Comedian John Bishop completed his mammoth journey from Paris to London through Kent on Friday evening, but had an unexpected companion along the way.

The 45 year Scouser raised over £1.6 million for Sport Relief over the five days that started with him cycling 185 miles from Paris to Calais before rowing the Channel with Andrew Flintoff, Davina McCall and Denise Lewis on Tuesday.

From Dover, the comedian ran the first of three marathons as he made his way to Faversham on Wednesday. Along the way he was supported by Radio 1’s Comedy Dave and presenter Dermot O’Leary.

On Thursday, Bishop picked up his mystery companion as he ran the second of his three marathons just as he came into Rainham.

Much to the surprise of Bishop, the Gillingham duck, who is the mascot of local business Plumb Bay Ltd. joined him for a quick stint as they made their way along the A2.

Sporting his Gillingham strip, the duck kept pace with Bishop who picked up his next celebrity friend, DJ Chris Moyles at the Tesco roundabout on his way to Gillingham.

Bishop stopped off at the Rochester Maths School in a slight detour on Thursday as he picked up a cheque for over £28,000 before finishing the evening in Gravesend with the support of comedian Frank Skinner.

Up bright and early on Friday morning, Bishop was once again cheered on by the people of Kent as he completed the third of his marathons, supported by former footballer Robbie Savage and ultimately finishing at Trafalgar Square in London just after 5:30pm.

After hearing the total amount raised, he said: “That’s just blown me away. That money’s going to change lives. It’s going to change the lives of people we don’t know.”

In the five days, Bishop, who described the journey as his “week from hell” has travelled over 290 miles by bike, boat and by foot. Who’d have thought that along the way that he’d be running with a six foot duck?

To keep supporting Bishop and Sport Relief, you can text 70011 to donate £1.

To find out more about the Gillingham duck visit www.plumb-bay.com where later on in the year you can enter a competition to name him. You can also follow what the duck is up to on Twitter @PlumbBay and on facebook.

 

 

Pictures by James Wood and Lisa Barnes