day 33 bis London

 day 33 bis London

In late February 2026 I booked air travel to London for a few days after Easter and bought travel insurance for UK, France, Switzerland and Italy.

On 17 March I started my last training walk for at least 14 km into Hutt central and possibly another 4 km to Petone. One km before Hutt central I stumbled. The bumps and scratches did my pride no good. However, the small team that instantly gathered to get me upright included two registered nurses: from their very professional concerns they called an ambulance resulting in a good check over at Hutt Hospital emergency department before sending me home. A week later I consulted my GP. After a check over, she advised going to London and “testing the water” so to speak and then make decision whether or not to go to Italy.

The journey up to Shanghai was uneventful.  The journey from Shanghai to London was a sign of the times.  On two previous trips througgh China, the "grest circle flight psth was used.  This took me over, for exampoe, Ekatenburg and near Moscow before the descent into London.  This time the flight wsd directly east across China and the 'Stans, then across the Caspian Sea about 100 km north of Iran to join whst the flight path would be if coming Saudi Arabia.  And then heading for London.

In the two weeks since I have completed 10 of the 24 stages of the 244 km London Outer Orbital Path (LOOP) and a 20 km stage of Thames Path from Twickenham to Putney.

With some confidence I have booked a return to Piacenza, my last stop in 2023.

Like my efforts on LOOP, my daily stages between hostels in Italy will be less than 20 km.

I am now “resting’ in Hounslow for two days and taking in the local activities.

On Saturday, with my London based son, I plan to attend the ANZAC dawn parade at the NZ memorial at Hyde Park Corner.

Written at Hounslow on a sunny Thursday afternoon.