Holy Sh@#$% I'm here! Still $240 to go - anyone know someone who needs a group ski clinic with me? Backers thankyou SOOOO much - and our planet does too!

Day one!
Actually slept last night, and woke to a car alarm outside my Notting Hill Hostel. Quick breakie, lots of tea, and off to meet Roz Savage at Café Nero, across from Big Ben. As a champion ocean rower, Roz coordinated this adventure, and I’m joining her, a few of her friends, and a film crew for this 250 mile walk from London to Brussels. For almost three hours we goofed around with greetings, fussed with our gear, shot photos and held press interviews with our inflatable globes and my SAVE OUR SNOW sign, and gathered signatures on my HEAD fat skis and my Osprey Stratos pack.

Around noon, we set off with 15 miles to walk, with barely four hours left of daylight. We practically ran through the National Gallery and along the Thames River. Jane, our navigator specatacularly planned our route through the back tow path canals filled with old barges coverted into unique housing units covered in plants. I did have a sad moment when my inflatable earth was ripped from its teher on my pack and floated away on the river. You can flag me for not being able to save it (25 foot retainer wall) and put me on the green hit list. It was fairly symbolic as we all only have one earth, yet we keep acting like we have 20 more backups waiting at the store.

Lunch was at full sprint at Wapping, and the gang was moving so fast that I lost them while helping Nora fix her pack when she joined the film crew. I then ran down the Thames path at as brisk a pace my skis would allow me and still no bright orange jackets in any direction. With not one person’s cell phone, no route map, and no idea at all where we were headed for the night I began to panick a bit and then luckily spotted a flash of hunter orange down the alley.

Hours later, darkness fell and we had many miles to go, but we kept on, still a fairly cheery group, except that Mary’s Knee was starting to go bad, and Roz’s pack was so heavy that her hips started to fall apart. We had hardly stopped for a bathroom break all day, and certainly never for food or water. At 6pm, after a few extra half mile detours in the difficult suburban landscape, we arrived at the County Hotel, for some welcome whiskey and pizza.