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www.walkforviv.org.uk - Update SiteKeep upto date with Rachel Evans as she takes on the British South Coast walk in Memory of Vivien Ash and in Aid of Cancer Research UK
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June 16 Money RaisedRachel has raised over a staggering £4250. Which will be donated to Cancer Research UK. Its still not too late to keep them donations comming.
March 29 Walk For Viv - ThanksThanks to everyone who supported me, sent me messages, financial contributions and those who phoned me and emailed me with their support.
Particular thanks to the people who put me up overnight and gave me much needed Bowen treatment and/or alcohol(!) which kept me going:
Also thanks to the support teams who followed me along the routes and enabled me to walk for the majority of days without having to carry food and water with me.
Thank you to Elizabeth Bridges of Whizzliz web design for designing the Walk for Viv website, and also to Chris Blunt who did an amazing job of setting up and running the blog site.
A major thank you to Nicky Peplow who got the privilege of having an extra three cold, wet and muddy horses to deal with for two weeks.
To the 'Reception committee' at Fistral - you are totally insane and very noisy the lot of you! Thank you.
And finally thank you to John Ash and to Katie and Christie for allowing me to honour the promise I made to Viv.
Walk For Viv Facts
But I loved it, all of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. March 24 Day 14:Lanivet To Newquay (The End)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.
March 22 Day 13: Liskeard To LanivetSo here we are in Cornwall on the penultimate day of the walk, eighteen or so miles to go before I hit Newquay, and I have now walked over two hundred miles. I need a beer or several.....but I understand the champagne is on ice :-)
Today was cold, much colder than yesterday and the wind was coming from the north, bringing with it snow showers which are alot easier to walk through than hail stones as snow doesn't hurt so much! We left Liskeard and headed south west through lanes and small villages, all the while climbing steadily which gave great views back over Liskeard, Plymouth and the Tamar valley. There were a couple of snow showers before the sun came back out as we headed down over the main road toward Lanhydrock House.
Most of this route, as yesterday, was on lanes, but they got pretty steep up and down at times. Whilst the ups pull on the hamstrings and calf muscles and are more of an effort than they were in earlier stages, they are still easier for me to negotiate than the steep down hills which my knees are now really complaining about. In any case, out of the wind and with the sun beating down, it made for nice walking across the Duchy of Cornwall land toward Lanhydrock. Here there is a tree lined avenue from the southern gate house to the main house itself, and it affords a pretty view over Bodmin and the moor behind it. On from Lanhydrock, it was a four mile walk to Lanivet following the contours of the land, and accompanied on the north side by the A30, Cornwall's main artery, and a road I have driven so many times it seems so strange to have walked here. Nevertheless today I was very glad to see the church at Lanivet which marked the end of this stage. I have a healthy looking 'ski' tan, but I don't think I will get that tomorrow as the forecast isn't looking as good. From the drop down to Lanivet I could see Bodmin to the north and Indian Queens and the china clay works to the southwest. Over there somewhere is Newquay and my reason, my final destination.
So for now I am sitting in front of another open fire, warm and comfortable and full of good food ('Bodmin roadkill'?!!!!) and wine. I am about to have my final Bowen treatment to salvage the scrap of strength I have left in my legs and hopefully to patch my knees up for the final assault. I have crutches in the car and at this rate I will probably be on them by tomorrow night but I won't care because the job will be done.
See you at the Atlantic. :-)
The areas Rachel will be passing through!
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