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Louvain to London

Louvain is a beautiful city.

Steffan’s children.

Hi Folks!

30th August I am in London staying with my Louis Brady my buddy I have not seen for 28 years! Now married to Orla.

Orla and Louis Brady

I have so many people to thank for such amazing help these last two week all the way from Louvain, Belgium.

Thanks to Irish woman Bridget Brady originally from Co. Wicklow, no relation to Louis and her partner Steffan. Brigid crewed for me for two days commuting me back and forward from my route. They are ultra runners and will be running the Kerry Way race in Ireland in a couple of weeks time. Last year Steffan won that race.

Steffan a navigation and gps guru enjoyed plotting my daily routes in the area.

I was then handed over to Ludo an ultra runner who car and bicycle crewed me my last two days across Belgium.

Ludo ran me out of Belgium to the French border. My French route was about 60km in the north east as far as Calais.

I could have gotten the ferry from Ostend in Belgium to Dover saving myself a couple of road days but decided upon the more connected up route from Calais.

My last day on continental Europe was perhaps the toughest due to persistent rain, heavy traffic even on the back roads all leading to Calais port.

French signposting not being the best caused me some frustration for example Dunkirk and Calais ports being about 30km apart the French just signpost as ‘Ferry Port ‘

On this difficult stretch I was joined by Theo, a man who has been a great supporter of the run.

Born in Holland Theo speaks with an Irish accent, married to an Irish woman.

He tracked me down about 20km before the port, parked his car arranged a complimentary P & O ferry crossing. I spent the entire 90 minute crossing stuffing my face in the complimentary first class buffet bar. Theo was able to run the last ten kilometres with me.

A couple of weeks earlier he drove five hours from Strasbourg and met me on the road in Germany where he crewed for me for two days and generously paid for the hotel and meals for us for both nights. He then took Nirvana onto Calais.

Once in Dover I was met by Siobhan Clifford and her running hubby Billy who have organized part of their UK camping holiday around the run.

Breakfast with Siobhan and Billy

They crewed me for four days to London sheltering me in their large family tent in camping sites for three nights. Monday night, my first in the UK I was hosted by Sheila and Steve also their children Bryn, Archie and Nora who are friends of Siobhan who happened to live in the Dover area.

So with Billy and beneath the white cliffs of Dover my final push towards Dublin began.

The first couple of days out of Dover were very slow due to very busy traffic on the A2. A really nice cop called Eddie Evans stopped to question Billy and me and we had a great chat and a laugh as though we were down in a pub having a night out! Eddie ended up saying he will follow my progress until the end.

Running into London was quite surreal experience for me, I just can’t get my head around I am almost finished. Billy and me and at times Siobhan ran through London, through Greenwich Park,

Hyde Park, Big Ben, Cutty Sark, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, so much to see in this fascinating city.

As mentioned today Saturday was a rest day, I chilled out with Louis and went to a rooftop cinema in Ealing to see a movie called ‘ The Breakfast Club ‘ That was after a delicious meal in a Japanese restaurant.

On Sunday I will be meeting up with Siobhan and Billy on the road out of London. They have offered to crew for me for a few more days before returning to Ireland. I cant believe that in two weeks time I will be running in Ireland

What can I say!! Thanks so much to so many people.

47,962km (just under 30,000 miles) run in 1,101 road days

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 30th, 2014 at 10:34 pm and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Louvain to London”

Ann Says:
August 31st, 2014 at 1:35 am
Great photos and I can sense your excitement at arriving so close to home and being in Dublin so soon. Take care and continue to enjoy. It won’t be long now
kevin scanlon Says:
August 31st, 2014 at 5:19 pm
great work tony. i hope the help continues to come out as you get closer to home. you are doing great. kevin
Ann Says:
September 1st, 2014 at 10:30 pm
Hey Tony, great to see you are trekking your way across the UK and you will be back on Irish soil this month. Take care Ann -:)

since Tony began his World Run on 25th October 2010

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About Tony

I have always considered myself to be an average runner. In school, I was even bullied for I was a sports wimp. Through hard work, dedication, perseverance, self-belief and a strong mind I succeeded in not only running around the world but breaking four ultra running world records during my competitive career. Having previously cycled around the world I didn't start running until I was almost 30. Then I had a dream of running around the world. For many reasons, I waited for over 20 years. One reason was to establish my pedigree as an endurance athlete. I started and finished my world run as the current World Record-Holder for 48 Hours Indoor Track 426 kilometres (265 miles), a record I have held since 2007. I also broke and still hold the World Record for 48 hours on a Treadmill 405 kilometres (251 miles) in 2008. When I retired from competition, more pleasing than any of my world, European or Irish records I had the respect of my fellow athletes from all over the world - in my opinion, sports greatest reward - an achievement I am most proud of. Then I finally put myself out to pasture, to live my ultimate dream to run around the world! This blog was written on the road while I struggled to find places to sleep and to recover from running an average of 43.3 kilometres or 27 miles per day for 1,165 road days. There were many nights I typed this blog on a smart phone, so fatigued my eyes closed. Many journalists and endurance athletes have referred to my world run as the most difficult endurance challenge ever attempted. During my expedition I rarely had any support vehicles, running mostly with a backpack. In the more desolate areas I pushed my gear, food and water in a cart which I called Nirvana, then I sent her on ahead to run with my backpack once again over altitudes of almost 5,000 metres in the Andes. I stayed in remote villages where many people had never seen a white person before. I literally met the most wonderful people of this world in their own backyard and share many of those amazing experiences in this blog. My run around the world took 4 years. There were no short cuts, I ran every single metre on the road while seeking out the most comprehensive route across 41 countries, 5 continents, I used 50 pair of running shoes and my final footstep of the run was exactly 50,000 kilometres, (almost 31,000 miles) I eventually finished this tongue in cheek named world jog where I started, at the finish line of my city marathon. I started my global run with the Dublin Marathon on October 25th 2010 and finished with the Dublin Marathon on October 27th 2014 at 3 05pm! Thank you for your support, I hope you can share my unique way of seeing the world, the ultimate endurance challenge! Read more...