I first heard about Walk and Talk MMH when I was scrolling through Notts County Facebook page and saw a walk they advertised walking from Chesterfield to Notts County. I had recently lost my daughter Addison, so thought it was something I had to do to get me to talk, because I was keeping everything bottled up and wasn't opening up to anyone. It was the best decision I made and I was hooked.
I did a second walk from Celtic to Livingston then I saw the shortish walk from Fulham to Arsenal. The previous 2 walks I represented Notts County but this time I brought my 5 year old daughter, Amelia, down and represented my local team, Ilkeston Town.
This walk was just after all the Covid restrictions had relaxed so it felt strange to get out and about again. I got picked up from a walk and talk regular and really good guy, Jonathan, and we made the 2 and 1/2 hour drive down to London. We parked up in a side street and walked about a mile to the ground where we met Lee and all the other walkers. I had to make a stop in the club shop before we set off as I collect pin badges from all grounds I visit.
It was an absolute beautiful day as we set off from Craven Cottage. We started off walking through Bishop's Park and my daughter was so excited and full of energy but I said she had to save some of it as we had 10 more miles to go!
We walked on to the main road and Amelia spotted Chelsea ground and shouted "Look daddy it's Uncle Duane's team!" so we had to have a picture next to it and send it to him. We carried on walking through the city with Amelia still full of energy and mesmerised as we walked by Harrods. We then came to Hyde Park where we thought what a lovely place to sit and have some lunch. It was an amazing place and seemed surreal to be there. We hardly ever get to go to places like this.
After dinner we carried on with the walk and I thought I'd give Amelia a break and carried her on my shoulders for a few miles where we went past the London Palladium. It was getting a little warm so treated me and Amelia to an ice cream and then Amelia needed a toilet break so we stopped off at King's Cross Station. After a 10 minute sit down we carried on with the walk.
We were all getting a little peckish and thirsty so as we arrived in Islington we decided to call at a pub called 'The Alma' to have a well deserved pint and this was my first pint in a pub since the restrictions was lifted so it tasted absolutely lovely so we had to have a couple đ.
We then set off for the last leg to get to Arsenal. Amelia was still full of energy and we were both excited when we saw the Emirates as it was a new ground to my collection and put me on 72 out of the 92 league grounds.
I was so proud of my daughter that she had walked all that way (bar 2 miles on my shoulders) that when she walked into the Arsenal club shop she wanted a Gunnersaurus Teddy so I couldn't refuse her đ.
We had an absolutely amazing day and met some amazing new people and getting to meet up with Lee again is a bonus too. Can't wait for my next walk â¤ď¸