This was how the idea of walking from Brighton to The Home Of Football was agreed between Andy and Myself way back towards the end of 2014. Not much else was said until about March time when we arranged the date. 20th of June. Darren Woods was half dragged and half happy to join. Closely followed by Tara Slater, Martin Woolett and Nataile Wright. We also need a charity to split the money with. Andy has done a few bits for Clic Sargent in the past so we decided it would be them. Richard Lonsdale then also joined and formed The Chessy 7.

Date was changed from Saturday to Friday 19th and to go through the night. All maps said 14 hours so we set our sights on 16. After roping in Linda and Steve Parsons to be support car drivers we were set.

We met at the club at 6 to make our way down to Brighton. Arriving there just after 7. Putting our last bits in to order i.e. socks, trainers and hi-viz vests, we made our way to the pier where there was a few photos taken and the now club famous LauTV.

'And their off'. Time check 7.50pm. We started off at a pretty quick pace going about 5 MPH. The support car was sneaking off a mile or so and everything was perfect. Selfie stick was in full effect and the laughter was keeping everyone's pace up. Following the map directions we arrive at the A23. It started with a path but then there wasn't. No path and no hard shoulder, just an over grown grass verge. It was getting darker and the lorries seemed to be getting closer we had to make a decision. Next junction we would come off at. Unfortunately for us this happened to be the other side of the road. So no other choice but to cross 6 lanes of whizzing cars and tooting lorries. We made it and only 1 hour in!.

Thankfully we were on safe bike routes and back to the laughs. Our support car was having problems finding us as we had taken a detour. Harvey Head who had started the walk was struggling so another decision was made by Andy that he would wait with Harvey for the car and then run to catch the rest of the group up.

"Right Lau, you have to keep up the pace, if we start to slow up we could really start to struggle"
So for once I did as I was told and went off at the same pace as we started. Now the minutes and a couple of miles later we kept looking back but couldn't see any sign of him. I decided to ring him as we had stayed on the same road.
"Andy how you getting on?"
"Hello bruv, I am running and eating pasta. Won’t be long"

The Chessy 7 were back as a 7. Pace was good and night time had set in. Little bit on and we came to one of the first big hills on the walk. Our support car was waiting at the top of the hill and we were starting to feel the strain for the first time. The group got a little stretched but only by 2 minutes and we had probably our longest stop, 10 minutes at a petrol station at about 12:30am. When Darren wants coffee, Darren really wants coffee. BANG!, BANG!, BANG!. "OI MATE ARE YOU SERVING?"
"Hi yeah can I get some coffees?"
"Woodsie, where our coffee?"
"sorry boys but the machines in cleaning"

With no coffee but he did manage to get his M&M's fix we was off. It was pretty much plain sailing for the next few hours just following the signs and ticking off the miles as we went. Couple of little blisters were starting to form but we did have more plasters and creams than the local chemist, they weren't a problem.
Next little gem

Darren "I drive this way to work and the other day I measured how long this hill is, 2 beeping miles"
Finally up the last part of the A23 which happened to be another hill we got back on to the back roads.

Seems like we took another detour, thank god for Google Maps!. We got on to a road which seemed to be the longest road of them all. it was an old lane with fields either side. The head torches was one on the best £1 I have ever spent.

"So Andy how long does the map say we are on this road for?"
"1.7 miles mate"
Well we must have walked this road for about 3 miles.

With the sun starting to come up it hard bit seemed to be behind us. The cheery atmosphere started to creep back and we were all having a laugh again (not that I think I stopped). The selfie stick came back out and LauTV was at it again.

The songs started. 'Don't stop me now' a Queen favorite of mine. Then we heard "SHUT UP!!" Having looked at the time it was only 5am. So if they are reading this I would like to say sorry for the noise x.

How long does it take to get a cup of coffee or tea when you have a car? 10 minutes, 20 tops? No for our 2nd support car that had turned up it seems to take them over an hour! Sarah Rising-Ellis and Rebecca Ellis had come to give us some support.

By this time we was barely stopping as we didn't want our legs stiffing up. Finally we got to somewhere we recognized, Dorking and the cockerel roundabout. We were 13 hours in by this point and the pain was really starting to kick in. Up round by Box hill and straight on to Leatherhead. The group for the first time had become broken.

Though Leatherhead we went and Richard's wife drove past and gave him a few words of encouragement and his eldest son William got out to help him though the last bit.

The last road was there and we had finally got on it. 11 am. We had 50 minutes to get along it and beat our 16 hour time we had set ourselves. I done this last bit with Tara, both of us not saying a word except for one thing that sticks in my mind
"I had better get a bloody shield for this" Tara was referring for the presentation we had the weekend before. It still makes me chuckle now.

So we finally got back and pretty much to the minute we had done it in 16 hours. As we approached the top of the lane it became very emotional. Not sure why, but a buildup of the pain and the achievement of what we had done just started to take over. We all waited for everyone to get back and The Chessy 7 walked down the lane together as we had done at the start. The reception was amazing and to see everyone there cheering and clapping was brilliant.

Thank you to all who helped organize the welcome. Thank you to our support cars mainly Linda for driving though the night. Thanks to Steve and Harvey for joining in and being there for us, but a massive THANK YOU to

The Chessy 7
Laurence Head
Andy Ellis
Darren Woods
Tara Slater
Martin Wollett
Nataile Wright
Richard Lonsdale

Still collecting money in final amount to be announced.