As the night ended so did our stay at the coastguard clubrooms. A blaring alarm sounded and the crew came in, throwing on their life jackets and jumping into the boat.

The town’s barber, probably one of the few residents who could speak Arabic, came out and asked us to leave.

‘They go out to bring another boatload in. This town is not big enough,’ the small wiry man said.

‘But where do we go?’ A woman asked. She had a kid holding each hand and her eyes were black rims.

The barber shrugged, ‘Go north, or back, that’s where everyone else went.’

He walked off and I looked at Ayamin, she also had the dark rings of insomnia. We all did. But her dark, wavy hair was tied back, she had her boots on, and a focussed look about her.

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

Rays of sun peeked over the horizon as we started to walk, following the stream of refugees. We passed cafes and a waterfront market populated by foreign couples and families on vacation.

I waved to a man wearing a big Union Jack across his chest. He looked at me but must’ve been distracted. He didn’t wave back.

‘What are we going to do about a tent?’ I asked, ‘Oh, and more importantly, food.’

‘Well I’ve got this,’ she said, pulling a travel wallet from around her neck, she thumbed through her bills, then zipped it back up, ‘We don’t have anything for accommodation so we’ll just have to rough it okay? And maybe go with a meal or two a day.’

She gave me a shove when she saw my face droop.

‘Come on Danny, people pay to go on diets like this.’

‘I know,’ I grumbled half-heartedly. Inside I was feeling bad – but not because I might miss out on a couple of meals. I was reminded again that if I hadn’t come Ayamin would have more money to spend on herself. I hadn’t added anything to the expedition so far. I was basically a walking stomach.

You’re going to have to become a working walking stomach, I thought to myself. If we run out of money you need to provide Danny.

My train of thought was interrupted by a call from behind us.

‘Hey! Hey!’

We turned to see the refugee who’d been steering the boat running towards us. With a heave he dumped Ayamin’s waterlogged hiking pack on the ground and looked up with a grin.

‘They found it. The crew thought it was a person and fished it out of the water.’

Ayamin and I looked at each other. The bag was warmth, shelter, a way of carrying food. Big things when you’ve got nothing but the clothes on your back.

The two of us stepped over the bag and wrapped our arms around him.

‘Thank you, thank you so much,’ Ayamin said. When we stepped back, he was still grinning, ‘I hope you make it to England.’

And then he was off again, running back down towards the coastguard.

‘I don’t know his name,’ Ayamin said.

We turned to the bag; water leaked from it onto the roadside. She laughed, ‘The universe is smiling on us.’

It took a little while to get the bag on my back, the water had more than doubled its weight, but Ayamin was keen to keep moving.

‘Is it heavy?’ she asked.

‘No… I mean I can feel it, but it’s not heavy for me,’ I said, sticking out my chest a little as I struggled under the weight.

She laughed, and kissed me on the nose, ‘Where would I be without my big strong Danny?’

‘Probably in Paris already.’

After Ayamin kissed me the pack didn’t feel quite so heavy. Or at least I tried a whole lot harder to pretend it didn’t.

Greece in spring on a clear sunny day is probably the closest I’ve been to heaven on earth. The road took us through forests of cypress, oaks, chestnuts, and black pines. Citrus trees and olive groves, some budding, and others bending under the weight of their fruits.

We stopped for lunch by a small tree on the roadside which had yellow fruit hanging off it.

‘How’s the pack?’ Ayamin asked.

‘Damn heavy,’ I said, shaking out my arms.

She laughed and pulled one of the small yellow fruit from the tree.

‘Here you go,’ she placed the little fruit into my mouth, ‘This is lunch.’

The fruit was tangy. Almost like an orange – but more mellow.

As we sat on the roadside and watched cars flash past I had this odd feeling, I’d even say I was content.

After lunch we passed through a small village and traded Ayamin’s coins for a large sack of rice to add to the weight of the pack.

With weary feet the two of us followed a winding country road inland until it ran into a four laned highway that pointed north.

The pack began to slip down my back as we walked along the highway. It would bump on my legs with every step I took, and no matter how many times I tried to pull it higher it would fall back down again. Trucks roared past us and blew gusts of exhaust fumes into my face, and the sun which had warmed us in the morning made my skin sicky and hot.

Yet none of it seemed to bother Ayamin. It was like she had the GPS co-ordinates of London installed in her feet and they were continually pulling her closer.

She was moving much faster than I was, and I had a blister on my right foot that seemed to be getting bigger.

I let out a big sigh and tried to move faster.

Ayamin turned, ‘You okay?’

‘I feel like I’ve got heatstroke, and my right foot wants to murder me – so absolutely splendid.’

She stared at me as she walked, ‘What is splendid? What does it mean?’

I sighed again and tried to explain that it was kind of like happy, but I was being sarcastic so in this case it meant the opposite. The explaining sort of made my brain hurt.

Ayamin stopped walking.

When I reached her, she brushed aside my hair and felt my forehead, her hand was blissfully cool.

‘You’re hot,’ she said. Not moving her hand away.

‘Stop flirting Ayamin.’

She smiled, but it was only a little one, ‘Do you think you can keep walking?’

I nodded; I couldn’t think of anything smart to say.

‘You lie,’ she stood on her toes and kissed my forehead, ‘We can find somewhere to rest for the night.’

Instantly I felt better, the weight on my back even seemed lighter. I wrapped her up in a hug. Her arms were around me, but when I looked down her eyes and her feet were still pointed north.

I touched her arm as we stepped back from the hug, ‘Ayamin, are you sure?’

She glanced north again, and a sad smile took up her face. I could see the desire in her eyes. I wanted to say I could keep going, but I knew my body was about to fall apart. She tore her gaze from the road and her feet turned to me.

‘Let’s go find somewhere to camp Danny.’