Walk of Life

The Walk of Life was an expedition from London to Khartoum in the Sudan that began on 5 December 1985 on the South Bank, London and was completed on 22 April 1986 in Khartoum, Sudan. The distance covered was 2,500 miles. It was organized and led by John Abbey. There were five members of the team. Three walked; John Abbey, Brian Seymour, and Andrew Stuart, and two drove the back-up vehicle; Alan Munro and Peter Lawton. Their involvement was to organize publicity and fundraising on-route and to support the walkers in the desert. It is notable that this was the first time anyone had walked from London to the Sudan.

Contents

  * 1 Purpose of the Expedition
  * 2 Europe Adventure Highlights
  * 3 Africa Adventure Highlights
  * 4 Route the Team took
  * 5 Generosity by Country

Purpose of the Expedition

The aim of the walk was to highlight the famine in the Horn of Africa. The starvation John witnessed galvanized him to act by planning and leading the walk. He wanted to make a point. If he could walk to Khartoum in 5 months how much more could Governments do in a matter of days. It was a symbolic gesture but also raised considerable funds for two leading charities, Christian Aid and War on Want. George Galloway, then Chief Executive of War on Want came to the start of the walk in London. Other notable supporters included Bob Geldof who sent John a note hoping he had "a comfy pair of shoes" and rock group Dire Straits who donated Brother in Arms Gold Disc as the walk was the same name as the hit single Walk of Life (Dire Straits song). Money was raised by the general public and from schools, most notably Orleans Park School where John Abbey attended amd Lady Manners School where Pete Lawton and Andy Stuart attended. Schools raised money across the UK, Europe and in Egypt. The walk was sponsored by major companies including: British Airways, DHL, Hitachi, Novetel, Hilton Hotels and gained support from the Belgium Government, authorities in Italy and Egypt.

Europe Adventure Highlights

Walking across the Alps in the middle of winter, temperatures would drop to -20c. John's first job in the morning was to de-frost his contact lenses by putting them under his arm pit. Walking for up to 10 hours a day resulted in icicles forming on the walker’s eyelashes making it impossible to open the eyes unless constantly removed. Wet feet led to horrendous blistering, often resulting in open wounds that would not heal.

With the Alps behind them and while travelling through Verona, they met a group of women that invited them back to their house. With no where to stay and still bitterly cold they gladly accepted only to find that all three women were in fact transvestites and wanted to sleep with two of the walkers! A hurried escape ensued at 3am in the morning. This contrasted with the hospitality of Benedictine Monks, The Hilton Hotel, Novetel Hotel group many families and schools on route.

While walking along a stretch of highway in France the team were stopped by the police. They did not understand why the team were walking on the highway. Trying to explain that they were walking to Africa only made them look even more ridiculous. (Their French was pretty bad). The boys were driven back 10 kilometers from where they had started that morning. They had no choice but to begin again, this time keeping an eye out for the police and holding a hand written note written by a local explaining what they were doing. 5 kilometers into the walk the Police stopped them again, read the note and insisted they helped out by giving them a lift! They had no choice but to get into the police car and were driven to their next destination! On arrival they thanked the Police got Alan and the back up car to pick them up, drove them back and began walking along the same stretch of highway for the third time. This time at night.

Africa Adventure Highlights

Held up at gun point and asked to hand over all their money. Gave them the charity letter explaining what they were doing in Arabic and ended up receiving money from the robbers!

Suffering from terrible stomach problems, Brian was forced to use pages from Bob Geldof's book "Is that it?" Luckily he had finished reading it!

Children constantly stoned them as they walked through villages in Upper Egypt. Life of Brian had nothing on us.

The shortest route is normally a straight line. This meant crossing vast expanses of desert where no back-up vehicle could go. On one occasion the team walked for two days across open sand only to find a 1,000 foot gorge separating them from their destination. They had to turn round, and survive for a further two days with very little water and no food. John Abbey commented: “When you feel so light you could drift away forever and not care; then you know you are severely dehydrated, at that point no water and shade means certain death, we were close, really close to our maker”

Route the Team took

London to Dover

Ferry to Ostend in Belgium

Ostend to Brussels

Brussels to Luxembourg

Luxembourg to Bern (Switzerland)

Bern to Milan via Simplon Pass (Italy)

Milan to Verona

Verona to Venice

Boat from Trieste to Alexandria Egypt

Alexandria to Cairo

Cairo to Aswan

Aswan to Wadi Halfa (Sudan)

Wadi Halfa to khartoum

Total distance 2,500 miles

Total time 4 months and 3 weeks

Average daily distance walked 25 miles

Maximum covered in one day 70 miles

Generosity by Country

The team raised money in the UK and across Europe from schools, companies and individuals. Generosity from countries the team travelled through varied tremendously.

The most generous country in terms of individuals and businesses that helped the walkers was: Belgium.

In order of generosity:

Belgium

UK

Italy

Switzerland

Luxembourg

Egypt

France