28/7/2008: Finally finished! w00t! After a very difficult first few days and several weekends of hard slog, the last leg to Tower Bridge with my brother Juan yesterday was completed at a relatively leisurely pace. We arrived in good time to be greeted by a small but enthusiastic party of wellwishers, before heading to the Chinese embassy to meet with the staff and the press - quite an experience, I'm going to be on Chinese TV!
Its a relief that the walk's all over, but in a way I'll kind of miss doing it.
I'm now making a last plea for donations so that I can reach my target of 3000 pounds. Thousands of people are still living in tent shelters in the disaster zone and the reconstruction could save years, so anything you give will go to a very worth cause... Please give generously.
On 12th May 2008, Sichuan province in China was hit by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. 80,000 people are missing or dead. The province is in China's poorly developed interior and the cost of the dame is estimated to be over 40 billion US dollars.
I lived in the city of Deyang, very near to the epicentre, for 5 months, between Sept 07 to Feb 08. I got to know it well: I worked there, made friends there, had favourite restaurants there. I often visited the nearby bustling metropolis of Chengdu with friends for the weekend - a great place to meet people, go out, have good times... Deyang and Chengdu are beautiful places and I've had some of the best times of my life in those two cites and elsewhere in the stunning Sichuan province. I hope to one day live in Chengdu.
So when I heard that this had happened to the two places I love so much, I was shocked. I really wanted to do something big to help out, to draw attention to what's happening and hopefully inspire others to donate.
I hope to get sponsors for me to walk from my home in North Wales to London. I plan to walk the entire distance (240 miles) by foot - no buses, trains or cars. In solidarity with the five million made homeless by the quake, I plan to sleep outdoors wherever possible. It'll be difficult but it is doable. I aim to set off on the 7th June and the walk should take 10-14 days to complete.
The money raised will go to the China Children and Teenager's Fund. This is a China based charity with UK connections that helps disabled and disadvantaged children in China. Their earthquake relief fund will be used to provide:
-Emergency relief for children
-Care for orphaned and injured children. 4,000 children are believed to have lost both parents during the quake.
-Post-disaster trauma counselling
-Building children's villages for orphans
-Reconstruction of schools
Money given to a good cause makes you happier for longer than money you spend on yourself... Please give generously.
16/6/2008
OK, an important update.
The walk started well - I was going along easily, breezing through the countryside, hardly getting tired. Although my muscles held out easily, my feet took a pounding, and I started getting some bad blisters, especially on the soles of my feet. I pushed on as far as Birmingham, but Tuesday morning I walked 2 miles and couldn't go any further. I had one guy come up and ask if I was alright - I was trudging along so slowly that pensioners were overtaking me.
The next day I went to the hospital, the blisters on my soles were about 3 inches wide and one was filled with blood. The nurse cut the tops off them and dressed them up and the doctor told me I should stop walking - I should rest them for a week.
So sadly I'm back at home at the moment, however reading all the words of encouragement from people in the UK, in China and elsewhere has made me want to carry on as soon as possible. I think it would be dangerous to try to do the rest in one go, so my plan is to space it out over 3 or 4 weekends. At that rate I should finish the final leg of my journey sometime in July.
Thanks once again to everyone who donated and hope this is OK with y'all.
6/7/2008
OK, I've been walking again the last couple of weekends and now reached as far as Northampton. My feet have recovered fine, I'm pacing myself a bit more slowly than previously. I should have about 5 or 6 days of walking left.
I'll keep this site posted with information as to when I'm walking these last few days. Since my plan was to do the walk all in one go, splitting it up has made things a little more difficult to organise... still I'm very keen to finish, knowing I've made a promise to the countless people who've donated. Let's see if we can complete the last leg of the donations, only a few hundred pounds to go!
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