Nick Hunt will be giving a talk about his epic walk in Paddy’s footsteps from Hook of Holland to Istanbul at London’s Westminster Reference Library on 11 May, and will be joined by other adventurers in an evening of talks, performances and art about walking.
Find out more on Nick’s blog, After the Woods and the Water here.
Nick Hunt outside the Hotel New York (Continental), Cluj
After a short period of adjustment to ‘normal life’, and, I dare say, some personal reflection, Nick has contacted us to say thank you for the support you gave to him and to announce that he will be giving a talk about his walk on 1 September.
Dear everyone,
Thanks so much for all your support before and during my walk to Istanbul. Knowing that people were following me, reading and enjoying my blog, made a lot of difference on the rocky, rainy days.
I hope you all got your postcards. Some of you are also due a handmade book, and/ or a CD of audio recordings from the journey. I will get round to these as soon as possible — be patient, they will come!
I’ll be starting work on the book very soon. It will hopefully be published next year — you can sign up for updates on my blog, if you want to be kept informed.
For anyone in London, I’m giving a talk about the journey at the Globetrotters Club, who also funded me. It’s on Saturday September 1st, around 3.00pm, here:
Church of Scotland Church Hall,
Crown Court,
London, WC2B 5EZI think it’s £5 or £6 on the door, but they normally have an enormous array of free biscuits. Come if you can.
Thanks again for all your support!
Nick
Here is a useful map!
Nick’s boots, which he had just had repaired by a Romanian cobbler in Turda when I met up with him in Cluj in May, have finally collapsed, and it appears that his emotions are about to undertake a twisting, heaving, never experienced before maelstrom of sweet contradictions as he comes to terms with the conclusion of so much commitment, planning, and effort.
Link to here to read his immediate thoughts and follow him in the coming days as he tries to come to terms with his next steps.
As we discussed in Cluj, he could not see how after reaching his goal he could just jump on to the next plane home; and why would he want to? He faces the ‘plan your journey’ congestion of the Olympics and rain, and floods, and worst of all … normality.
Paddy would have been very proud of him; I am sure of that. And we all are.
Well done Nick!!!!
Imagine Paddy standing in the middle of this bridge looking at the cathedral
It took Paddy until Easter 1934 to get to this bridge. Nick is moving well now. The bridge at Esztergom was one of my first blog posts back in April 2010!
The bridge linking Slovakia and Hungary, between the towns of Štúrovo and Esztergom, also links A Time of Giftsand Between the Woods and the Water. Here Paddy paused both in his walking and his writing, ‘meditatively poised in no man’s air,’ before crossing into Hungary and the second phase of his journey.
I reached that bridge a week ago (or rather the reconstruction of that bridge — the original was destroyed in 1944), and in a rather unbelievable way came to the very last page of my notebook standing above the Danube … read more
Easter 1934 – Paddy reaches the Hungarian border at Esztergom
Your response to helping Nick meet his funding target has been amazing. It was surpassed on Friday and has reached £1,660. Nick has been out of contact for a few days … No he was not caught up in the so-called London riots, but was in the wilds of Wales. I would like to add my own word of thanks to all of you that responded and supported this exciting and bold venture. You can still donate! (and I see you still are! Another £10 tonight!)
Over to Nick ….
Thanks to the help of many readers of this blog, I have now reached (surpassed!) my funding target on the crowdfunding site We Did This, and am up to an amazing £1,660 to go towards my walk across Europe, following Paddy’s route from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Thank you so much, everyone who’s supported me, whether through financial contributions or with thoughts, ideas, encouragement and offers of hospitality. The response had been truly amazing. People have contacted me from all over the world to express their enthusiasm. I’ll be keeping everyone updated on my progress — http://afterthewoodsandthewater.wordpress.com/ — as and when I can on the road, as well as sending back short story postcards, and later preparing hand-stitched books and CDs, to thank individual funders more eloquently. In the end, there will be a book… but first, I have a long way to walk.
It does seem as if this project has struck a chord with a lot of people, and I’ve had requests to explore many aspects of the changes that have taken place in Europe since Paddy walked this way. People want to know about cultural changes, changes to the landscape and environment, changes in attitudes and beliefs, and changes in the experience of walking. One person who funded me, in particular, said something I really like:
‘I love the idea of uncovering ‘wild’ Europe. I had always sensed that in the land, as I’d been travelling, and was thrilled at the idea of someone investigating and documenting that — the magic underneath the surface.’
I’ll be doing my best to scratch at the surface to find the magic Paddy put into words, the magic that I believe still exists in the Europe of today. Thank you so much, once more, everyone who’s helping me do this.
NickNick Hunt’s appeal for funds to support his journey in Paddy’s footsteps was launched exactly two weeks ago. The response has been amazing with £1,140 pledged and only £360 needed to reach his target of £1,500.
You have been very generous but with so little now required for success I want to ask that we all consider even a small donation – £1 a week is about £26 for the journey – a final push!
If Nick is able to make this project work it will bring benefits to us all as we can enjoy his jottings from a journey made 78 years after Paddy.
Remember if Nick does not reach the £1,500 target all the donors will get their money back and Nick will receive nothing. This is the way that Crowdfunding works.
You can donate varying amounts and you will receive a range of items from Nick when on his journey to thank you and remind you of your support. Slightly higher donations will permit a mention of your name in his final book about the journey as well as a copy of the book.
This is a very worthwhile and very serious venture requiring a major commitment from Nick of a year of his life, so please visit the WeDidThis website and donate something.
I have said it before, but I will say it again, watching his video on the site and dreaming, just for a moment, that it could be you walking that fabled route has to be worth £10!
Nick Hunt’s appeal for funds to support his journey in Paddy’s footsteps was launched exactly one week ago. The response has been amazing with £870 raised and only £630 to go to reach his target of £1,500. Nick tells me that donations have poured on from all round the world from Australia to the Czech Republic, from the sunshine state of Florida, and even the Scots have found some change down the back of the sofa!
Many blog readers have contributed and I am asking for another big push this week to reach the target. If Nick does not reach the £1,500 all the donors will get their money back and Nick will receive nothing. This is the way that Crowdfunding works.
You can donate varying amounts and you will receive a range of items from Nick when on his journey to thank you and remind you of your support. Slightly higher donations will permit a mention of your name in his final book about the journey as well as a copy of the book.
This is a very worthwhile and very serious venture requiring a major commitment from Nick of a year of his life, so please visit the WeDidThis website and donate something. Watching his video on the site and dreaming, just for a moment, that it could be you walking that fabled route has to be worth £10!
Patrick Leigh Fermor 