Little Britain

In Marple on Friday night I watched TV for the first time since beginning this march. With Neil, our marcher from Northern Ireland, we settled down to a reality TV show about a woman learning to climb up rockfaces across the UK.

At the end she said: "This journey has shown me a remarkable country. We can go to amazing places without travelling far."

That's certainly been my experience of our protest walk. Having had many a holiday in the UK I consider my knowledge of Britain quite good. But there have been so many fantastic places I have never been to before: sailing past the Isle of Arran; walking the Clyde-Forth Canal and seeing Falkirk wheel; amazing beeches on the north-east coast; Newcastle-Gateshead riverside, Durham Cathedral; and Albert Square in Manchester. Tonight I'm writing this from the Spa town of Buxton. Unfortunately we pass through places so quickly we do not get the chance to fully appreciate them.

Our journey is showing me so many parts of the country I want to go back to. And this is despite missing out the best bits: Scottish Highlands, Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North Wales and Cornwall.

There's enough in the UK to visit for many a holiday to come. Call me a little Britainer, but I reckon not flying on holiday is a pleasure rather than a sacrifice.

Distance covered so far: 482 miles