valley Golf Club and Pauls Cray Hill Park which links to Hockenden.
From Hockenden take the eastern bridlepath and then footpath across the fields along the side of Bourne Wood crossing the railway by the footbridge and continuing until picking up the back road into Crockenhill
11.30 Centre of Crockenhill, follow the Church Road southwards and then turn east down Harvest Way and pick up the footpath at the end of the road and continue until the M25, turn south east and follow the footpath along until the subway under the motorway, continue along the path the other side, connecting up to a track that takes you through Hulberry Farm and then pick up the Darent Valley Path, traverse the railway line and into Eynesford.
12.30 Eynsford Pub: The Malt Shovel Inn
1.00 From Eynsford to in a northerly direction along the A225 until a small turning to the right signposted Prior Lane, take that and pick up the bridleway across the fields, pick up Donkey Lane, cross the A20 and continue on the footpath to Gabrielspring Wood.  Turn left towards the M20 and follow the path to the footbridge across the motorway.  Once over the motorway take the path straight ahead to the wood, entering the wood and then turning right after a short distance.  This track follows down to Speedgate Farm and the road.  Turn right at the road, continue straight across at the cross roads with Oak Racing Kennels to your left, picking up a path at the edge of the kennels to the left.  Follow that to the embankment of the M20 and in front there should be a junction with one road going under the motorway and another going away in front of you, Brands Hatch Road.  Follow the road along, taking the left hand branch and crossing straight over at the cross roads towards Ash.  At the T juncion to New Ash Green take the footpath straight ahead, joining a road again as you go past Ash Place Farm to pick up a bridleway to White Ash Wood.  Half way through the wood take the right hand path going east, cross the road picking up the path on the opposite side which takes you south eastward past another wood, picking up a track and into Ridley.  In Ridley turn left on the road and then right at the junction along Bunkers Hill towards South Street.  Continue along this road for about half a mile going straight across at the cross roads until you come into South Street.

Day 2 Accommodation: Beechfield B&B, South Street

Day 3 Sunday 22nd November
Approximately 14.5 miles (About 5.5 to Medway Bridge, then 9 miles to Thurnham)
9.00am start from South Street.  Follow Heron Hill eastward until just after the end of the village where there is a confusion of footpaths and bridlepaths.  Where the land bends to the left take the footpath to the south, then after a very short distance there should be a branch that goes south easterly over a field towards Harvel.  Take this and go into Harvel Village, turn left at the road then right at the cross roads and continue out of the village, past a road to the left and shortly after this there should be a track/footpath to the left which goes to Little Delmar Farm.  Take this track and at Little Delmar Farm you pick up the Wealdway.  Cross the road and continue southward on the Wealdway, through Lie Wood, Luson Wood and to Lockyers Hill where you pick up the road.  At the triangle road junction take the footpath to the east, and continue eastward through a wood, at this junction you should meet up with the North Downs Way which is coming up from the south.
About 2.00pm passing through Kits Coty and briefly resting at Kits Coty Brassier on the Old Chatham Road.

Day 3 Accommodation: Black Horse Inn, Pilgrims Way, Thurnham

Day 4 Monday 23rd November
About 18 miles
8.30am start from the Black Horse, going North to pick up the North Downs Way again.
North Downs Way via Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, Charing (possibly stopping here for a brief rest), Dunn Street, Boughton Lees to Wye.

Day 4 Accommodation: Wye (Wife Of Bath Inn or Kings Head)

Day 5 Tuesday 24th November
Longest day: just over 20 miles
8.30am start, prompt!!  Wye to Etchinghill, past the Channel Tunnel Terminal, Folkestone, Capel-le Ferne and into Dover.

Day 5 Accommodation: Dover with ferry crossing to Calais on the morning of Day 6 (Wednesday 25th November)

BELGIUM

Day 6 (Wednesday 25th) (@10 miles)
Ferry from Dover to Calais.  Foot passengers book in 45 minutes ahead of crossing, P&O crossing takes 90 minutes.  9.15am sailing arrives 11.45 (cost on 5th Nov: £14.00 per adult)
12.00 start walking: Calais to Marck
Accommodation: Le manoir du meldick
2528, Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 62730 Marck, Pas-de-Calais, France  03 21 85 74 34‎

Day 7 (Thursday 26th) (@20 miles)
Marck to Dunkerque

Day 8 (Friday 27th) (@20 miles)
Dunkerque to Neuiwpoort

Day 9 (Saturday 28th) (@ 18 miles)
Neuiwpoort to Diksmuide

Day 10 (Sunday 29th) (about 18 miles)
Diksmuide to Ruddervoorde
Accommodation: Domein Leegendael   domeinleegendael.be
Kortrijksestraat 498
8020 Ruddervoorde, Oostkamp, Belgium  050 67 96

Day 11 (Monday 30th) (about 18 miles)
Ruddervoorde to Lotenhulle
Accommodation: Lomolen B&B   lomolenlogies.be
Lomolenstraat 112
9880 Lotenhulle, Aalter, Belgium  09 371 95 15

Day 12 (Tuesday 1st December) (about 20 miles)
Lotenhulle to Ghent

Day 13 (Wednesday 2nd) (about 18 miles)
Ghent to Appels
Accommodation: ets Jerry Pierre‎
Hoofdstraat 53
9200 Dendermonde, Belgium  052 21 14 07

Day 14 (Thursday 3rd) (about 18 miles)
Appels to Mollem
Accommodation: B&B Kezenestje    kezenestje.be
Kezeweide 33
1730 Mollem, Asse, Belgium  02 452 76 59

Peeters / B.
Voorstehoeve 42
1730 Mollem, Belgium  02 452 63 61

Day 15 (Friday 4th) (about 12 miles)
Mollem to Brussels

Our draft logo for BB2B, although likely to end up with two feet on the Earth. Two feet definitely better than one!

Hot off the press – this is our planned route for the first few days from Big Ben to Brussels. We would love it if you want to come and join us for part of our walk. Details of the second leg from Dunkerque to Brussels coming soon, when our wonderfully efficient route-planner Jane manages to get hold of some better maps for Belgium.

Note from Jane: “I have assessed the times over the first two days on a walking speed of about 3 to 3.5 miles per hour  ALL TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE (that also applies to mileages!)”

Note from me: VERY IMPORTANT! We are exploring a number of options for crossing the Channel. At the moment we are planning to take the ferry, but if a zero-carbon option becomes available we will leap at the chance. So ALL PLANS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT SHORT NOTICE! Please do check the website for updates before you set out to join us. Any changes will be posted here as soon as we know about them.

We can’t offer to arrange accommodation and food for everybody, alas – it would be logistically impossible to organize this for an unknown number of people – so you’ll need to be self-sufficient. But you WILL have the opportunity to be interviewed for our documentary, and be a part of a historic adventure!

Day 1 Friday 20th November 2009
About 14 miles (5 from Big Ben to Limehouse Basin, 2.5 to the Foot Tunnel, 5 to Eltham, 2 to Sunridge Park)
10.00 am Big Ben London – meet with the media
10.30 start walk – head East along the Thames Path on the Northern side of the river
12.30 Limehouse Basin
1.15 Northern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel
1.30 Southern entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel then walk south through Greenwich Park, Blackheath, cross the A2 and turn to the east along Shooters Hill until turning south into Kidbrooke Grove.  Take first east into Westbrook Road and continue until the T junction with Rochester Way.  Turn south down Rochester Way and continue along, over the A2 until Bridbook Road.  Turn down Bridbrook Road (south/south/west) and continue under the A2 and into Eltham Green Road (south).  Continue southward until the A210, Eltham Road, cross the road, and cross Westhorne Avenue, turn eastward to the major roundabout and pick up Middle Park Avenue.  Continue down Middle Park Avenue until the junction with Eltham Palace Road, turn east, continue until Eltham Palace and the grounds are in front of you and pick up St John’s Walk.
3.00 Pick up St John’s Walk at Eltham Palace and follow to Mottingham, picking up the Green Chain Walk.
At Elmstead Wood leave the Green Chain Walk and walk through to Sunridge Park and the Sunridge Park Hotel

Day 1 Accommodation: Sunridge Park Hotel

Day 2 Saturday 21st November
Approximately 16 miles (10 to Eynsford and then 6 to South Street)
8.30 start from Sunridge Park Hotel – walk north/east to pick up the Green Chain Walk at the edge of Elmstead Wood.  Walk through Chislehurst west to Chislehurst Common.
9.15 Chislehurst Common then through the edge of Park Wood and into St Paul’s Cray.  Cross the River Cray at Brooks Way, and pick up the footpath that joins to Chapmans Lane between Cray Valley Golf Club and Pauls Cray Hill Park which links to Hockenden.
From Hockenden take the eastern bridlepath and then footpath across the fields along the side of Bourne Wood crossing the railway by the footbridge and continuing until picking up the back road into Crockenhill
11.30 Centre of Crockenhill, follow the Church Road southwards and then turn east down Harvest Way and pick up the footpath at the end of the road and continue until the M25, turn south east and follow the footpath along until the subway under the motorway, continue along the path the other side, connecting up to a track that takes you through Hulberry Farm and then pick up the Darent Valley Path, traverse the railway line and into Eynesford.
12.30 Eynsford Pub: The Malt Shovel Inn
1.00 From Eynsford to in a northerly direction along the A225 until a small turning to the right signposted Prior Lane, take that and pick up the bridleway across the fields, pick up Donkey Lane, cross the A20 and continue on the footpath to Gabrielspring Wood.  Turn left towards the M20 and follow the path to the footbridge across the motorway.  Once over the motorway take the path straight ahead to the wood, entering the wood and then turning right after a short distance.  This track follows down to Speedgate Farm and the road.  Turn right at the road, continue straight across at the cross roads with Oak Racing Kennels to your left, picking up a path at the edge of the kennels to the left.  Follow that to the embankment of the M20 and in front there should be a junction with one road going under the motorway and another going away in front of you, Brands Hatch Road.  Follow the road along, taking the left hand branch and crossing straight over at the cross roads towards Ash.  At the T juncion to New Ash Green take the footpath straight ahead, joining a road again as you go past Ash Place Farm to pick up a bridleway to White Ash Wood.  Half way through the wood take the right hand path going east, cross the road picking up the path on the opposite side which takes you south eastward past another wood, picking up a track and into Ridley.  In Ridley turn left on the road and then right at the junction along Bunkers Hill towards South Street.  Continue along this road for about half a mile going straight across at the cross roads until you come into South Street.

Day 2 Accommodation: Beechfield B&B, South Street

Day 3 Sunday 22nd November
Approximately 14.5 miles (About 5.5 to Medway Bridge, then 9 miles to Thurnham)
9.00am start from South Street.  Follow Heron Hill eastward until just after the end of the village where there is a confusion of footpaths and bridlepaths.  Where the land bends to the left take the footpath to the south, then after a very short distance there should be a branch that goes south easterly over a field towards Harvel.  Take this and go into Harvel Village, turn left at the road then right at the cross roads and continue out of the village, past a road to the left and shortly after this there should be a track/footpath to the left which goes to Little Delmar Farm.  Take this track and at Little Delmar Farm you pick up the Wealdway.  Cross the road and continue southward on the Wealdway, through Lie Wood, Luson Wood and to Lockyers Hill where you pick up the road.  At the triangle road junction take the footpath to the east, and continue eastward through a wood, at this junction you should meet up with the North Downs Way which is coming up from the south.
About 2.00pm passing through Kits Coty and briefly resting at Kits Coty Brassier on the Old Chatham Road.

Day 3 Accommodation: Black Horse Inn, Pilgrims Way, Thurnham

Day 4 Monday 23rd November
About 18 miles
8.30am start from the Black Horse, going North to pick up the North Downs Way again.
North Downs Way via Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, Charing (possibly stopping here for a brief rest), Dunn Street, Boughton Lees to Wye.

Day 4 Accommodation: Wye (Wife Of Bath Inn or Kings Head)

Day 5 Tuesday 24th November
Longest day: just over 20 miles
8.30am start, prompt!!  Wye to Etchinghill, past the Channel Tunnel Terminal, Folkestone, Capel-le Ferne and into Dover.

Day 5 Accommodation: Dover with ferry crossing on the morning of Day 6 (Wednesday)

Supported by Keen Footwear and Marmot, with carbon offsetting by Carbon Foresight. Thanks also to Orbis Globes, Murray PR, the kind folks at Green People and all our backers through Kickstarter.

The Mission:
To send a message to the COP15 conference expressing our desire for action on climate change. Come join us!

Background:
This summer Roz rowed solo 2,600 miles across the Pacific from Hawaii to Kiribati, where she saw the human face of climate change. Kiribati, a scattering of small coral atolls, will be uninhabitable within the next 50 years as climate change causes rises in sea level and increasingly frequent major weather events. Click here to watch a video about Kiribati and climate change.

Big Ben to Brussels:
Roz is now taking a message to the climate change conference in Copenhagen, in her role as United Nations “Climate Hero”. With a small group of friends she will set out on Nov 20 to walk 200 miles from Big Ben to Brussels, where she will join the United Nations Climate Express train for the remainder of the journey to Copenhagen. Click here to meet the team.

Earth Balls:
During the walk they will gather signatures on inflatable “Earth” balls, to be delivered to the conference as a petition calling on the delegates to take decisive action on climate change so that more countries and regions do not suffer the same fate as Kiribati.

The Route:
Come and join us! For an hour, for half a day, for a full day, or even the whole trip. Click here for details of the route. And we’d love to interview you for our film to find out who you are and why you care about climate change.

Walk With Us – Online:
Can’t be there? You can still show your support for our cause by going for a walk, wherever you are! You can sign up for our environmental mission, called Pull Together. Take action on CO2 levels by walking more and driving less. Good for your body, and good for the planet! Match the the 10,000 oar strokes Roz does each day on the ocean by walking 10,000 steps a day and sharing your results online. Click here for details.

Support Us:
You can also support us by pledging financial support. In return we have all kinds of exclusive Roz Savage goodies on offer. See Kickstarter for more details.

Follow Us:
We’ll be posting photos, videos, blogs and Facebook and Twitter updates on this website throughout the BB2B walk. Roz will also be writing exclusive blogs for Keen Footwear, Grist.org and the Wend Magazine blog.

Motto:
If we all pull together, we CAN save the world!

The 16ft ball is definitely TOO big

Thank you to all who have pledged support. We are now over 60% of the way to our target – and the nailbiting is getting worse! It’s all or nothing, so if we don’t get at least 100% of target, we get a big round $000 – which would be a bummer! Thanks also to those of you who have passed the link to our project on to your networks of friends – it really helps to spread the word.

If it helps inspire you, here is what Joan in Atlanta posted to her Facebook page: “Do you feel like your karma needs a boost? Kickstarter is an awesome way to do it, and do a good deed for the day. C’mon. A ten-spot. It’s way better than spending it on lottery scratch-offs. Of course, I want you to choose my pet cause (Roz! Roz!), but you might find another endeavor that really speaks to you, and that’s cool, too. Take your first step into meaningful philanthropy.”

I had a meeting with teammate Jane yesterday – she is in charge of route planning and logistics. It hasn’t been easy to find safe walking routes out of London – amazing how many roads and bridges don’t have paths for pedestrians. So Jane has had her work cut out! Google Earth has come in very handy for zooming right in and seeing if there is a footpath or not.

We sat there in the coffee shop with maps everywhere, and Jane’s trails of little multicolored stickers traipsing across them to show our route. Hopefully by the end of today we’ll be able to post details of our route online, with rendezvous points, so that people can come and join us for a day to show solidarity with the cause.

Even just the planning process has been an education. With such restricted facilities for walkers and cyclists, how can we expect to coax people out of their cars?

Now on to the next stage of the planning process – sorting out our kit, including our Earths. What size to get….?

Carrying the world on our shoulders (image courtesy of 350.org)

Ever had a great idea for a project, but lacked the finance to get it off the ground? You might want to check out Kickstarter, a website founded earlier this year to help small-scale projects get funding. I’m trying it out for the first time – to cover the basic costs of our walk from Big Ben to Brussels. Details of our mission follow, but first I wanted to give you my first impressions of Kickstarter.

Points to note, including some insider info from a friend who advised the creators of Kickstarter:

1. It’s all or nothing. If you don’t get to 100% of your target, you get nothing. Nada. Not a bean. And all the pledges are cancelled. So it’s better to set a slightly conservative target rather than aim too high and end up with zilch.

2. If a project gets to 40% of its target, chances are good (about 90%) that it will go on to achieve 100%. So I wrote to a few people who had previously been generous to ask them individually if they would help me achieve this critical threshold – which we have now done. It remains to be seen if we get all the way to 100%.

3. It’s not designed for charitable giving. Donors expect the rewards on offer to be commensurate with the amount pledged. So obviously, if this is going to make sense financially, it takes a bit of creative thinking to figure out rewards that will be exciting for the recipient, while not costing so much that they cancel out the value of the pledge. I found some great examples on a project to create a cartoon book called “Poorcraft”:
$1 Access to exclusive blog about the creation of the book
$5 Complete PDF of the book
$10 Signed copy of the book
$30 3 more copies of the book
$50 Thank you in the acknowledgements
$100 Page of original art
$250 Cameo in book
$500 Cameo on cover of the book
Most of these cost little or nothing to the creators of the book, but are thoughtful and special ways to acknowledge their supporters.

Overall, it seems like a great concept. I’m excited (and rather nail-bitingly nervous!) to see if it works out well for our project. Speaking of which, here it is:

The Mission:
To send a message to the COP15 conference expressing public desire for action on climate change

Background:
This summer British ocean rower Roz Savage rowed solo 2,600 miles across the Pacific from Hawaii to Kiribati, where she saw the human face of climate change. Kiribati, a scattering of small coral atolls, will be uninhabitable within the next 50 years as climate change causes rises in sea level and increasingly frequent major weather events. Click here to watch a video about Kiribati and climate change.

Big Ben to Brussels:
Roz Savage is now taking a message to the climate change conference in Copenhagen, in her role as United Nations “Climate Hero”. With a small group of friends she will set out on Nov 20 to walk 200 miles from Big Ben to Brussels, where she will join the United Nations Climate Express train for the remainder of the journey to Copenhagen.

Earth Balls:
During the walk they will gather signatures on inflatable “Earth” balls, to be delivered to the conference as a petition calling on the delegates to take decisive action on climate change so that more countries and regions do not suffer the same fate as Kiribati.

Documentary Film – The Long Walk to Copenhagen:
The walk will also be the subject of a documentary film, “The Long Walk to Copenhagen”, focusing on the walkers and the people they meet en route to show how humankind is reacting to the biggest challenge of all time.

Global Initiative – Pull Together:
The global online community will be encouraged to show solidarity with the walkers by joining Roz’s environmental mission, called Pull Together. This initiative aims to inspire people to take action on CO2 levels by walking more and driving less. Calling upon her supporters around the world to Pull Together, Roz will challenge them to match the 10,000 oar strokes she does each day on the ocean by walking 10,000 steps a day.

Online Participation:
Using photos, videos, blogs and several social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, her mission is to connect and engage people of all ages around the world, and demonstrate that every action, no matter how small it may seem, does indeed matter. http://www.rozsavage.com.

Motto:
If we all pull together, we CAN save the world!

If you want to find out more, including a little video of me talking about the project and details of the rewards on offer, then check it out here. I’d also be grateful if you would pass on this link to your network of friends and family.

Only 15 days left, and over $2,000 still to raise. Please help us reach our target!

I’d also be interested if you have any suggestions of things that you might like to see as rewards for future projects. Exclusive access to a special blog? Exclusive video updates? E-books? Let me know!

Elizabeth II - Queen for 21,900 days

Queen Elizabeth will be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee – 60 years  – in 2012. I can still remember the Silver Jubilee in 1977, when I was at the grand old age of 9. Mine was one of probably millions of gaudily illustrated children’s cards winging their way to her Majesty to congratulate her on her 25 years on the throne.

I remember doing an exercise at school to say what I would do if I were queen for a day. I seem to recall imposing some horrendously over-the-top punishment for dropping litter, so maybe even then I had a certain awareness of the need to take care of the Earth.

Now my decrees might be a bit different – but still mostly Earth-oriented:

- no plastic or styrofoam packaging – including takeout containers, coffee cups, and packaging on technology. ALL would have to be biodegradable – as would all doggy poop bags.

- free broadband wireless internet in every town center

- government subsidies on public transport, with schedules for trains, buses and tubes all coordinated so that it is quicker, cheaper and easier to use public transport than private cars

- massive investment in extending the network of paths for cyclists and pedestrians, so it is safe and pleasurable to use human-powered transport

- an end to global hunger, war and injustice – so we could stop fighting each other and start fighting our shared problem instead

Hmm, I think that will do for my first week in power, anyway…

From our western democratic perspective, it’s almost impossible to contemplate 60 years in power. Although 60 years of a bad ruler would obviously be undesirable, it would be interesting to see if the longer term in office encouraged a shift towards longer term thinking – in itself a kind of wisdom. We would have to think carefully how we would exercise our power if we had to live with the consequences for the next 60 years.

Our prevailing system of short term government has many advantages, but (at least) one serious flaw – it discourages leaders from addressing long-term problems. We have been aware of the possible existence of anthropogenic climate change for the last 20 years, but it was a political hot potato, being tossed rapidly from hand to hand down the years. Nobody wanted to deal with it. There was a perception that to tackle the problem would be costly, difficult, and unpopular with the electorate. So leave it to the next government.

So we are now 20 years deeper in trouble, with CO2 reaching critical levels, and still there is reluctance to hang onto the hot potato – and it’s getting hotter all the time. In Copenhagen, will our leaders finally have the moral courage to do what needs to be done for the long term future of our species – and the many other species who are suffering the side-effects of our addiction to fossil fuel? I hope so.

Public perception is changing, and decisive action on climate change would now be popular with a significant proportion of the electorate. Most people are concerned about it, and are looking for strong leadership. Although in an ideal world we would all take responsibility for going green, in the real world most people are too overburdened already. If national policy made it easier to do the right thing – to recycle, use public transport, and so on – this would be a huge step in the right direction.

Do you ever think about what you would change if you were running the world? For the purposes of this exercise in fantasy, you don’t have to get anything passed by Congress. You don’t even have to worry about whether you will be re-elected. You can choose whatever you like – a ban on facial hair, mandatory training in good manners, a three-day working week, free caramel lattes for all.

What would you do, and why?