The Lariam Tab

Today’s leg of #TheLariamTab stretched 21.25 miles from Bingham to Barsby, across landscapes where history, memory, and lived experience intertwine.

We began by leaving behind the shadow of the Roman Fosse Way, a reminder of how this land has long carried legions, pilgrims, farmers, and now ourselves on a walk of remembrance.

Our route wound south through Tithby and Colston Bassett, across the Grantham Canal at Hickling, before climbing into the Leicestershire Wolds and eventually descending toward Barsby.

Along the way, we passed medieval churches rising above the fields, architectural sentinels of faith and continuity. As an archaeologist, I could not help but take note, promising myself to return for further study.

There was a distinct autumnal chill in the air this morning. The weather held, but the first fallen leaves underfoot signalled change, a season shifting even as our journey presses forward.

This sense of time passing was echoed in a surprising discovery, several red telephone boxes still carrying a dial tone, a rare survival in an age where most have been repurposed into libraries or defibrillator stations. In a bittersweet irony, Barsby greeted us at the finish line with exactly such a transformation, a defibrillator housed in a phone box.

In our final miles, we were joined by two exuberant Sprockers, companions to an Army veteran who has lived with the lasting effects of Mefloquine (Lariam) for more than 25 years.

Their muddy enthusiasm brought smiles, but their importance runs deeper.

These dogs are his lifeline, without them, his story might have been another addition to the devastating toll of #MilitarySuicide, and signifies the permanent damage caused by Lariam.

The villages we passed through, marked by thatched cottages, tended greens, and an air of peace, felt idyllic,

almost timeless.

Yet beneath their beauty lies the reality that many veterans still battle invisible wounds, carried quietly among us.

Every step today was undertaken in remembrance, for those we have lost, for those still fighting, and for the communities that hold their memory in landscapes both historic and present.