121 miles walked, £50,000+ raised, one Gary Speed

So where do we start? Newcastle is the logical place, I suppose, since that’s where the coach dropped us off last Monday morning and it very quickly dawned on us all that we were going to have to walk home. Nothing makes you appreciate just how far 121 miles is until you’ve driven up the motorway for a few hours and realised you’ll be travelling back a lot slower than seventy miles per hour.

Thankfully the locals were incredibly welcoming. We were barely past the Angel of the North when a car went by and the driver wound down his window to shout what we’ve come to take as the greatest compliment. “LEEDS SCUM!”

After our odysseys from North Wales in 2022 and Everton in 2023, this was the third edition of the Gary Speed charity walk in aid of Andy’s Man Club. With an extra day and an additional thirty miles compared to previous years, it was by far the biggest challenge to date, and by far the least prepared I’ve been. But for the first two days I didn’t think it mattered. I was feeling… not too bad? Maybe I’m a walker now!

Or maybe not after all. Something that is spelled and sounds similar to ‘walker’ is perhaps more accurate. Day three involved the best part of thirty miles from Scotch Corner to Thirsk, alongside scorching heat and an endless route through uneven farmers’ fields that had little sympathy for blisters. Most crucially of all, there wasn’t a single pub open along the way offering some respite and rehydration to lift spirits, making for a thoroughly miserable day.

As much as you can try to trick yourself into thinking, ‘It’s just walking’ — when muscles you didn’t know existed are aching and the blisters on the soles of your feet are leaking, the sheer monotony of putting one foot in front of the other again and again and again becomes mentally gruelling as much as physically. It’s why being alongside seventy other Leeds fans laughing and talking and swearing through the same pain helps, and why reaching a pub on the outskirts of Thirsk resulted in quite possibly the most satisfying pint of my life — even if it meant my legs completely seized up and the last mile and a half to the hotel might have been the toughest of the entire walk.

The high of getting the longest day out of the way was soon replaced by the lull of realising that day four to Harrogate was only a couple of miles shorter. By this point people were having to drop out to visit local hospitals with infected blisters, stress fractures, and degloved toes — in tears at being told they had to stop despite the grim injuries they were battling through. Katie Watkin, the superhero of the group, opened a field hospital every morning to attend to people’s feet and proved she’s got the strongest stomach in western Europe. Katie originally only signed up in 2022 to be part of the support team and help with logistics but has subjected herself to some truly harrowing sights. Without her there would still be a hundred Leeds fans that had spent the last four years hobbling around a field lost in North Wales.

But we got there in the end, mainly thanks to updates that the donations for Andy’s Man Club kept rising and have ultimately passed the £50,000 target (you can still donate here). We couldn’t have done it without the help of our sponsors and support crew, the bravery of our battered and bruised walkers, and the generosity of everyone who has donated so far. A massive thank you to you all.

Now let’s never do it again. At least until next time. ⬢