In the back of my mind though I had been wanting to complete a longer walk which would take up the entire night – from sunset to sunrise. I was aiming to undertake such a walk during the winter solstice but I had a cold back then and so was unable to attempt it. Anyway, it’s still pretty close to the solstice so there is still a lot of night to walk through… 14 hours of it, 4km/h… that’s around 56km. I calculated that a Penrith to Bondi walk had a nice ring to it. It came in at around 60km according to Google maps. If I timed it right I could get to Bondi at sunrise. Also, if I got too knackered and the call of bed got too strong I could always wimp out around Camperdown, making the walk 52 km.

OK. That all sounded good and so I decided to give it a go. Rang Mike and Steve up but wisely they were suffering colds or had better things to do. Smart move.

There was trackwork on of course. Luckily there was a direct bus out to Penrith which was pretty quick. I got the arround 4.45 and made it to the river just on sunset. Right on. All up it went pretty well. My feet held up OK and the pace was pretty good. Managed to solve a few technical problems which I was ruminating on…

It wasn’t without unpleasantness though. I really had underestimated the desolation of the Great Western Highway. In my mind I had sort of imagined a continuation of Paramatta Road but boy I was wrong. What was I thinking? That road is by no means pedestrian friendly. For a lot of the way I was creeping along the edge of the roadside barrier with cars whizzing by. At its worst it was through knee high grass. Sometimes the median strip was best. There were a few times where I really did consider it all a bit ill conceived. I got that kind of creepy feeling of there only being one way out of it and that was forward. You know – when you have to rely on yourself alone. I think Steve Waugh calls it a “comfort zone” In a funny kind of way that is why I do these walks. Eventually some lights appeared on the horizon and Wentworthville emerged. Footpaths. Street lights. Service stations. Street signs. The very occasional person. And a bit of hope. Oh joy.

I must have been pretty scared because I clocked up that 30km in about 5 and a bit hours – way faster than my usual 5km per hour. The next 20 km was pretty uneventful. It was great to be back in civilisation. I’ve now seen every car sales yard in Sydney. Memos kebab shop really makes a tasty kebab BTW Heh. Anyway, for the last 10 clicks or so the blisters were getting a bit bad and so I did decide to call it a night at Camperdown. Bondi would have to wait for another day. 52km all up in a little less than 12 hours. I won’t be doing that walk again anytime soon. Glad to have done it though.

The other day I took a couple of friends visiting from the UK for a trip up to the Northern Beaches of Sydney. We dropped by Cottage Point for lunch and then made our way up to Palm Beach and Pitwatter for a bit of a dip and an ice cream. On the way back to Sydney I noticed the roadsign which was to be the genesis for the Night Walkers group: Sydney 40km.

That got me thinking. 40km is nearly a marathon and I had always wanted to complete a marathon. I decided then and there to give my friend Mike a ring to see if he would be interested in walking a marathon in the cool of night. I knew that Mike would be up for it as he doesn’t like to be beaten by a challenge.

And so on the 30th Jan 2009 we made the journey from Palm Beach to the GPO on foot. It took us nine and a half hours and it is fair to say that we were knackered by the end of it. The chaffing was extreme, the blisters were pretty bad too and we were well and truely ready for the comforts of our beds waiting at home.

During the evening we discussed many things including what the next walk would be of course. We flirted with a Wollongong to Sydney walk but soon realised that 40km was challenge enough. We put such discussions on ice until we finished. Anyway… from that initial walk the Night Walkers facebook group was created. We have since completed a few more walks and are looking for new members to take up the challenge. If you feel like doing something a little crazy please join us.