Karim started reading this the other day. His criticism was that there was 'not enough about me in it'. Fair point. I suggested that he could always write his own account of our journey, but he decided, quite rightly, that he couldn't be arsed. So here's a little bit about Karim, for all his should-be-adoring fans....

Karim is my friend. He's quite tall, has a name that is pronounced 'Cream', and a fiancée called Polly. We grew up in the same village, and were friends after a fashion, but what started our heterosexual love affair was a game of pool in a snooker club at three in the morning one night in 2002.

We had both been working late - he managed a Pizza Hut and I worked in some pub somewhere. We met up, played some pool, had some banter. We both had work again first thing in the morning, but it was one of those times when you were so apathetic about life you didn't care that the hour was getting later and the prospect of a good night's sleep was vanishing.

We were talking about our mutual friend Vinny. Vinny is also tall, doesn't have a fiancée, and has a name that is actually Neil, but that's another story. Vinny had recently spent a year traveling around the world, and had since come back and then gone off again to run a campsite in France.

'We could do that', one of us said.

'Yes we could', the other one said.

'Let's do it then'.

And it was pretty much that simple. Five months later we had jettisoned our jobs and our responsibilities (Karim didn't actually have a fiancée at that point, although he did have a girlfriend... for completists, the girlfriend is the same person who is now the fiancée so it all worked out swimmingly). We embarked on what was going to be a one-year tour of the world, but didn't work out quite that way. I think, to be fair, it worked out better than that for both of us.

When we talked about the Pennine Way, we talked a lot about the 'good old days', the backpacks, the 'baked bean surprise', the psychopathic French lorry drivers and the I Have Never Game.

When it all came down to it, and I spent most of my days winging about my feet. Now, it takes a lot to winge about feet all day everyday. You don't want to retread old ground (pun intended). To really be consistent when winging about the same thing over and over again, you have to introduce supporting characters, sub-plots, one or two twists, that kind of thing.

Karim, bless his cotton socks, was like a rock. He had his own blisters, his own aches and pains, but he still listened to mine with sarcastic scorn - which was just what I needed. When I told him that if my feet got any worse I didn't think I would be able to walk, he understood. He understood, but at the same time he started to plan how to go on alone. That was the sheer beauty of it. He gave me the opportunity to abandon him to walk a hundred miles on his own.... Now I know what you're thinking - that he would have preferred to be on his own.. But that's not.... I mean... I'm pretty sure... No, that's not it at all! It was all about him being a great guy.

Karim kept me together when I was losing it (both times) and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for his determination then I wouldn't have finished. And if I hadn't finished, then the whole thing would have been one big fat waste of time. For that, I salute him.

He lives in Wales now, and I don't get to see him that often. Him and Polly are out there, in some picturesque part of the world that I'm not a good enough person to make time to go and see.

Polly always had a suspicion that I didn't like her. I think she thought that I thought she was taking away my mate... And to be fair, she was and has. But that's a pretty selfish way of looking at things. It would be great to get my mates to sign a contract saying they will remain single and by my side for as long as I require their company, but that's not really life, is it? And I've done it myself - sack off your mates because of some girl. I do like her. Not only for her own merits, of which she has many, but because of her Karim has all grown up and smiles a lot and has even, wait for it, read a book.

The truth is, Polly and Karim are the kind of couple you want to find yourself in one day. They are both kind, funny, attractive (the female staff at my pub all fancy Karim) and intelligent (although it has to be said Karim is intelligent in a less 'obvious' way).

He's one of my best friends, a living Saint, and I'm lucky to have him. And, he knows all too well, he's lucky to have Polly.