John - sunrise

The sun rose about 7.00am, when most of the UK would still have been in bed. By 8.00am we had been walking 6 hours and completed over half of our distance.

It was good to get a few miles under our belt before the sun rose, once it was up it got very hot, very quickly! We soon left Nijmegen and walked out into the provinces of the Gelderland. We were well looked after with regular water, food and toilet stops; young children were out in their pjs handing out baskets of sweets (lots of liquorice, which is one of my favourites!). We were entertained by brass bands, DJ’s and blaring disco music. It helped keep the tempo of the walk! I think most of the locals were up because with all the noise, it would be impossible tyo sleep.

It was great to see the marching military groups from all over the world. They often kept us going with their marching songs. We finished the 32 odd miles in less than 9.30 hours. On the whole we are are on good form. John has a few blisters, and he ran out of energy just before the end, but nothing that a few compeeds a good supper and an early night won’t fix. Me I am still bouncing … but only day one! I have uploaded a bit more video, sorry if it’s a bit long, but I don’t have the time or energy to edit it. But it does show the atmosphere and support we got!  Jo x

Arctic-Mummy in Nijmegen Day of Elst