Selestat and the Rhine

St Katherina

Royal Docks

Caerphilly

1000 miles in memory of Alexis

I suspended my original 1000-mile walks campaign last October, when my sister Alexis died of cancer. It is now time to relaunch the walks in her memory. Over the coming year, I will be walking 1000 miles to raise funds for two hospice charities and three other charities we both supported. I will be resetting the clock to zero, but I will be repeating some of the more attractive walks.


The causes

St David's Foundation Hospice Care provides palliative care for people with terminal illness in South East Wales - they helped my sister during her final illness

SPANA provides veterinary treatment for working animals and education for their owners in some of the world’s poorest communities

Dogs for the Disabled trains dogs to help disabled people live life more independently

Help the Hospices assists the national hospice movement, providing training and grants for 220 hospices in Britain

The Mayhew Animal Home is one of London's busiest animal welfare charities and one of my favourite causes

How to help

I am covering all my own costs, so every penny donated will go straight to the causes.

Online donations: click on the names of the charities to go to the appropriate JustGiving page.

A new beginning

After an unpleasant year it is finally time to restart the walks and restart life with a whole chapter, or perhaps a second volume. I spent a superb weekend in Germany with the wonderful Christine Deufel.

It was my first visit to Baden, a long strip in the south-west corner of the country facing France to the west and Switzerland to the south. There was no major walking this time, but the trip marked a new start in every way.


Our first visit was to the great city of Freiburg, home of the majestic Catholic cathedral with its fabulous twin spires.

Freiburg is also known as Germany's greenest cities, with bicycles in use everywhere and enviromental initiatives that put London to shame.




Our next foray was to the ruined castle of Hochburg. An impressive hilltop location with fine views of the Black Forest, the medieval castle has many fascinating features.

Dec 19: Reopening the PDSA pet cemetery

1000 miles in memory of Alexis

I suspended my original 1000-mile walks campaign last October, when my sister Alexis died of cancer. It is now time to relaunch the walks in her memory. Over the coming year, I will be walking 1000 miles to raise funds for two hospice charities and three other charities we both supported. I will be resetting the clock to zero, but I will be repeating some of the more attractive walks.


The causes

St David's Foundation Hospice Care provides palliative care for people with terminal illness in South East Wales - they helped my sister during her final illness

SPANA provides veterinary treatment for working animals and education for their owners in some of the world’s poorest communities

Dogs for the Disabled trains dogs to help disabled people live life more independently

Help the Hospices assists the national hospice movement, providing training and grants for 220 hospices in Britain

The Mayhew Animal Home is one of London's busiest animal welfare charities and one of my favourite causes

How to help

I am covering all my own costs, so every penny donated will go straight to the causes.

Online donations: click on the names of the charities to go to the appropriate JustGiving page.

Sep 8: The battlefield of Maldon

A return to some old haunts today. Starting from Fambridge on the Crouch estuary turned out to be a bad idea, as I had to walk along the road most of the time.

Things didn’t get interesting until I reached Mundon, revisiting the superb field of dead oaks and the superb wooden church I had discovered on my earliest walks in happier times back in 2005.



Instead of heading east along St Peter’s Way, I followed the footpath north to the Blackwater Estuary. This was the site of the Battle of Maldon in 991, when Vikings defeated a local force led by Earl Byrhtnoth.


The Vikings had landed at Northey Island, linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway. Unable to fight their way off the causeway, the Vikings hit upon the cunning ruse of asking Byrhtnoth if they could come ashore. In one of his less inspired moments, Byrhtnoth agreed and his force was soon overwhelmed. Appropriately, his body was found afterwards with his sword by his side but without his head.

Northey Island is now a nature reserve managed by the National Trust. Humbled by the thought of Byrhtnoth's monumental stupidity, I then headed west along the sea wall to finish the walk in the attractive town of Maldon.

Today: 10 miles
2007 total: 20 miles

Aug 12: Reading and Sulham Tower

In my improverished student days in the 1980s, I used to return home to Wales by coach. One of the few distractions on the otherwise dull M4 was a little folly tower close to Junction 12. I often thought about visiting it one day.

April 2007: Hereford

I had hoped that three days in Hereford would rekindle my love of walking and relaunch my grand walks campaign, but it proved too soon. Even so, it was still an enjoyable time in a city I had not visited since 1985.



Hereford is dominated by the superb cathedral, home of the Mappa Mundi, but I also went to see some of its unsung survivals, particularly the fine town walls.


The highlight of the stay was a 16-mile walk along the superb river Wye.

Sep 24: Caerphilly to Newport with St David's

Though I did not know it at the time, this was the last walk I undertook while my sister was alive.

Today: 18 miles
2006: 294 miles

Sep 21: Democracy again...

Could there be a better way to celebrate the coming of autumn than to deliver electoral register reminders to the smiling citizens of Leytonstone? Far-fetched as it may seem, the answer has to be 'yes'. Anyhow, work is work and some more miles go onto the tally.

Today: 9 miles
2006: 276 miles

Aug 24: Wanstead Flats to Chingford

Another pleasant walk with Richard Challoner, who has now clocked up 34 miles with me since last summer. By and large, we followed the route of the Epping Forest Centenary Trail – my first long charity walk back in June 2005.

Despite the rain (and getting lost on a golf course), we managed to reach our goal - Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge, the finest Tudor building in this part of the world.

Today: 6 miles
2006: 267 miles