Brentwood’s Julian Goode of Goode Walks talks to us about his latest marathon venture …

Right now I’m in Northumberland on the third leg of A Really Goode Walk, my six-week charity fundraiser, walking east towards Newcastle on the Hadrian’s Wall Path. All being well I will finish leg four in Helensburgh, north west of Glasgow, on November 15 having walked the John Muir Way from Dunbar, east of Edinburgh.

You can see more info and the full itinerary at https://goodewalks.co.uk/a-really-goode-walk/

So how does a business owner from Brentwood end up doing a 500-mile walk across the UK? First up my business is Goode Walks, offering guided walks as a qualified walk leader – so this is a bit of a busman’s holiday! Secondly, I have Leukaemia, and this sponsored walk is a long-standing plan to give something back to Barts Charity and Anthony Nolan.

Bart’s Hospital in London has been looking after me exceptionally since I was diagnosed in May 2019. And Anthony Nolan found me an anonymous donor for my stem cell transplant in November of that year. Without both of them I wouldn’t be here now. So being able to help them to help others like me is extremely important and satisfying.

It hasn’t been without challenges though. Two weeks before departing to Wales to walk leg one, the Offa’s Dyke Path from Chepstow to Prestatyn, I caught Covid. That left me with chest pains from an unpleasant cough and a lack of breath that both proved barriers to tackling the Path’s seemingly incessant uphill stretches. At times it was a bit of a struggle – but having a cause to walk for certainly reinforces the determination to keep on going.

Reaching north Wales and travelling on to Northern Ireland to do leg two, from Kilkeel in the south east to Derry in Ulster’s north west, my fitness luck failed me again. Shin splints in my left leg made the week in NI a painful hobble; and I was forced to reduce some of my daily walking and take the bus instead.

But I’ve refused to give up. I’ve had a lot of donations from people – online, and even cash in hand in the trail! – that I won’t let down.

It’s all about raising money for the charities. So I’ll keep on going to the finish line – and then I can rest my various aches and pains.

Donations can be made via: https://www.justgiving.com/team/AReallyGoodeWalk