Thames Path Challenge

This weekend Perrys took part in the Thames Path Challenge to raise money for our chosen charity, the Kent Cancer Trust.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Thames Path Challenge is quite simple really, it just involves getting from Putney Bridge to Henley on Thames, however, the tricky bit is that this needs to be done on foot by following the Thames Path, a distance of 100km (62.14 miles!).

Taking part for Perrys were Stewart, Steve, Carolyn, Pete, Luke, Mark, Zoe, Jamie and myself with support and medical supplies from Vicky and Donna.  So off we set at 7:20am on Saturday morning, full of smiles, jokes and enthusiasm for what lay ahead.  In case it was too easy, we were handed the additional obstacle of persistent rain (probably my fault for putting sun cream on!)

When I have more time I will write a book about the next 26 hours or so, but to give you a flavour of what took place, it involved a lot of walking (obviously), drinking a lot of water (and then relieving yourself of that water which it turned out is surprisingly difficult to do discreetly, especially if like Stewart you are 6 foot 8 and wearing an illuminous orange jacket), eating a lot of cake, bananas and other high energy food, quite a few blisters and a lot of sore feet (feet were not the only sore parts by the end but I think I will spare you some of this detail).

For me the highlight of the walk was the night-time section, walking by the river in darkness although a close second was overhearing Steve and Stewart discussing whether the building we had just walked past was the home of a Russian oligarch, or perhaps a fancy hotel, which was actually Hampton Court Palace!

We were told before the event that it was as much a mental challenge as a physical challenge and whilst my feet might disagree with that statement, we all had to push ourselves along, mile after mile, helped by the support and motivation from each other and the promise of a glass of champagne at the finish line (as it happens, a glass of champagne after walking 100km is not high on the list of priorities and probably a giant hot bath or soft bed would have been a more welcome sight!).

Now that it’s over we can all be proud of the achievement as well as being truly appreciative of everyone who has supported and sponsored us.  If you have not already done so and would like to make a donation, please visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PerrysAccountants

Article written by Simon Hayden