Three days of sunshine and five more teams cross the line: Blossom Creep, R13 Ramblers, the Getaway Girls just in front of the Hungry Hippos with the Norfolk Constabulary close on their rather large heels. It looks like the St George's Gang will arrive today and then we will have had 25 teams reach Notre-Dame with just 15 still en route before the finishing banner is brought down and the crowd barriers removed. Rest assured that Yvette and Pierre will keep the bistro open and the wine flowing for those finishing whenever.

Crossing the line on Thursday 27th May were the Stradsett Strollers (yours truly) and the Natural Wanderers. Both their team names promised a more casual approach and both delivered! The Strollers have been able to off their oak log and it was well received by the architects, Norfolk timber being of course of exceptional quality.

Since I last reported, Tor De Force has reappeared after going AWOL and has completed the journey; as have The Blossom Leap, Collaborative Bridge, Walking through the Gate and the Sheringham Strollers. When the Constabulary heard Walking through the Gate had done just that, they did a blue light run and covered some 51 miles in the day to investigate the event - but they still have 80 miles to go. On their tail are the Getaway Girls, followed by the Hungry Hippos, all under one hundred miles from Notre-Dame.

It is Monday afternoon as I write this. Legs Miserables, Striding for St Martins and The Midwich Marchers are all in a crowded café being well attended to by Yvette and Pierre. And even as I write this and look back at the Leaderboard it looks like the Rotary Ramblers have returned and The Ouse Valley Walkers have also arrived. There is obviously quite a party going on there.

Well after Friday any thing had to be an improvement weatherwise and it has been, ‘just’. The Hospice Hikers and the Late Entrants have arrived at Notre Dame and many congratulations to them. Not far behind them now and soon to cross the line are the Midwich Marchers for Norfolk and Waveney Mind, and Legs Miserables for the St Martins Housing Trust who in a late run have come from way down the field by walking over 80 miles in the last two days. I should think their legs are feeling a little that way!

Friday 21st May 2021 has to be remembered for being one of the mostly beastly May days on record, at least in Norfolk. It is late afternoon and I have only done 2 miles but my Stroller team have invited me to guide them at 5.30 and since it has been harder to get them out to cover some miles than extracting a winkle from its shell, I will definitely oblige to get some miles on our scoresheet.

Two teams (the Hospice Hikers and the Late Entrants) were within striking distance of N-D last night but I have yet to hear they have crossed the line; and so I have to conclude that the weather in Austria where almost all of the Late Entrants are walking is as bad as it is in Norfolk…and the Hospice Hikers have been ‘delayed’. Our Steward and mapping expert has observed that the cumulative total walked by everyone, at 7700 miles, would take us in a westerly direction from Norwich to the western end of Alaska and in an easterly direction to the north-eastern tip of Russia; meaning the two could probably…

Two more teams make it to Yvette's Café in the shadow of Notre-Dame and are enjoying a carafe or two of her finest wine. Well done to the Rotary Ramblers for the King's Lynn Rotary Club Benevolent Fund; and to Scrambled Legs, the last of the three teams from The Garage Trust. They must have a formidable trainer. I know that the Rotary Club team have a real walking pro in their midst as he (Derek) has joined us on a previous W4N walk.

The Red Hot Chilli Steppers have now also arrived. The second of the Garage Teams and obviously a fine ‘stable’ with a good trainer. Their third team, Scrambled Legs, is now desperate to make it a ‘one, two, three’ for The Garage as one of their sponsors has a big bet (donation) on this!

As I write this, news has reached me from Paris that the DoubleR NR have made it to Notre-Dame! What an amazing effort and for such a great cause. Congratulations to all! They must have been in training for this but whatever, to do this in under one week is hugely impressive.