Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

‘How was your weekend?’

Most of us will be asked this question at least once on a Monday, by work colleagues, family members or a friendly bus driver. Normally my replies range from ‘too short’ to ‘chilled’, or if I am really lucky, ‘we had a party on Saturday night and I spent the whole of Sunday recovering and trying to remember her name.’

This weekend was different though. I have just hobbled back from my local supermarket. ‘How was your weekend,’ Rita the friendly shop assistant asked as I was paying for the milk.

‘It was hard work.’

‘It normally is with those two boys of yours.’

‘No, this weekend was really hard work,’ I told her, ‘I walked from London to Brighton.’

Yes, my weekend, along with those of a lot of souls far more hardy than mine, was taken up with walking 65 miles, or a far…