Walkers mark jubilee by hitting the road in Hackney
Nearly 500 walkers battled “torrential, continual rain” in an attempt to trek 100 miles in two days, to celebrate both the Olympics and the diamond jubilee.
The Long Distance Walkers Association began the challenge, which was inspired by the Games, on Saturday, June 2, and set off from White Post Lane Bridge by Victoria Park.
Their route took them through Hackney, across the capital, and out into the Surrey countryside.
Member Linda Ashwell said: “Little did the walkers know that having gone through London early on in the walk, they were going to face some torrential, continual rain during the two nights of walking, which resulted in some very muddy footpaths and slow walking conditions.
“The consequences of this was that there was a higher than normal drop-out rate because many realised that they would be ‘timed out’.”
You may also want to watch:
But many of the group were still able to finish the course and arrived in Windsor just before 10am on Monday, June 4, in time to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee celebrations.
Most Read
- 1 Key road closed: Hackney and Islington travel news July 31 - August 6
- 2 Students earn scholarships at top schools worth £150,000
- 3 'Heads need to roll', says domestic violence campaigner after 'reckless' council data blunder
- 4 £5.75m investment agreed for "historic" Clapton leisure centre
- 5 Lidl opens! First shoppers enjoy Finsbury Park supermarket
- 6 Vacant Grade I-listed Shoreditch church to be restored and revamped
- 7 Dangerously overloaded vans leaving New Spitalfields Market taken off the road
- 8 'It's like toilet', say Dalston residents who have had enough of broken locks, rats and scaffolding
- 9 Hackney residents plan to make noise for more representative voting systems
- 10 Drug dealer who killed "beloved" Hackney father convicted
