Diane Leigh's pic 80-day, 4,034-mile journey saw her ride 31 trains, 19 buses, 16 boats, 13 cars and two planes to enjoy the everyday things that make us special
When Diane Leigh embarked on an epic 80-day, 4,034-mile journey to savour the best little things about Britain, some of her closest friends thought she was crazy.
The 44-year-old’s charity adventure saw her ride 31 trains, 19 buses, 16 boats, 13 cars and two planes to enjoy the everyday things that make our nation special.
“When I told people a few wanted to come with me, some thought it was great and others thought I was completely mad – and still do,” she said laughing.
“I focused on the little things we all connect to and the eccentricities of being British. I saw a bus stop dedicated to Nelson Mandela in the Shetland Isles and a red telephone box turned into a cashpoint in Barry, South Wales.”
She feasted on 27 fry-ups, 16 portions of fish and chips and seven afternoon teas.
“I felt even more proud to be British by the end. British people are great.”
The inspiration for Diane’s journey came after she followed a different dream with a move to Paris in 2011.
That experience helped her feel positive about life again after depression in her teens, an eating disorder in her 30s and a cancer scare aged 40.
Before she returned home the following year, she felt very nostalgic about her home country and the idea for her “Little British Things” odyssey took root.
She explained: “My aims were to celebrate everyday Britishness, raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and to inspire others to follow their dreams.”
And with her she took fond memories of homegrown childhood holidays with mum Dorothy, who died from cancer when Diane was just 12.
She recalled: “My parents always enjoyed camping and when I was a baby they hired a VW camper van to tour South Wales.
“I had a wonderful childhood and it was all about going out and about. Collecting shells on the beach with my mum was one of my favourite things.
“We went to Lytham-St-Annes, near Blackpool, the year before she died. Our photo was taken with our skirts hitched in our knickers because we’d been for a paddle.”
Diane set off on her £3,000 adventure from Poole, Dorset, on May 13.
See some of her favourite pictures from her travels below
The first stage saw her travel 300 miles by train around the south-west coast of England. By late May she was heading to St Martin’s and St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly.
“I was desperate for accommodation on St Martin’s,” she said. “I put a shout-out for help on Twitter and the owners of the pub there put me up free.
“I had my favourite afternoon tea of the trip on St Agnes and my favourite pint of ale, which was called Three Sheets, came from Scilly.”
Diane, who is single with no children, then passed through Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset, before heading on to Cardiff and round Wales.
For most of her trip she lodged with friends or in cheap B’n’Bs, but a third of the way round she found being on the move all time hard going. Diane admitted: “By the time I was in south Cumbria on Day 26 I felt like giving up. It was my low point – I was struggling to think straight.
“But thinking of the dream I’d had was the motivation to carry on.”
By Day 29, Diane had reached Scotland, taking in Edinburgh, Inverness and the Orkney Islands by car, bus, train and ferry before reaching the Shetlands.
“I allowed myself four days in Shetland because it was such a magical place,” she said. “Being at the most northerly point of Shetland on Day 40, the longest day of the year, when I got to steer an RNLI lifeboat, was an absolute highlight and summed up the trip’s purpose.”
Diane didn’t put on any weight on her trip – despite trying many regional delicacies as well as feasting on all those tasty fry-ups, fish suppers and teas.
“I had a haggis panini in Crail, near St Andrews, on Day 47, which was delicious,” she said. “And my B’n’B host made stovies for me in Inverness – it’s mashed potato mixed with mince and veg.
“I tried Craster kippers in Northumberland and the oysters in Whitstable, Kent, were amazing.
“By the time I reached Yorkshire on Day 52 I had realised fish and chips were pretty much the same everywhere,” she added laughing. “But for me it was where you eat them and so my favourite were in beautiful Shetland.”
Diane Leigh's modes of transport during her 80-day trek
The worst journey was the “terrifying” flight on a seven-seater aircraft between Shetland and Fair Isle cost £79 and was the most expensive part of her trip.
The cheapest fa re was a £1.70 bus ride from Inverness to North Kessock.
As she travelled down England’s east coast in July, taking in Whitby, Scarborough and inland to Norwich, the country was experiencing a heatwave.
On Day 61, Diane arrived in London and took the Tube to Greenwich.
“Making art on the Thames beach was pretty special,” she recalled. “A friend and I used debris from the shore to make a map of Britain in the sand.”
The proud Brit has holidayed across Europe and the US but claimed the beautiful British coast is every bit as good.
She said: “The weather was really kind to me, I had blue skies and warm sunshine a lot of the time. In the Scillys you could be in the Seychelles or the Caribbean.”
In a homage to Around the World in 80 Days’ Phileas Fogg, Diane completed her trip of a lifetime back in Poole on Day 80 and is now in Cheshire, where she grew up, working as a motivational speaker.
She has also written an ebook about her life, called Dream Seed Magic: A Journey Beyond My Imagination.
“I want to inspire people to live their dreams,” she said. “Don’t wait until things are perfect because you’ll wait forever.”
Diane's itinerary:
Days 1-2: Poole; 3: Dawlish; 4: Totnes; 5: Saltash; 6: Penzance; 7-9: Isles of Scilly; 10: Truro; 11: Tregothnan; 12-13: Weston-super-Mare; 14: Cardiff; 15: Cowbridge; 16: Aberystwyth; 17: Holyhead; 18: Llandudno; 19-20: Knutsford; 21: Southport; 22: Liverpool; 23-24: Blackpool; 25: Grange-over-Sands; 26: Cartmel; 27-28: Isle of Man; 29-30: Inverness via Edinburgh; 31: Thurso; 32: Scrabster; 33-35; Orkney; 36-41: Shetlands and Fair Isle; 42: Aberdeen; 43-44: Inverness; 45: Anstruther; 46: St Andrews; 47: Crail; 48-50: Berwick-upon-Tweed; 51-52: Robin Hood’s Bay; 53: Whitby;
54: Scarborough; 55-56: Beverley; 57-58: Norwich; 59-60: Woodbridge; 61-66: London; 67: Folkestone; 68: Canterbury & Whitstable; 69-70: Lewes; 71-73: Southsea & Chichester via Selsey Bill; 74-77: Isle of Wight; 78: Bournemouth via Southampton; 79: Wimborne; 80: Poole.
- Find out more by visiting Diane's website www.fledglingonfire.com
