An update from Helen

Having walked over 180 miles with Emma, I am aware of various changes to my mind and body.

My mind has become extremely fuzzy, my memory of things that don’t matter is now extant – I know you are thinking “so what’s new?” ;-) but believe me when the coast becomes a postcard and I can’t sing “one man goes to mow” even counting back from 10 becomes a task!

As for my body, my back is definitely more bent. Sometimes I am looking at the ground so intently that I’m almost looking back through my legs. Talking of legs. The expectation has to be the weight loss. Not true. They are becoming shorter and stronger due to the weight of my packed lunch and the maps. In case you are wondering where my makeup bag, high healed shoes and evening attire are; I decided, after two days, to have my kit transferred each day. Best decision yet! Emma is carrying everything. In all at least 30lbs. She’s is up the hills like a mountain goat too.

My worst sight is looking up on the 500 step staircase that leads us out of a valley and seeing emma still going up. My best sight is when I look up and she is is standing upright and heading for our beloved “acorn” post that marks the level bit at the top.

No matter how many days I walk, going up the hill is stil just as difficult.

We meet a few people everyday or when we are stopped at a watering hole. There’s also our landlords/ ladies at each of our 56 bed and breakfasts.

Other walkers are very encouraging and share their experiences with us. Café owners vary but somne show their support with donations. The B & Bs can be very helpful drying clothes and sometimes giving us a contribution to our funds.

We give them all our website address and some are noow sending us messages of support. This has all proved very encouraging for us and inspires us to go onwards and upwards. To date the contributions, picked up as we go, amount to 370.

Thank you all of you who have sent us messages and donations. It really does feel good to know you’are out there supporting us.

Finally I’m having a great time and I’m fulfilling a long held dream, mainly due to my friends and family willing me on. Special thanks to darling john for the back up he’s giving me from home and to Paul whose doing us proud with this website.

Best wishes to you all. Love Helen x