Day 16

And he is in London, well at least within the M25. Starting from Staines, Sam spends his day walking through west London, home to London Irish, Harlequins and of course, the famous Twickenham, England Rugby HQ.

This is the end of Sam’s 3rd week walking, he has covered over 300 miles and he is within 2 days of the finish now (unless of course we get anymore bids for him to walk extra days, there is still time).

Today was Sam’s shortest walking day of the trip so far, but, possibly one of the best. Today Sam has been invited to spend some time at the London Irish headquarters meeting the players and the coaches, followed by a quick jaunt down through Twickenham to the Stoop to meet the Harlequins. At this point Sam and all of us involved would like to give both clubs our sincere thanks, their support to Sam has been fantastic and coupled with Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons, the collective efforts of some of our senior clubs has helped considerably to raise money for the two charities.

So firstly Sam headed out from Staines, and made haste to The Avenue, and London Irish, (check out the write up on their site: http://www.london-irish.com/newspage.ink?nid=28637&type=c&matchid=), if you aren’t sure which one is Sam in the photos, he is the small one, and it isn’t often you hear that said about our “pieman”. After watching a great forwards session at Irish and getting them all to sign a ball for the auction, Sam thanked them and headed on down towards Twickers. At the Stoop Sam was again introduced to the players and coaches of Harlequins, including: Paul Volly, Ollie Kohn and Jim Evans (more photos to come – again, where Sam looks very small), here Sam received a signed shirt and tickets for the auction.

Again, a huge thanks to the very kind Premiership rugby clubs who went out of their way to give up their time for Sam. The efforts of Newcastle, Leicester, Irish and Quins has made his walk and inspired him on his way. Unfortunately for Sam, none of them came forward with an offer to play for them, so it looks like he might have to finish the walk after all.

Next week, the Finish! So if you haven’t sponsored him yet, hurry up.