For the last few years, I have joined Team Honk – a group of bloggers who fundraise for Comic and Sport Relief – to raise money for people living in extreme poverty here in the UK and abroad.
In 2014, we took a Monopoly-themed tour of London…
And, last year we danced for 6 hours non-stop at Wembley…
So far, Team Honk has raised almost £100,000 for Comic and Sport Relief and it is incredible to have been a small part of that. This year, we knew we had to do something bigger and better if we wanted to really smash our target. With requests for sponsorship landing in inboxes several times a week, we knew we had to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to get noticed this year.
It was my blogging partner in crime, HPMcQ, who came up with the idea of trying to break the world record for visiting the most amount of tube stations in a day. Yes, she is mad, but there is method in her madness – we are both such avoiders of the tube and could think of nothing worse that spending a whole day there! It is crowded, dirty and deep deep underground. Mice run across the tracks, trains move through tight, dark tunnels and commuters wave their armpits in your face.
The current world record for visiting every tube station on the London Underground map is around 16-hours and initially, we thought this would be the challenge to attempt. However, with temporary station closures on certain lines it would have been impossible to complete the entire route, so we decided to attempt to break the record for visiting all 64 stations in Zone 1 instead.
This year, we were joined by Missie Lizzie on our annual jaunt, who was brilliant company. We set off early from Vauxhall and weaved our way across London.
There were a few minor delays on some of the lines and Liz lost her train ticket, which we had to stop to replace, so while we did not break the record, we still completed the challenge in a very respectable 3 hours and 37 minutes.
Was it as hideous as I thought it would be? Well, yes and no.
I was lucky to have such wonderful company on the day, who made the whole experience feel worthwhile and fun. But, there was a lot of power walking between platforms and stations and many more stairs than I had anticipated; so while travelling on the underground in the middle of the day is certainly better than during rush hour, I was filthy and knackered when I returned home.
None of that really matters, the most important thing is that I got off the sofa, did my bit and we raised £720 on the day. This money – along with the total raised by other Team Honk events around the country – will make a huge difference.
£15 gives 75 Ugandan children with malaria life-saving medication.
£25 provides a young person in the UK who has faced domestic abuse with a one-to-one counselling session to help them overcome their ordeal.
£50 sends a disadvantaged young person in the UK on a sports coaching course, giving them the skills they need to find work.
Our challenge may be over, but you can still donate to the Team Honk Tube Challenge and help change lives.
Wayfair, the online destination for all things home, kindly sponsored me as part of Team Honk for Sport Relief.
What an amazing group of women you are. Your friends and families must be so prpud of you. I know I am.