Thursday, 31 January 2013
A bit of good news, comes my way.....
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Saturday, 26 January 2013
The Homeless journey is complete.....
Been put in a B&B by a charity due to the extreme weather conditions.....and.....I'm CLEAN SHAVEN!!! mmmm sexy
Even though it's technically complete, I wish to carry on ''the journey' of being homeless and getting myself off the streets. So come along for the tiresome ride lol.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Friday, 18 January 2013
Where the hell do I go? .... (Day 4)
After having a couple of hours sleep and a couple more hot chocolates, 6 am soon came round. I don’t know what came over me, but I suddenly perked up, grabbed my bags and started to walk again.
The aim was Northallerton, via Yarm.
Quickly popped over to a mobile phone shop, jumped on their wifi just to get my map bearings and it seemed pretty straight forward so let the 6 hours of walking commence.
About an hour in, and I’d reached Eaglescliff, seeing the welcome sign for this little village was a great mental boost as it should of taken me a hour and a half to get here yet it had just gone 7am, I was flying. Straight through Eaglescliff and out the other end, just following whatever sign displayed Northallerton on it, or at worse Yarm. Hunger kicked in, ok I 90% hungry all the time, with lack of funds etc, but this was painful. My stomach was certainly trying to grab my attention and boy did it know how to do it, I persevered through the pain barrier and followed the signs with the miles slowly being ticked off.
I arrived in Yarm, and I don’t know whether my stomach just gave up or I had just gotten used to the pain, but it had seemed to have subsided at least. I came to this hug roundabout with about 4 possible exits, but not a single sign told me which way to go? Surely I hadn’t missed a turning back down the road? I couldn’t of. I found this old chap, and stopped to ask him if he had any idea. He just kept telling me to get the 10A bus, and every time I reiterated the fact I was walking. Finally I think he understood, and said, “I think its right at the roundabout” Great! “....or is it left, yeah it may be left” hmmm, I wish he just stuck with the 10A bus option to be honest. Anyway I gambled on going right.
About 15mins down the road and nothing, no sign, no indication a town was ahead or anything. I did however come across a train station, Northallerton train station to be exact. Even though this was the station for Northallerton it still didn’t really help with which way to go unfortunately. Just as I was walking away, the announcer came on, and said the next train will be for all stations to Manchester Airport, via Thirsk, York.... Do I risk it? To hell with it, why not. (I don’t condone fare dodging at all but I was desperate)
I thought 1 stop to Thirsk wouldn’t hurt anybody plus it would eat up a couple of miles nice and quickly. The train pulled up, only 2 carriages, and only about 10 people boarding, it won’t take long for the inspector to come along. I saw him at the front, and Thirsk was 15mins away, would it take him 15mins to reach me? I sat down, made myself comfortable, popped some headphones in, took out a book opened to a random page and “feel asleep” Sure enough inspector, enters my carriage. “Any tickets from Northallerton” a couple of guys said yes bought their tickets off him and then the inspector proceeded towards me, I just ignored him and he pasted me. Did I pull it off? Turns out I may have. We pulled up at Thirsk and I got a bit ballsy, “lets stay on for one more stop” it was York next up, so a nice big City. Sure enough I stayed on and got to York without a hitch, thankfully, York station has no ticket barriers phew!
10am in a new City once again. By 11 I’d found the library, all the amenities I’d be needing etc. Spent around 6 hours, in the library and its immediate area before places started to close. Right what now. I headed back to the station just for the sheer fact I knew it’d be open, I stayed there till around 11 before moving on, I had no idea where I was going to try and at least close my eyes, but never the less I trudged back into the City Centre and managed to find a little space behind a restaurant, where I put my head down and tried to get some shut eye. Please don’t let it rain.
Zzz
Day 4, done.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Head says walk, but legs aren't having any of it.... (Day 3)
I awoke with a feeling that my legs appreciated the rest for the night at least. Straight downstairs to give my thanks once again to my host and off in a taxi back to Stockton again.
10am the whole day ahead of me, asking myself if I should walk a bit further today or not. I decided not to. I went back to my seemingly second home of the library and did my research of where to go to next and there after etc. Looking at the map there wasn't really anywhere that stood out, well within a reasonable distance at least. So feeling a bit perplexed, I jumped to my emails to have a look and one of my good friends (Becky) must have done her own bit of research too. She pointed out that Northallerton was only 24miles away, and it had a library, my most favourite place in the world! So a quick jump over to Google and sure enough 24miles it was, predicted walking time of a little over 6hours. Even though I felt revitalised after my awesome night’s sleep, it still seemed a mountainous task, I’ll leave it for tomorrow I told myself.
The day itself wasn’t particularly interesting but the weather was shocking!, the rain battered down and all I could think of was my belongings in a bush somewhere. 7pm soon came round, and back to the police station, to give a big thank you to the desk clerk who organised the place the night before, but there was obviously an ulterior motive for going back in... More help possibly? Unfortunately she said there’s nothing they could do for me, but she said I could stay in the waiting room through night as cover and warmth. Wasn’t the most attractive thought, but heck it was by far the best option I had.
For the next few hours I got the nations supply of hot chocolates and biscuits from the ladies in the office which was incredibly nice of them and I tried to rest my head and get a few hours sleep, but to no avail. So it was around 1am and seeing that the rain had stopped, I decided to go an investigate my ‘bush bags’ situation. I got where I left them and the ground was awful, the rain obviously hit hard down here. I finally located my things and there it was still perched up, my umbrella, and it had done a sterling job as well. High five to myself for thinking of doing that. By the time I got back to the police station it was 2:30am, where a hour and a half went I have no idea, but I was feeling sleepy, so I capitalised on that a got a couple of hours in. Zzzz
Day 3 over and out.
10am the whole day ahead of me, asking myself if I should walk a bit further today or not. I decided not to. I went back to my seemingly second home of the library and did my research of where to go to next and there after etc. Looking at the map there wasn't really anywhere that stood out, well within a reasonable distance at least. So feeling a bit perplexed, I jumped to my emails to have a look and one of my good friends (Becky) must have done her own bit of research too. She pointed out that Northallerton was only 24miles away, and it had a library, my most favourite place in the world! So a quick jump over to Google and sure enough 24miles it was, predicted walking time of a little over 6hours. Even though I felt revitalised after my awesome night’s sleep, it still seemed a mountainous task, I’ll leave it for tomorrow I told myself.
The day itself wasn’t particularly interesting but the weather was shocking!, the rain battered down and all I could think of was my belongings in a bush somewhere. 7pm soon came round, and back to the police station, to give a big thank you to the desk clerk who organised the place the night before, but there was obviously an ulterior motive for going back in... More help possibly? Unfortunately she said there’s nothing they could do for me, but she said I could stay in the waiting room through night as cover and warmth. Wasn’t the most attractive thought, but heck it was by far the best option I had.
For the next few hours I got the nations supply of hot chocolates and biscuits from the ladies in the office which was incredibly nice of them and I tried to rest my head and get a few hours sleep, but to no avail. So it was around 1am and seeing that the rain had stopped, I decided to go an investigate my ‘bush bags’ situation. I got where I left them and the ground was awful, the rain obviously hit hard down here. I finally located my things and there it was still perched up, my umbrella, and it had done a sterling job as well. High five to myself for thinking of doing that. By the time I got back to the police station it was 2:30am, where a hour and a half went I have no idea, but I was feeling sleepy, so I capitalised on that a got a couple of hours in. Zzzz
Day 3 over and out.
Monday, 14 January 2013
The Journey continues.....(Day 2)
So following on from day 1, I finally awoke around 8am, and the sheer thought of having to walk another foot let alone another mile or two seemed impossible. My legs seemed to have the functionality of a baby’s first steps, 'steady, steady, oh shit...' I had pain in muscles I didn't know I had, and did someone put rocks in my bags whilst I slept as they felt like a ton weight this morning. Never-the-less I stumbled on and finally civilisation! People walking their dogs, kids going to school god it was a great sight to see, surely I couldn’t be too far from town?
I found a rather dense bush hid a couple of bags beneath it and propped up an umbrella to cover them from any possible rain, major light bulb moment there. So following the signs to the town centre I made tracks.
Being homeless in a new place is probably one of the most daunting things I ever had to encounter, at least with Newcastle I knew where I could get things from or at least where I could go. Stockton although a lot smaller in comparison, felt so vast. Anyway, I did what I would normally do, popped to the library and sent off some emails to a couple of people just saying I’d made it somewhere safe. But now what? 10am in a new place not the foggiest idea of what to do, to waste time or where to go later on. I trudged around for a bit to see what Stockton is all about and to be far it an alright place. After getting my bearings I soon headed back to the library for the remainder of the afternoon.
5.45pm soon comes round and the library is closing, right what now Barry? Once again I trundled round the centre just wasting time, wondered if I should pop back to where I stored my bags but the sheer thought of the laborious walk back to them made me feel sick. I ended up going to the local police station to see about possible advice, since Newcastle’s police were so helpful whenever I needed them for anything, surely Stockton’s force would be just as friendly, no? Well going by my experiences with the general public in and around town today I didn’t really hold out much hope, for only being approximately 35mile south of Newcastle the friendliness difference was so vast. People say Geordies (Newcastle Folk) are the friendliest people in the UK, and if what I seen today is anything to go by, that statement may be correct. For example, I walked into a shop and I thought the lady ahead had kept the door open for me, so I said ‘Thank you’ the look I got back off her was unbelievable?!, sorry love did I just spit on your first child and tell you f**k off? No, I merely extended my gratitude for you keeping the door open for me. I bet she’s thinking, if she knew someone was behind her, she would have closed the door behind herself rather than leaving the door hanging. But anyway back to the police part of the story. So thankfully I was greeted by this incredibly friendly looking officer at the desk, who mentioned Stockton is incredibly poor at aiding anybody of its own people who are homeless let alone an outsider like myself. Sure enough though she disappeared for a little while and said that a taxi would be here in a few minutes to pick me up and take me somewhere for the night. Erm ok, I had no idea where I was going or what happens in the morning but still I was just grateful at the prospect of a good nights sleep.
The taxi arrived and took me away, I noticed by his sat nav, we were heading north and sure enough we started passing signs for Newcastle 32 mile, then Newcastle 28 mile and finally Newcastle 25 mile when we reached this place I’d be staying at. It was just seeing all those miles I covered the day before just getting washes away within minutes when it took me hours to walk them.
We pulled up at this farm house down a dark, seemingly abandoned road, wow Thorpe Thewles train station from the night before was spooky now this. I was greeted by this lovely woman who took me and made me feel at ease instantly, such generosity and such a caring nature about herself. Turns out she was a Geordie surprise, surprise. After a little chit chat some Americas next top model, I went to bed and normally the type of mattress that I was on I would detest, I lay upon it and it simply swallowed me up. But boy I wasn’t complaining in the slightest, the feeling I was having could have been easily mistaken for a million marshmallows. Within seconds my eyes were shut and I was away...zzzz
Day 2 complete.
I found a rather dense bush hid a couple of bags beneath it and propped up an umbrella to cover them from any possible rain, major light bulb moment there. So following the signs to the town centre I made tracks.
Being homeless in a new place is probably one of the most daunting things I ever had to encounter, at least with Newcastle I knew where I could get things from or at least where I could go. Stockton although a lot smaller in comparison, felt so vast. Anyway, I did what I would normally do, popped to the library and sent off some emails to a couple of people just saying I’d made it somewhere safe. But now what? 10am in a new place not the foggiest idea of what to do, to waste time or where to go later on. I trudged around for a bit to see what Stockton is all about and to be far it an alright place. After getting my bearings I soon headed back to the library for the remainder of the afternoon.
5.45pm soon comes round and the library is closing, right what now Barry? Once again I trundled round the centre just wasting time, wondered if I should pop back to where I stored my bags but the sheer thought of the laborious walk back to them made me feel sick. I ended up going to the local police station to see about possible advice, since Newcastle’s police were so helpful whenever I needed them for anything, surely Stockton’s force would be just as friendly, no? Well going by my experiences with the general public in and around town today I didn’t really hold out much hope, for only being approximately 35mile south of Newcastle the friendliness difference was so vast. People say Geordies (Newcastle Folk) are the friendliest people in the UK, and if what I seen today is anything to go by, that statement may be correct. For example, I walked into a shop and I thought the lady ahead had kept the door open for me, so I said ‘Thank you’ the look I got back off her was unbelievable?!, sorry love did I just spit on your first child and tell you f**k off? No, I merely extended my gratitude for you keeping the door open for me. I bet she’s thinking, if she knew someone was behind her, she would have closed the door behind herself rather than leaving the door hanging. But anyway back to the police part of the story. So thankfully I was greeted by this incredibly friendly looking officer at the desk, who mentioned Stockton is incredibly poor at aiding anybody of its own people who are homeless let alone an outsider like myself. Sure enough though she disappeared for a little while and said that a taxi would be here in a few minutes to pick me up and take me somewhere for the night. Erm ok, I had no idea where I was going or what happens in the morning but still I was just grateful at the prospect of a good nights sleep.
The taxi arrived and took me away, I noticed by his sat nav, we were heading north and sure enough we started passing signs for Newcastle 32 mile, then Newcastle 28 mile and finally Newcastle 25 mile when we reached this place I’d be staying at. It was just seeing all those miles I covered the day before just getting washes away within minutes when it took me hours to walk them.
We pulled up at this farm house down a dark, seemingly abandoned road, wow Thorpe Thewles train station from the night before was spooky now this. I was greeted by this lovely woman who took me and made me feel at ease instantly, such generosity and such a caring nature about herself. Turns out she was a Geordie surprise, surprise. After a little chit chat some Americas next top model, I went to bed and normally the type of mattress that I was on I would detest, I lay upon it and it simply swallowed me up. But boy I wasn’t complaining in the slightest, the feeling I was having could have been easily mistaken for a million marshmallows. Within seconds my eyes were shut and I was away...zzzz
Day 2 complete.
Sunday, 13 January 2013
The homeless man's journey begins... (Day 1)
Well boys and girls, I have been on and off homeless for the past 2 years and Newcastle has become quite a depressing place for me lately and so I've decided to move away, even if it is just street sleeping somewhere else. My choice of desitination is 300miles south in county of Kent. Being homeless I'm sure you can imagine that I dont have any money to my name inparticularly, infact I haven't even got a penny to my name.
So my journey is going to be on foot, yes 300miles on foot, oh lord!
Day 1
My aim was Newcastle to Middlesborough 38.4miles
Thankfully, I managed to get the metro train to Sunderland which saved 10miles straight away, bonus!
My NEW aim Sunderand to Middlesborough 28.8miles
It was a simple start, around 9.30am, I got off the metro and proceeded south to a small towny, village type of place called Ryhope, I cut through Ryhope like my map directions indicated me to do, then I was brought to a pretty major road and I coulnd't really see a pathway to walk along it. 2 miles into my jounrey and I'm stumped already? great!
Thankfully I noticed in the distance a small sign that shows the cycling routes, I got a little closer and looked it had a bike symbol and the number 1. Right I totally understand....Ok I didn't understand at all, all I knew was it pointed south'ish so I started to walk along it.
All seemed good, I walked about 2 hours then came to this fork in the pathway, with no indication of what went where. A quick game of "eeny meeny miny moe" later I choose to go left. Within the next 2 miles a futher 3 more forks appeared great! After using my playground deciding methods to get carry on my journey I just kept my head down and walked and walked, wow did it get boring.
Around 5pm, I came across this frial old man, just shuffling along with his walking stick. The shuffling speed he was going at was the sort speed, that he'd have to leave for the conrner shop on a Monday to get Wednesdays paper on time. Anyway, I spent about 5 mins talking to him and I was on my way, I felt for him though, he was about 3 miles from anywhere I had come across, but he seemed to know the inner workings or all the paths in the local area so he must know what hes doing surely?
Got to 8 pm and I finally came across a sign for somewhere, "Thorpe Thewles 3, Stockton 6" 3miles argh! so far, by this time, I'm sure you can imagine after walking all day carrying around 30-40kilos I was shattered. I walked and walked and walked and came across this abandoned train station in the middle of no where, sign posted Thorpe Thewles, this cant be what was on the sign 3miles ago surely? I had a walk around it, but it was too spooky to be honest. I was half expecting Scooby Doo and the gang to appear to solve a mystery. It was around 9pm now, and I was going at a pace, matched by my shuffling friend earlier on in the day, but finally I came across the real Thrope Thewles. I crossed over the main bypass and entered this quaint little village hoping to just find somewhere quiet to rest my head. Instead I was met my gorping locals at the pub staring through the windows at me, as I walked past. I came to another pub, where they seemed to be standing looking out already for me?, were these to pubs communicating with eachother? honestly, it felt like the sort of village depicted in the film 'Hot Fuzz' All the villagers, know eachothers business and saw me as an outsider, possibly fresh meat. Needless to say I didn't hang about, my shuffling soon perked up and I left Thorpe Thewles. I found the continuing path for Stockton (still 3 miles away!) and began to walk along it, best I could.
I came across these 3 wells that had been filled with concrete, so placed my bags down, remembered how my shoulders felt once again and layed down for abit just staring at the stars, and drifted off for a bit. zzzzz
2am comes round, and I thought to myself I need to get to Stockton!. I plodded on best I could, but was some halted by the worst fork in the pathway yet. to my right was just a dark, straight pathway with a dim orange light at the end, and to my left was a brightly lit area with street lamps and the faint outline of the tesco's sign too. Left it is then!. I had to scrape and squeeze between this huge hedgerow and the fence to this power station type of place, I even came face to face with a badger, life doesn't prepare you for such encounters, what do you do? well the moment it started growling like a ravenous rottweiler, a made myself 'big' and screamed at the poor little bugger, sure enough though it worked. I continued on my path following the North Star that was the Tesco sign, but came to a grinding halt, when met with this electrofied fence with a little wooden step over section in the fence, yeah me and my crown jewels weren't risking it at all, back to the fork in the road!. I must have walked another mile, mile and a half before coming to this bridge with big boulders beneath, I simply had to call it a day and get some rest, not too bad though for day 1!
Rather Hungry work.
Day 1 - 27 miles covered.
Aimed to Middlesborough finished 6miles west.
So my journey is going to be on foot, yes 300miles on foot, oh lord!
Day 1
My aim was Newcastle to Middlesborough 38.4miles
Thankfully, I managed to get the metro train to Sunderland which saved 10miles straight away, bonus!
My NEW aim Sunderand to Middlesborough 28.8miles
It was a simple start, around 9.30am, I got off the metro and proceeded south to a small towny, village type of place called Ryhope, I cut through Ryhope like my map directions indicated me to do, then I was brought to a pretty major road and I coulnd't really see a pathway to walk along it. 2 miles into my jounrey and I'm stumped already? great!
Thankfully I noticed in the distance a small sign that shows the cycling routes, I got a little closer and looked it had a bike symbol and the number 1. Right I totally understand....Ok I didn't understand at all, all I knew was it pointed south'ish so I started to walk along it.
All seemed good, I walked about 2 hours then came to this fork in the pathway, with no indication of what went where. A quick game of "eeny meeny miny moe" later I choose to go left. Within the next 2 miles a futher 3 more forks appeared great! After using my playground deciding methods to get carry on my journey I just kept my head down and walked and walked, wow did it get boring.
Around 5pm, I came across this frial old man, just shuffling along with his walking stick. The shuffling speed he was going at was the sort speed, that he'd have to leave for the conrner shop on a Monday to get Wednesdays paper on time. Anyway, I spent about 5 mins talking to him and I was on my way, I felt for him though, he was about 3 miles from anywhere I had come across, but he seemed to know the inner workings or all the paths in the local area so he must know what hes doing surely?
Got to 8 pm and I finally came across a sign for somewhere, "Thorpe Thewles 3, Stockton 6" 3miles argh! so far, by this time, I'm sure you can imagine after walking all day carrying around 30-40kilos I was shattered. I walked and walked and walked and came across this abandoned train station in the middle of no where, sign posted Thorpe Thewles, this cant be what was on the sign 3miles ago surely? I had a walk around it, but it was too spooky to be honest. I was half expecting Scooby Doo and the gang to appear to solve a mystery. It was around 9pm now, and I was going at a pace, matched by my shuffling friend earlier on in the day, but finally I came across the real Thrope Thewles. I crossed over the main bypass and entered this quaint little village hoping to just find somewhere quiet to rest my head. Instead I was met my gorping locals at the pub staring through the windows at me, as I walked past. I came to another pub, where they seemed to be standing looking out already for me?, were these to pubs communicating with eachother? honestly, it felt like the sort of village depicted in the film 'Hot Fuzz' All the villagers, know eachothers business and saw me as an outsider, possibly fresh meat. Needless to say I didn't hang about, my shuffling soon perked up and I left Thorpe Thewles. I found the continuing path for Stockton (still 3 miles away!) and began to walk along it, best I could.
I came across these 3 wells that had been filled with concrete, so placed my bags down, remembered how my shoulders felt once again and layed down for abit just staring at the stars, and drifted off for a bit. zzzzz
2am comes round, and I thought to myself I need to get to Stockton!. I plodded on best I could, but was some halted by the worst fork in the pathway yet. to my right was just a dark, straight pathway with a dim orange light at the end, and to my left was a brightly lit area with street lamps and the faint outline of the tesco's sign too. Left it is then!. I had to scrape and squeeze between this huge hedgerow and the fence to this power station type of place, I even came face to face with a badger, life doesn't prepare you for such encounters, what do you do? well the moment it started growling like a ravenous rottweiler, a made myself 'big' and screamed at the poor little bugger, sure enough though it worked. I continued on my path following the North Star that was the Tesco sign, but came to a grinding halt, when met with this electrofied fence with a little wooden step over section in the fence, yeah me and my crown jewels weren't risking it at all, back to the fork in the road!. I must have walked another mile, mile and a half before coming to this bridge with big boulders beneath, I simply had to call it a day and get some rest, not too bad though for day 1!
Rather Hungry work.
Day 1 - 27 miles covered.
Aimed to Middlesborough finished 6miles west.
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