I Walked The Walk...

Torrential downpours, Arctic blasts, knee-deep puddles, sneaky manhole covers and other pavement hazards, 20-deep Portaloo queues, and my faithful camera self-destructing in a puff of smoke could not detract from the awesomeness of being part of Saturday night’s London Moon Walk against breast cancer! 

Here are some of the highlights of one of the most momentous nights of my life so far....

Historic Battersea Power Station juxtaposed with The Pink Palace 
Moon City and Start/Finish Line

Ominous black clouds overhead!

So, we're waiting to go into Battersea Park for the pre-Walk build-up at 'Moon City', the queue a good mile long. Everyone is super excited and rearing to go.... there are fabulous costumes and face paintings everywhere. The theme for 2013 is 'Fly Me To The Moon' and there are stars, moons, aliens, rockets, avatars, and enough fairy lights, luminous decor and flashing bras on men and women alike to light up the dark, stormy evening. 

We edge closer and closer to the park gates.... and then suddenly, the heavens open! Torrential, stinging rain hits us like a hail of bullets....everyone is running for the Pink Palace for shelter. I think it's hailing by now, but we are safe in the enormous tent. Others are not so lucky... still trying to get through the queue...

It is time to do some more carbo loading... I have already eaten twice my body weight in pasta and sticky toffee pudding and porridge earlier in the day, but I still take the veggie pasta and carrot cake the lovely volunteers are handing out at The Kitchen.  By now the Pink Tent is full of 17,000 damp bodies but we find a bit of ground space in our allocated "holding area", and tuck in....

Stuffing my face again

Photo from Walk The Walk's Facebook page.... I am standing way back under the '2'

Jennifer Saunders (comedienne, breast cancer survivor and a huge supported of Walk The Walk) gets up on stage to give a brief motivational speech.

Jennifer Saunders flashes her 'Absolutely Fabulous' bra - yes, my camera is rubbish at long distance zooming and appears to be imploding to boot! Mini explosions every time my flash goes off....

Then it's the turn of Nina Barough (founder of Walk The Walk and herself a breast cancer survivor)....

 Nina and her Star Wars posse

Time to get the bras out!

Yip that's mine!

There is a minute's silence, to reflect on what this event is all about... raising awareness and funds for breast cancer charities. A time to remember those lost to this horrendous disease.

Hugely emotional moment.

And if that was not enough to get the tears flowing, on come the Rock Choir to give a beautiful rendition of 'Something Inside So Strong'.

The Rock Choir on stage

It's almost time to get going. There is a bit of confusion as to which group is actually heading off and where we are supposed to be, but we gradually make our way out of the tent and towards the Start.

It is positively Arctic! The wind is whipping through our see-through plastic ponchos. Teeth chattering, knees knocking, hearts racing by now....

Photo from Walk The Walk

Eager to get going - just to get warm!

Nina sees each group of walkers off

And we have lift-off! FINALLY!

London is so pretty by night!

Fabulous volunteers work though the long, freezing cold night.. marshalling, supporting, cheering us on! 

And the population of London are fantastic! Hooting horns, cheering out of car windows, shouting encouragement. Blokes hanging around outside pubs and the trendy set in night club queues clap and yell, 'high-fiving' us as we walk past! Friendly firemen offer to pose with us for a photo op...

Not sure exactly what that young fireman's hand is doing!

We walk past beautiful shop windows and lavish apartments in Chelsea, then the Harrod's Store in Knightsbridge with their 'Great Gatsby' theme.  

We see some drunks stumbling about. A road is closed off and the police are dealing with a pub brawl. There's a guy with a broken nose, blood pouring down his face. We try not to look, keep watching where we walk. Already some walkers have tripped and fallen - it is really dark and the pavements are full of hazards.  Some walkers have collapsed or pulled out - they sit waiting for the night bus, defeated. I trip over a manhole cover and almost plant my face in the pavement.... luckily I somehow manage to recover myself and save my dignity. One of my walking pals turns back to see if I am OK and promptly smacks into a lamp post!

We are near the 10-mile point and all desperate for the loo! The queues are from hell but there is no way we can last another 4 miles (or 3.8 miles* to be precise).

Frozen to the bone, we set off again - picking up the pace to keep warm and stay awake. It's now gone 3 am and tiredness is really starting to set in.

Twelve miles comes up soon and we split from the Full Moon Walkers... they still have over 14 miles to go and will be walking all through the night! I take my hat off to them - they are amazing!

The last stretch, and Battersea Station is in view, lit up with a glorious pink glow....

Crossing the Finish Line

We did it! 

Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me, and supported me on the way, especially my two walking pals… I would never have made it to the Finish line without your highly accurate time-keeping (‘it’s 45 minutes past the zero hour’) and handy lamp post detection skills.

.............

* The Half Moon ended up being 13.8 miles (22.9 km) rather than 13.1 due to some last-minute diversions

Photos are my own rubbish attempts to walk in the dark and take photos except where otherwise acknowledged as property of Walk The Walk