I think walkers have dropped dead doing LDWA walks but I haven't heard of anyone getting murdered - perhaps one for our historians... maybe in September's special Strider edition?

Yes, bemusing the locals is quite common! On the Saturday evening of the WOW I met a dog walker who, when told what I was doing, asked whether I was sure I was going to get back that night. Oh yes, I assured him - probably at about 6am. He didn't know quite what to say to that, but wished me luck.

The police this time round didn't appear to believe me at first, until they asked how far I'd already done - attempting to walk 53 miles starting in the middle of the night would clearly have been a bit too suspicious, but attempting to walk 53 miles having already completed 40 of them was apparently accepted. I was told that the area "contained several sites of interest to the police", which was why they were out there - I wasn't sure exactly what that was supposed to mean (drug dens? scrap dealers accepting stolen cables?) but it made me a bit nervous for the next couple of miles - I didn't really want to go down in LDWA history for getting murdered during an event!

We were stopped at about 1am by the Surrey Police on the Games Hundred Marshals’ walk. They had been alerted by a local resident to a flow of suspicious people carrying suspicious lights following a suspicious route into the hills. Drug dealers? Devil Worshipers? Black Mass?

We explained what we were doing and it was accepted with some alarm and disbelief – if these people are crazy enough to walk 100 miles maybe they are a danger to themselves and others around them? – but they were happy when we gave them the emergency phone number – ah, at least someone is looking after them. The looks of alarm returned when my walking partner mentioned that about 500 (equally crazy) people would be doing the same thing in a month’s time.

On Saturday (Herts Stroller) I was not stopped by the Police - but I was asked why on earth someone would want to walk 53 miles. Then a bit later on I was asked if I was doing the event as part of the Olympics! At the time I certainly felt nothing like an Olympian, but it was nice that somebody thought it was an Olympian effort. Katie

It wasn't the police, but we had quite a few people ask what we were doing on Saturday (on Herts Stroller). Isn't it funny when you tell them what you're doing (or more specifically, how far) - their eyes get bigger and bigger! And then they shake their head and mutter something like "nutters"!

... been stopped by the police on a challenge event? Happened to me on the Herts Stroller in the early hours of Sunday - they couldn't quite fathom why anyone would be wandering around country lanes in the middle of the night. They took my name and address, asked me what I was doing, accepted the explanation and wished me luck for the remainder of the event. No harm done, and I suppose it'll be something to tell my grandchildren about!