Epilogue

Sign at Newbridge – we only did half the river.

“Don’t look back … unless that’s the direction you want to go in”. A pointless maxim that proffers no worthwhile advice or wisdom, that was flippantly sent in my direction many years ago. I didn’t like it, and have never lived by it.

I’ve spent the whole of this journey looking back and reflecting, it’s what this trip was all about. It’s been about people & places, those we have lost to Cancer and those who are no longer with us due to other causes, about those people I am proud to have and have had in my life, friends and family that are dear to me, and added shape and dimension to who I am. “Life wouldn’t be the same without you”… well that’s an axiom if ever there was one, that can’t be argued.

I joked this week, that I’d walked the river in an ‘upstream’ direction, against the flow, like my life, but that’s not true. Yes, its been filled with its fair share of difficulties and challenges, and at times it’s seemed desperate, but its been loaded with rewards too and I am thankful for all that I have.

On this trip I finally ‘learned how to walk’. I’ve always walked, and loved being out with our dogs; Charlie, Georgie & Henny, but all too often there is a time frame attached. So often work & life commitments dictate that you have to walk the dogs, have to be back by a certain time, have to be here or there according to the clock, so its almost always done to a schedule, life is like that. But, this week I decided early on that that the schedule could be very approximate, and the daily walks could start & finish when I was ready. It didn’t really matter what time we left in the morning, or when we arrived at our destination, the distances were such that I couldn’t be precise, so really there was no schedule – it didn’t matter, and time was our own, me & Henny, and therefore, we could walk with an air of freedom, drinking in the sights, stopping as we wished and taking time for reflection. There was to be no music via earphones and no thoughts of future plans, this was about the past and the here & now. So since this trip, when walking the girls, I remind myself that I’m not on a task, I’m on a walk! The only deadline for the week was; “I have to be home by Sunday”!

Henny & Georgie

I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from so many people for my unremarkable walk. For me it had to be achievable, I had to complete it within a timescale and a ‘hundred miles’ well, that sounded good didn’t it? It was a piddly little challenge, quite unimpressive but it was to be “my Kilimanjaro”, ‘my Camino de Santiago” and so I set about it with fairly low expectations for fundraising.

Had it been solely down to me, I’d have rented the boat, asked my good friend Colin Howard & his lovely wife Penny to float it (or whatever boats do) up the river, and written a cheque to Cancer Research UK for five hundred pounds and gone on my merry way with Henny, that would have been the end of it – it was all about going for a walk with a ‘reason’ rather than a purpose.

Captain Colin made every effort to focus my mind on the fundraising – he’s a professional fundraiser himself, with all his charitable Lodge activities over the years. At the Captain’s insistence I plucked a target figure of £2500 out of the air – that would do for a target. Captain Colin argued that we could raise £5000 at least. Well, in the end we reached £4320 much against my best guess! Donations came from far and wide, close friends and distant ones, suppliers too and people I didn’t even know. The level of generosity was astounding as far as I was concerned, and perhaps goes to show just how emotive the subject of cancer really is, I’m certain it had nothing to do with my less than amazing challenge. It seems this terrible disease touches us all.

As well as thanks for all the donations, I’d like to say thank you for the great support I received from the team at CRUK, Cathy (who had a Paris marathon challenge the same week as my walk – rather her than me), Jodie and our near neighbours Doris & Mick Cleaver who look after the Bampton branch of CRUK – these lovely people visited me at home on the morning of the first day of my walk just to see if I needed anything!

Thank you too, to all the wonderful family and friends who walked with me and visited me at stops along the way. Your company made the journey lighter and helped my feet to hurt less. And my Sis – I cannot thank you enough for making the trip up from Devon to give me the most amazing surprise as I walked towards our once home in Clifton Hampden, you really are a selfless soul.

I could not have carried out this most simple of expeditions without Tania who supported and encouraged me all the way, I love that we have shared many of the memories that I have on the Thames, and that we continue to travel up “our river” together.

L-R Chap, Andy, Ange, Tania, Sue, Mabel, Georgie (Day 8)

To The Captain & The Purser, the most massive of thank-yous, I could not have done this without you, for me it was a total pleasure whilst I know for at least one of you it was a painful experience and for the other I hope your blisters are finally healing. Your company was amazing and I will remember that we made a great team aboard the ‘Good Ship Lollipop’!

As for my special friend … Henny, who I adore, you were the perfect companion, we walked and talked and had the happiest of weeks together. Your challenge was far more impressive than mine, you clocked up 190 miles, nearly twice my distance. I look forward to our next adventure, and feel sure we will have one.

I have without a doubt enjoyed ‘looking back’ and taking time to reflect, heck, at 57 it’s a fact, there’s more to look back at than to look forward to, though without any doubt I am looking forward to the next chapters in my life and I hope another adventure before too long.

Mark X