It was bright and sunny as Julia and
I made our way to the start and the registration. We knew we were in the right
place, because Butler’s Wharf, under the shadow of Tower Bridge, was awash with
orange t-shirts. Everyone was excited, taking photos and getting themselves
ready. We put an orange legwarmer on each arm of my scooter and one on each
crutch. I’d bought them on Amazon for 20p a pair! I couldn’t resist at that
price. We tied orange ribbons to the basket and stuck flags in the bag hanging
off the back. I think my orange leggings was possibly overdoing it a bit, but
what the hell. My orange MS nails though went down a storm!
Off we set, under Tower Bridge, round
City Hall and onwards. First stop... coffee. Great minds think alike. We weren’t
the only MS Walkers in the very long queue. We got talking to a whole family on
the walk. Refreshed, we carried on. Time for a photo stop to post on Facebook. Those
we overtook earlier passed us by. But we overtook them again further on when
they stopped. By St Pauls we met the first MS Society stewards, cheering us on
and waving orange inflatable sticks with the Society logo. Weird, I thought.
What’s wrong with flags?
Walking in the other direction were
other people on sponsored walks for diabetes and Refuge. Their t-shirts weren’t
as bright as ours. I love walking along the Thames Path. It’s always busy with
so much to look at. When people had asked me how long the walk would take, my
estimate had forgotten to take that into account. It’s a walk to take your time
over.
As we approached Vauxhall Bridge, I
was pleased to discover that the tide was low enough to be able to see the climate
change sculptures. They were somehow smaller than I imagined but beautiful to
see. They were a temporary exhibition until the end of September, in view of
Westminster across the water and slightly round the bend. When the tide came
in, they disappeared beneath the Thames.
Crossing the river, we were into the
final stretch, along to Battersea Bridge, back across the river, in view of the
now abandoned power station and into Battersea Park for the finish. 10k is a
long way, but it felt good to have done it. Best of all, when all the pledged
money comes in, I will have raised £623! Thank you to all those who had faith
in me, and thank you to Julia for joining me on the walk. It was a wonderful
day and lots of fun. Here’s to next year!
