Day 34: this is ending quickly

Day 34:

Day 34: danger. Today there was no choice but to tackle the busy A9. There are no more motorways and this A road is the next best thing. One doesn't walk along the side of it like a B road because the traffic is too big, too fast and too damn dangerous. One cuts a slow unsteady path if one is lucky along the roadside ditches which unlike in England are filled with sharp rocks. Or, even less steady, the uneven overgrown verge with random trenches hidden under grass which one falls into if one isn't paying attention. So it's hard going either way (25 miles of pebble beach walking and obstacle course). When luck runs out so does the verge and one is suddenly stuck on a sliver of mud by the white line with fuel tankers, timber rigs and boy racers shooting past your ears - the only choice is to run at full speed to the next safe patch. This was my day all the way from Invergordon to Golspie. The good news is there are only 72 miles until JOG. That makes two heavy days or three light ones. Either way I'm finished in no longer than 37 days - something I can be proud of for the rest of my life. This is ending quickly. I will miss the daily ritual of hitting the trail. I'll miss the continual sense of achievement I get from walking the end to end every day and the continual improvement in physical fitness, stamina, endurance... What I really miss is what I used to rudely call my normal life. I don't have a normal life. I live a happy privileged life which I share with loved ones and good friends. I am looking forward very much to returning to that life with the fresh understanding this walk has slowly revealed to me. I hope I never take for granted these things again. Life is full of amazing things. It's time to appreciate them.

DAY 35

A note about the blog

I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart phone. This means I don't have the ability to update this blog when I'm on the trail. My support team back home kindly offered to update the blog for me, so this will be communicated by text message and written up on my behalf. It will therefore be brief and without photos. I will expand on this when I get back from my journal entries, dictaphone recordings and photo journal. The detailed account will be published as a book which will be available on Amazon.

Charity

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to Helping Hands for the Blind, a respectable local charity. You can make a donation here. Using Gift Aid, the charity is able to claim an additional percentage of each donation from the government as part of the Gift Aid scheme.  

While I am not tracking how much has been raised, the charity themselves may wish to do that; leaving a note with your donation such as "LEJOG" will help them do that. To be frank, it's more important that they receive donations than it is for me to take credit; they're actually doing something important whereas I am going on what could be described as a holiday.

My books

Lastly and leastly, I am an independent author. Writing is a pleasure even if reading it isn't! I will write an account of my LEJOG journey in the form of a book which hopefully will encourage other people to give LEJOG a try (and probably discourage many more). If you want a copy, the first batch will be given free of charge. Ask and you shall receive...

My other books are available on Amazon:


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