Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.

YES!  Done it!  One hell of a slog, especially the final week, but the beautiful weather kept us going  - I've actually got a tan for the 1st time since leaving Kenya!  Ok, I have to admit to 1 or 2 detours...ok a few more than that, but none of them were disatrous...realised that as long as I kept the sea on my left & within view I'd get there eventually! Really enjoyed the Walk, yet delighted to be home / sleep in my own bed etc etc.

 Starting on Sept 1st, I embarked on a 210 mile Walk of the South West Coast Path, from Start Point to Land's End, accompanied by 'Mawenzi', my borde collie.  'Mawenzi' means 'companion' in Swahili, rather appropriately!  We camped some  of the time, but actually as time went on, I got increasingly frustrated with a) carrying the extra load, b) putting up a tent in the evening/taking it down in the morning, especially in strong winds - not mine!  Given the terrain, steep cliffs and several  rivers / estuaries to cross (1 or 2 wading - with a rucksack & a dog - quite a spectacle, no doubt!) we averaged 12.5 miles / day; the whole trip took us 20 days.  It was a great adventure, albeit hardly Ray Mears survival stuff, despite my alter ego trying to persuade me otherwise!   Lizzie joined us for weekends (i.e. the soft bit in B & Bs!)  No, she drove for hours on our behalf, collected / dropped things off for me etc, so was a huge help - a big thank you to her.

Mawenzi in 7th heaven & canine marathon Olympic gold medal contender, whereas I just seem to match the appetite / calorie intake of Michael Phelps!  The tale of the hare & the tortoise springs to mind though, as M gave up on the penultimate day - it was surprisingly hot & she was exhausted, having covered a lot more mileage than me (walking/running back & forth), albeit without a pack on her back!  I limped on to Land's End & was mighty relieved to finally reach it at about 3pm on Sat.   

Any contribution to my chosen charity would be appreciated enormously, both by them and myself (see box at the bottom of the page).  Please note that this page will expire on 1st Nov. 

Mental illness is a horrible condition to endure, regardless of who you are and effects an alarming percentage of people, so the more that can be done to research, alleviate and ideally cure it, the better.  It certainly made me 'rethink'.    Thank you. OLLY 

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