Last day for the knees to hang in there, last time I have to get up and spend half an hour wrapping my legs in bandages and supports, last time that I have to cover my feet in vaseline before I put my socks on which is such a gross feeling. This is it, the final leg of the journey.

 

I met with Viv's husband John and her daughter Katie and a couple of John's mates at Lanivet. It rained in the night so the roads were very wet and, as we set off, it rained again accompanied by a strong and very cold northerly wind which made the going a little more tricky than it would have been had it been sunny! In any case I am now well used to walking in the rain and wind so it didn't really bother me at all. We kept on going towards Newquay, picking various people up along the route until we had a walking party of about ten or eleven of us, plus support vehicle complete with flashing orange roof light - a proper convoy!! Lunch was tea and hot cornish pasties in the salubrious setting of a petrol station forecourt, and then on again down towards Newquay. Unfortunately someone planned the route to go right past the end of the runway at St Mawgan airport....and just as we walked there a passenger jet came in right overhead to land, slewing sideways in the wind before bouncing down onto the runway. NOT my favorite moment of the walk as I have a fairly extreme flying phobia, but my reaction gave the rest of the guys a laugh - I think I was considering turning tail and running for home :-)

 

Once in Newquay we headed along the main road overlooking Tolcarne beach and finally I could see the headland at Fistral and the white horses on the Atlantic. It is such a strange feeling returning to somewhere you have been so many times by car, but then thinking that you have walked there. Because of the nature of this challenge I had made sure that I 'closed off' every day separately in my head, so I almost didin't have a memory of the separate stages, but, once you are in sight of your final destination, your mind relaxes and you remember all the little things you saw on the way and how far away the start seems!  As we headed down the last bit of road to Fistral beach, there was a party of people with a banner reading 'Walk for Viv - well done Rachel', and they were all shouting and cheering so I felt compelled to run the last few hundred yards which was a relief on the knees! They'd also put a red ribbon across the entrance to Fistral Blue, so I had to cut this amidst the cheering before we could finally declare that the challenge has been completed. And the nicest part was that by the time I'd got to Newquay, the sun was blazing down.

 

I'll leave you to imagine the chaos and carnage which then followed as we all piled into the bar at Fistral Blue. I think I now have a tab there which will last me a year or so! The bar manager also gave us all drinks on the house which was very cool. Everyone was very elated and I didn't feel tired at all, aside from the knees being very sore I felt like I could keep walking. Just for total completeness of my task, once everyone had headed home, I went down on to the beach at little Fistral at sunset and did what I said I'd do - stood with my feet in the surf. Bingo - 225 miles done.

 

So what next? I'll have to think of something! Maybe another couple of weeks off so that I can walk home? Hmm, with these knees in this state, perhaps not for the time being. Anyway, I have the task now of collecting up the money I have raised, and getting a final total. I just hope that whatever I have raised will give other people who are suffering from cancer a chance to have the best research and facilities available to fight the disease. I know that Viv would have wanted that in her name.