Day 16 Burnt Oak to Marble Arch

The taxi ride

Today we got up at 4am. This is the only day where we did not have a co-ordinator so Sue Bentley kindly organised a Taxi to take us to our starting point. Now that we are walking into London, we decided that we would wear our African dress wear to draw attention to ourselves on the final part of our journey. We saw the taxi driver drive up the road, reading off the door numbers. He then caught sight of us in our African attire and looked very confused (it was still before 5am)! He wound down the window and called “Did you want a Taxi?” We replied “Yes”, at which point he wanted to know what we were doing dressed like that before he would let us in the car! Once we explained, he felt a lot happier. Even so, he kept looking silently at us in his mirror while he took us to our starting point.

Walking through London

We started our walk at 5:12am from Burnt Oak to the corner of Park Lane and Upper Wood Street (just past Marble Arch). We got a lot of attention from the public today, all dressed up walking through London. Emmanuel had bells around his ankles to further draw attention to us! People took photos and cars beeped at us. Others wanted to have their photo taken with us. Even when going into shops to ask to use their toilet, shop owners were welcoming. We felt like celebrities today!

We met two traffic wardens who we asked how far it was to Marble Arch. They asked why we were dressed up in funny costumes thinking we were simply in fancy dress. They were amazed when they heard that we had walked all the way from Derby and Emmanuel barefoot. We asked if they could be in a photo with us but unfortunately it was at this point that we realised that my camera memory was full.

When we reached our stopping point, we phoned Sue to come and pick us up. We went to a park to rest while we waited for her to come. People were still asking if they could take our photo. It was all too much for Tafi, who fell asleep!

Sue picked us up and took us on a tour around London. We saw Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, the River Thames and much more.

We then went back to Elstree to meet school children in Borehamwood and Elstree School (press). The local media were also there and interviewed us. Our Vicar (Reverend Karen Gardiner of St Nicholas' Church) was already there, waiting for us and she introduced us to the school children and teachers. We spoke to them about our campaign. They then asked us many questions. We received a present from the school - a scroll with a poem about our barefoot walk, which the children had made for us.

We returned to Sue Bentley’s house in Harpenden and relaxed while watching Wimbledon tennis. In the evening, Sue drove us back to London to our hotel where we stayed for that night. When we were sat in our room we started to realise how much we had achieved and couldn’t believe we had made it to London!