Singer walks from gig to gig on South Coast tour to raise money for charity
The musician is walking from Hastings to Bournemouth
A singer-songwriter is on a special tour along the South Coast, walking from venue to venue on a 150 mile trip to raise money for the Rockinghorse Children's Charity.
Si Connelly, who is from London, plans to walk across the country on the Walking Tour, with the first leg seeing him walk from Hastings to Bournemouth, playing gigs along the way. He will be performing at Portsmouth on the way, playing Southsea Spirit at 5pm on Friday October 30.
“I just wanted to do things differently and play places I haven’t played before, and raise some money,” said Mr Connelly.
“It's pretty hard, I did 26 miles, a marathon, on the third day then straight away did a show, but it has really connected me to people. You have just got to pace yourself otherwise you will just burn out, and you have to leave early as well to make it in time for the shows!”
After each gig, Mr Connelly camps near the venue before setting off the next day to walk to the next event.
He said: “I am carrying everything, there is no support crew, I’ve got my guitar on my back and my stuff probably weighs close to 13 kg. I had to train in the gym beforehand.
“My energy is alright. There are times in the day where you get really tired but you’ve just got to have a banana and keep going. I get a bit delirious by the time I have got to the show. I should give half price tickets for the front row because I probably smell!”
Mr Connelly is performing in various places across West Sussex and Hampshire, including Littlehampton, Chichester and Portsmouth, as well as a trip across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.
“I didn’t want to play the places that people usually play,” he said. “It has been really strange because the gigs have been really busy which I am not used to down south. A lot of people come to see what I am doing because they have seen it online.
“I started during Storm Austin, I did 17 miles of benign battered by the rain, it was really testing. First and foremost I didn’t know if I could do the distance while carrying all the stuff, but I discovered that with resilience you can just kind of push through these things. It’s been pretty cool.”
So far, Mr Connelly has walked from Hastings to Littlehampton. The remaining stops on his tour are:
- The Beach, Littlehampton, Oct 28
- Havana, Chichester, Oct 29
- Southsea Spirit, Southsea, Portsmouth, Oct 30
- Quay Arts Centre, Cowes, Isle of Wight, Nov 1
- Chaplins, Bournemouth, Nov 2