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Lives in a Landscape

Factual: Life Stories

Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today

Lives in a Landscape: Series 14

Lives in a Landscape: Series 14: Episode 1: The Longest Walk

The Longest Walk

Episode 1

Episode 1: The Longest Walk

Series 14

BBC Radio 4 - Lives in a Landscape, Series 14, The Longest Walk

Alan Dein follows two men as they try to walk 100 miles in 48 hours with no sleep.

Every year, the Long Distance Walkers' Association organises a 100-mile walk. Alan Dein follows two men as they attempt to walk it cross country in 48 hours with no sleep.

It's rambling, but not as we know it. Every year the Long Distance Walkers' Association organises a 100 mile walk. It has to be completed in 48 hours, which for most people means walking through two nights with no sleep. By the end, hallucination is common, and many of the 500 who started out drop out or by the time they finish can barely walk any more.

Lives in a Landscape follows two participants in this year's walk, from Wadebridge in Cornwall to Teignmouth in Devon. One, George Foot, is 76, and has done 24 100-mile walks already. The other, Josh Wainwright, is 18. This is his first 100. Will either of them complete the walk, or will they have to "retire" early?

As George walks, he talks to presenter Alan Dein about his long-dead father - a distinguished public school headmaster. It becomes clear that George has spent much of his life in his father's shadow, feeling that he was a permanent disappointment to him. As a child, George was told by his father that he was "a bad walker". Now, completing the 100 mile walk is a way of redeeming himself in his father's eyes.

Josh, on the other hand, is walking the 100 miles with his father, Dave, a 21st century parent. Will Dave be more forgiving of failure, and more willing to praise success? An exploration not just of the challenges of walking and endurance, but of the changing nature of fatherhood.

Producer: Jolyon Jenkins
Presenter: Alan Dein.

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Stories about real lives in Britain today, presented by Alan Dein

Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today. Presented by Alan Dein

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Episode 1: The Longest Walk

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