Day 15: Slow start, cracking end

I'm up at ten. Head's a little hazy but I feel ok. Phone rings. It's Nat (he and Holly stayed in a Southport B&B last night). He tells me that Holly is ill, she's been throwing up. He also tells me the police called. The mother of one of the lads in Preston yesterday called them about us taking photos of her boy. They're not going to take the charges any further but it's a bit of a dampener on the day. She'd even been on the website to get our phone number and must have realised what we were doing, but I guess we have to be more careful in future.

We all need a rest so don't get going again until 3pm. Nat takes a train back to Lancaster to pick up his hire car and we say goodbye in Leyland's McDonalds car park. Holly's still not feeling well and she's down about Nat leaving, but we're ready to hit the road. Aim of the day is to get as far south as possible, but heavy rain and the pain in my foot makes the going tough. At six the rain was so heavy I was skating through rivers. A drowned rat, I called the van to a stop, walked dripping into a local pub and asked if they had accomodation.

The Stork Inn, Billinge, was a godsend. A bunch of men at a table next to the door took half a minute to buy me a pint. Two minutes later they had pooled money to pay for our rooms. An amazing bunch, they kept us laughing and told us how Room 6, where Dimitri and Holly were bedding down, was once on Most Haunted on Living TV. Hahah. All night Dim was talking about the lights flickering and doorknobs shaking on the first floor. Big wuss.

Kate arrived at half eight, so good to see her. My right foot was swollen up like a small rugby ball by 10 and we shared a chinese soon after. Really worried about my foot. It's killing, no idea why it's swollen. Blisters are bad and although the heel hurts it is healing slowly. This new swelling phenomenon isn't welcome. Tomorrow will tell more.

Finally, BBC Radio 5 Live wanted an interview at half twelve (at night!). I waited and waited and finally got on at five to one. Nice to get some national coverage, but the presenters didn't seem too interested and I really could have done with some more sleep!