Crying and tears of joy Thinks "Wonder if she'll make it" Here we are at Brecon, on an excellent caravan park at the foot of the Brecon Beacons. The sun is shining and I’ve had two days of well-marked paths on the Wye Valley Walk yesterday and a beautiful start today from Llyswen. The bridle path climbed steeply for a good half hour this morning and as Rudi and I broke out onto the top we were rewarded with the vista of the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons – perfect. We sat on the hilltop for quite a long time, just enjoying a respite. So much of the last six weeks has been a hard struggle, often through my own silly fault for impulsively dashing down the wrong paths, or else the fault of farmers for not maintaining the footpaths. Many mornings I’ve just not wanted to wake up, knowing that another hard slog was in store, and my legs are tired before I start. When I was lost on the top of Bredwardine Hill the other day, I confess I sat down and cried at one point – my tears mingling with the rain on my face. But what was I to do? Superman wasn’t going to suddenly sweep down from the sky and rescue me and however much Tony was wishing at home that he could be with me, no miracle was going to make that happen. I think I missed him more acutely at that moment than for the entire six weeks so far. But there was nothing for it – I was on my own. As usual in my most difficult moments, I thought of the tiredness and despair of the parents of the families needing the Children’s Hospice and then mentally kicked myself (I was aching too much in every limb to do it physically!). Those reading my journal will know that Rudi and I won through that day, as we have on every day, and here we are, six weeks since we left home, still on schedule and with £26,500 raised. I’m immensely grateful to all those people who are supporting me and who have given so much, but what has happened to all those grannies I asked for support? All those in the south west particularly, who I asked to do mini Granny Treks to help swell the fund? We’ve built up a focus point here, with the Granny Trek, for older people to do a walk to maintain and improve their health whilst raising money for families of children who will never have the chance to reach adulthood. We have the opportunity to help them enjoy what time they have – the Hospice is such a joyful, happy place for that very reason – because those using it are making the most of the precious time they have left together. Am I really asking too much? What a huge amount of support I’ve had from many people not even living in the south west region. If now the grannies of the south west would make a big effort during my last two weeks of walking, the fund could mushroom. Yesterday, despite the good paths, I was dead tired when I started out and as Fritz and I sat by the river eating our lunch, I contemplated my boots – thinking of the 450 miles they’d carried me so far – and wondered how I was going to do another mile in them. For the first time I couldn’t get up, but had to turn onto my hands and knees to struggle to my feet. Once we got going again, we completed our day’s quota as usual and today the reward of the magnificent scenery gave me fresh heart. Tomorrow there will be another circular walk from the National Park Visitor Centre at 11-30am and I’ve had tremendous support from Tom Booth and his wife Muriel from Newport in organising it and trying to get publicity. If the same support could manifest itself in lots of mini Granny Treks and the subsequent inrush of donations it would give me the strength to complete the final two weeks. |