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.