Walk of Life. Connection to Dire Straits?

Answer 1

The walk of Life was an expedition organized and led by John Abbey. The walk took its name from Dire Straits hit single the "Walk of Life" 1985. The band donated a Gold Disc in support of the expedition. The expedition was a walk from London to Khartoum, in the Sudan, a distance of 2,500 miles. There were 5 team members on the walk, Brian Seymour, John Abbey, Andrew Stuart, Alan Munro, and Peter Lawton. Three walked the entire distance, John Abbey, Brian Seymour and Andy Stuart, while two drove the back up vehicle and organized publicity on route. The team also had a back-up team based in London. The expedition started on the 5th December 1985 and was completed in May 1986. As far as I know this was the first time anyone had walked to the Sudan from London. The team averaged 25 miles a day. The purpose of the walk was to raise money for famine relief in the Horn of Africa. John was disgusted by the scenes of malnutrition and starvation beamed into his living room and set out to make a point, if he could walk to Africa how much more could governments do in a matter of days to relieve the situation. They raised money by involving schools across the UK, Europe and Egypt. The expedition was sponsored by British Airways, Novetel, Hitachi, Hilton International, DHL, Joes Basement (film) and many individual and smaller companies. Dire Straits rock group also donated a gold disc and supported the walkers as did Bob Geldof. The route took them through Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and finally Sudan. As they crossed the Alps in the middle of winter temperatures would drop to minus 20 c. walking in this temperature was difficult, ice ales would form on their eye lashes, freezing feet was common. This was a huge contrast to the blistering heat of the desert where temperatures went up so much the team could only walk at night and were forced to take shelter from 11am in the morning until the late afternoon. As Brian would always comment, "this is like a night opp in the SAS!" Brian was in the TA SAS 23 Squadron; John Abbey had been in 21 Squadron SAS. The team suffered major problems with their feet, blistering was common and remained throughout the journey. In the desert apart from the heat, the wind would batter them day and night. Boredom was also a major problem in the desert where the scenery would not change for many days and they had to cross hundreds of miles of nothing but sand. The plan was to follow the Nile, but as it weaved through Egypt many short cuts were taken which almost resulted in death. A lack of forward planning resulted in them crossing a large expanse of desert only to find a gorge separating them with their destination. This meant turning around and walking back for two days with barely enough water for one. John explains, "dehydration comes up on you like locomotive at full speed. One minute you are coping with the situation and the next you feel so light you could faint, well in fact you are fainting, shivering and becoming increasingly cold even though it may be 40c". That's when you know if you don't get shade and water soon you're finished. There are no buts." The Walk finally finished on the 25th April 1986. 2,500 mile had been completed and thousands raised for charity. The was some disillusionment of what they saw when they arrived in Khartoum. Shiny new vehicles being washed outside the offices of major NGOs like UNICEF and Save the Children, aid equipment and food clearly being sold openly in the market, and villages in the outlining areas of Khartoum being charged to buy water. John explained. "It was a grim picture to see so many aid workers getting pissed up at embassy parties in Khartoum, (the best parties were always at the US Embassy). To witness food sacks being sold in the markets and rows of white Toyota land cruisers being washed by locals. This was a business built on aid money and we knew much of the money we raised would undoubtedly go to sustain this business." Walk of Life is currently being written and will be published next year. The book is in memory of Brian Seymour who tragically died of a Brain Tumor a few years after the walked had been completed at the age of 26. John says: " without Brian pushing me sometimes to the point of exhaustion I would not have completed the walk". The world is a poorer place for loosing him at such a young age".