Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

After living in London for ten years I finally realised that the place wasn't where I needed to be. Living there affected my Mental Health to such a vast degree that I had several spells off work with depression and anxiety. When I left London I wanted to take some time to reflect and find space to get my head straight(er) and decide on my next move. Over and over I returned to the idea of this 'Pilgrimage'. I use the inverted commas because I am not doing this for any religious purpose but maybe there is a spiritual element to it. I have wanted to make this trip ever since I saw the film 'The Way' directed by Emilio Estevez and starring Martin Sheen. The walk should take me just over a month but weather may play a part in that. I head to St Jean Pied-de-Port on the 27th and start walking the day after.

Anyway as ideas coalesced I decided why not try to help others as I helped myself and so I decided to try to raise a little bit of money for charity. I decided to split the money between MIND the Mental Health Charity and one suggested by my sister, Chrysalis GIM, a charity focused on Gender Identity Issues offering support to people like my sister in her part of the UK.

So here it is. Please give anything you can and I will walk as hard as I can! I'd like to keep the donations as equal as possible between the two charities so please bear that in mind.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.