He rang at the buzzer of the businessman’s apartment and waited all afternoon, but there was no sign of his host. A woman from another flat came down and explained that the businessman was on holiday in Ibiza. “He’s always on holiday,” she said. She asked if Harold would like tea, or water for the dog, but he declined both.

♦

A week after the split, reports came of the pilgrims’ arrival in Berwick-upon-Tweed. There were photographs in the newspapers of Rich Lion walking hand in hand with his two sons along the quay; and others of a man in a gorilla suit nuzzling the cheek of Miss South Devon. There was a brass band to welcome the party, with a performance by the local cheerleading troupe, and a dinner attended by local councillors and businessmen. Several Sunday papers claimed to have sole access to Rich’s diaries. There was talk of a film.

The pilgrims’ arrival was also covered on the television news. Courtesy of BBC Spotlight, Maureen and Rex watched footage of Rich Lion and several others delivering flowers to the hospice along with a giant basket of muffins, although Queenie was unable to receive them. The reporter added that sadly no one from the hospice was available for comment. She stood with her microphone at the edge of the drive. Behind her there appeared to be a neatly kept garden, with blue hydrangeas, and a man in a boiler suit raking grass clippings.

“Those people didn’t even know Queenie,” said Maureen. “It makes me want to spit. Why couldn’t they wait for Harold?”

Rex sipped a cup of Ovaltine. “I suppose they were impatient to get there.”

“But it was never a race. It was the journey that mattered. And that man didn’t walk for Queenie. He walked to prove he was a hero and get his children back.”

“I suppose in the end his was a journey of a kind,” said Rex. “Just a different one.” He replaced his cup carefully on a coaster, so as not to mark the table.

The reporter made a brief reference to Harold Fry, and an image flashed up in which he was shrinking from the camera. He looked like a shadow: dirty, haggard, afraid. In an exclusive interview, Rich Lion explained from the quayside that the elderly Devon pilgrim was suffering from fatigue and complicated emotional issues; he had been forced to retire from the walk south of Newcastle. “But Queenie is alive. That’s the main thing. It was lucky me and the guys were there to step in.”

Maureen scoffed. “For heaven’s sake, he can’t even speak proper English.”

Rich clasped his hands together above his head in a gesture of victory. “I know Harold would be moved by your support.” The jostling crowd of well-wishers cheered.