| Walking Home ...
... from Dover to the Home Office in
Croydon - Two locations you'll come across in most people's
tales who come to the UK looking for sanctuary.
Yes, many refugees have walked much further than that,
but it still was a challenge, not least because I'm was
on a limited timescale (I had to make it to Croydon for
Sunday lunchtime) which means that covered about 42 km
per day, starting on 12th June and finishing on 15th June.
The walk was timed to coincide with this years refugee
week from 16-22 June. |
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The Log 
Throughout
the journey I'm kept a travel log on the web for you to
read and see what happened along the way. Click here to
see what was happening.
The Movie 
On
the last day of the walk I kept a video diary including
the arrival in Croydon. The material then went to the
BBC VideoNation project where it was edited into a 5 minute
web-video. To see the movie click here. You will need
RealPlayer to see the movie.
The Facts
Why have I done this walk as part of Refugee Week? I
felt that recently the fate of asylum seekers and refugees
in Britain has been widely misportrayed. Political parties
and many media organisations have painted a picture of
fear and hatred towards everyone coming to Britain to
search for sanctuary. Make your own picture, read the
two page myth buster below:
Did
you know . . . 
(You need a free pdf reader like Adobe
Acrobat to open this document)
The Route
Most of my route followed the North
Downs Way, one of the national trails in Britain.
The Way itself follows in parts the ancient Pilgrim's
Route from Winchester to Canterbury. Armed with only a
map and a compass I endeavoured the 140 km (88 miles)
walk passing many villages along the way. It took me 3
and 1/2 days to make it to Croydon and stayed in B&B's
and a youth hostel along the way to sleep.
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