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Well, the wanderer has returned and I am in surprisingly good physical condition.  My feet still have pins and needles in the toes but that seems to be getting less each day.  I am happy to report that I completed the trek in 11 days which I am really please about.  Everything was fine up to the eighth day and then a couple hours into the walk after setting off on that morning, I was
brought to a stand-still.  My left knee just ballooned and after trying to continue, limping along at a very slow pace, I had to make the decision to stop and rest the knee at Greenhead.  It took a couple of days of keeping my leg
raised and rested as much as possible and then eventually I decided to get back on the path.  When I set off again, everything was fine to begin with and then I had about a 40 minute period of pain when I really thought I might be in trouble but after that it just passed and I was back to my 12 hour days again. 

Finishing within the time I had allocated felt great and I have to say,
it was all worth the effort and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I had days walking through bog to my knees and I spent a very unnerving night on Cross Fell in wind and low cloud.  For a time I was totally reliant on the compass.  The whole journey was everything I had imagined and so much more.

I had made the decision to make this trip over a year ago and it started with the idea of setting myself a challenge, which had always appealed to me.  I am due to turn 50 next April, so I am pretty sure that also had something to do with it too. I am originally from the North although I live in London now and have done for 30 years. I think this challenge also presented the opportunity for me to reconnect with the land that was familiar to me during my formative years.  As a child the Pennines had been an ominous beauty that had filled my imagination and following the path fulfilled a big sense of achievement. 

But beyond all of this, I found that the walk and the long days of silence presented an unexpected space for contemplation. The day that I set off on the walk was almost exactly a year after losing my Aunty who had been a very important and supportive figure in my life.  It is a loss which I find difficult to come to terms with.  What I found during my walk was the presence of her in my mind in a very powerful and moving way.  I know that she would have been very proud of me if she had been here but in a way, the presence of her in my thoughts, acted as an encouragement to keep me going.

I would like to thank all of you who have taken an interest in my adventure and to those of you who have donated to the charity that I chose to support.  Some of you I know, and some of you I don’t but my wife was reporting to me on a daily basis of all the support that was coming in and I have to say how much it spurred me on.  Huge thanks to all of you. The Whole journey has sparked a flame – so who knows, I may do it all again one day, but
for the moment, my journey is complete.