One Step At A Time

Robert Kyprianou and I have just completed Offa’s Dyke walking 184 miles in 14 days. On the final day of this walk we also completed 500 miles of the 1000 miles we are walking to raise money for Research in to a treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. We have donations of over £33,000 so far and we will raise £100,000 this year. The Offa’s Dyke walk was the biggest physical challenge Rob and I have taken on in our lives. I reflect on the three insights that float to the top from this experience.
1. 500 miles is over one million steps. It is too daunting to think I am going to walk one million steps. Instead if I concentrate on one step at a time then each step is easy and after a while I pass one million steps. The same goes for ascending steeply two thousand feet. Look up the hill and the task is daunting and looks impossible. Instead take one step at a time and the summit eventually appears and what a view and great feeling it then is.
2. I am terrified when high up and close to an edge with a sheer drop a couple of feet away. I cannot overcome the feeling of panic when in this situation. I had to walk along a couple of sections like this on Offa’s Dyke. One almost a mile long after an aptly named section called ‘World’s End’. I learnt not to think about these sections to come before they happened. Enjoy today and what I am doing now and then take on the challenge when it arises if I can. This enriched the enjoyment of the moment in the moment and the stunning views, smells and feelings around me. I walked the scary sections and my heart did beat fast and I was scared but I did do it one step at a time and my fear lasted while I did it rather than all the hours beforehand.
3. My body and mind have more resources and resilience than I think. When I believe I have reached my limit but somehow push myself on I can go much further than I thought possible. The body strengthens and the mind finds new ways to get me through to my goal. I must remember this the next time I think something is not possible.
One step at a time, one conversation at a time and one penny at a time and we will walk 1000 miles, meet 10,000 people and raise £100,000.
Len

Walk 39 (OD 14) -8.5 miles - Total 507.8 miles - To Go 492.2 miles

Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
Tintern, Devil’s Pulpit, Wintour’s Leap and Sedbury Cliffs








Imagine the scene with two grown men in their 50’s dancing around a stone on the edge of a cliff shouting ‘we did it’, doing high fives and then screaming ‘yyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessss’ as loud as we could. That was Rob and me at midday at the end of Offa’s Dyke at Sedbury Cliffs. We end on the last bit of the dyke itself and with humour note how there is a steep descent and then a final ascent in the last quarter of a mile. Brilliant effort and we are both very impressed with what we have done. Offa’s Dyke has presented the toughest physical challenge both of us have endured in our lives and we have pushed ourselves on to do it. With 184.1 miles of Offa’s Dyke behind us and reaching 500 miles in total today we are now half way. We have already met thousands of people and donations are now over £33,000 and it feels like we are making progress on the road to raising hope for people with MS.


It is our shortest walk today of the whole two weeks on Offa. We set off from Tintern and there is no surprise any more that there is a 500 foot climb up to start the day. We talk about the psychology of walkers who starting out from Chepstow had told us it was all downhill for us. We think most people only remember the struggle and pain of the uphill part of their walking and put the downhill out of their minds. We are finding there is plenty of challenging uphill even on this final section in to Sudbury. We complete 500 miles at the Devil’s Pulpit overlooking Tintern Abbey which is an amazing sight. I can’t spend too much time looking as it is a sheer drop below us. Rob will have about 100 photos so I will be able to look at leisure from the safety of my armchair in the future.

We meet Graham Lee and Don Jordan from Leeds and Scarborough who are starting out on their way to Prestatyn. Again we exchange notes about what we have done and they tell us about Hadrian’s Wall and Coast to Coast. Our walking today is about four miles of forest with wild garlic in flower all around. We think we are leaving Offa’s Dyke for the last time near Little Chase so Rob gives it a farewell hug with another tear in his eye. Later we reconnect with the Dyke for the last quarter of a mile when he is overjoyed once more.


The final part of the walk for three miles through the outskirts of Chepstow is nothing special apart from some high up views down on to the Wye. About two miles from the end in a meadow we meet a large group of schoolfriends who left Wyckham Girls High School in 1965 and are now here with some husbands and friends to take on the whole walk to Prestatyn. Looks like a fun crowd and thanks again for the donations. Enjoy the walk and we know there is so much in store for you as you trek up north.

Finally we are done and it is still sinking in as I write this. Over 1 million footsteps so far and the big lesson is you can only do one at a time. Also never fear great heights tomorrow as there is so much to enjoy today and there is plenty of time to live the fear in the moment when it arrives. And finally can someone tell Rob I do not like heights and that he should not say things like ‘oh Len you are not going to like this, don’t look down!!!’. Well done Rob....was great doing this with you and enjoyed your company and good humour along the way. Big thanks to Karen for ferrying our bags around and bringing stimulating conversation and fun to our evenings.

Post script: As Len and Karen head off to Cheltenham to celebrate with friends they dump Rob and his luggage at Chepstow railway station to let him struggle back to his London home.There he meets Nick and Trudy Veres who are waiting for a train to Gloucester and take sympathy on a bedraggled, exhausted and hungry rambler and offer help and support. They were both born in different parts of the UK - Trudy is the daughter of wartime GI - but now live in the Yukon. They are the second party we have met from the Yukon walking Offa's trail - it's a long way to come for a walk but it seems the ancient King of Mercia's pulling power goes way beyond these shores.

Walk 38 (OD 13) -11.2 miles - Total 499.3 miles - To Go 500.7 miles

Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
Monmouth, Upper and Lower Redbrook, The Kymin, Bigsweir, Brockweir and Tintern Abbey














We walk up the hill in Monmouth and past Prego where we had an enjoyable Italian. Just as we are about to leave the town Mary Newman stops us to read our tee shirts. We talk and she donates to our cause when she hears what we are up to. Thankyou Mary we really appreciate it.

No surprise but there is then a sadistic climb up to the Kymin through Garth Forest. So early in the morning it is a real challenge and we nash our teeth at those on the Offa’s Dyke committee taking this route rather than the gently wander along the River Wye. People say style hurts and something we are learning is that views hurt. When we experience a painful walk up we invariably say at the top ‘wow what a view’ and today is no exception. We stop to take in the naval temple opened on August 1st 1800 to commemorate famous victories of the British Navy and its Admirals. Nelson himself is commemorated there and is known to have visited the spot and looked down on the Wye and described it as ‘a little gut of a river’.

We walk by Coxbury Farm where Rob is overjoyed as we reconnect with Offa’s Dyke itself. He wonders over and gives it a big hug. In a most perfect spot we find Wendy Birch from Walsall writing post cards to her friends and family. First she is drying them in the sun following the downpour that soaked them yesterday on the walk up from Chepstow. Wendy is walking as far as Welshpool and is now looking forward to some of the delights ahead we promise her.


Just down the hill we enter Slip Wood and come upon the best blue bell scene we have ever seen anywhere. It is stunning, magnificent with blue bells as far as you can see and all around. We walk through it on a soft mulch under foot and it does just go on forever with the occasional break of a swathe of white wild garlic flowers.

It is a long walk in the wood up and down and dark and in many places mossy and dank. Rob remarks that at any point it would be no surprise to come across a prehistoric monster still roaming around.


Towards the end of the wood Hudson and Dorrit come running and barking towards me with menacing intent. I ask Michelle and Sally from Tintern and Brockweir if this is their way of saying hello. They tell me no this is them telling you loud and clear that you are trespassing on their territory. I pat them on the head and assure them we will be off shortly and ask them to be gentle with Rob who is still nervous of dogs.

We stop for lunch on the banks by the Wye just beyond Bigsweir Bridge. The views today are just outstandingly beautiful. Winding river, valley, hills, meadows and forest all around and a new ‘wow’ round every corner. We eat our sandwiches watching fly fishermen casting off on the other bank. Looks like there is as much technique to it as golf. We could imagine ourselves tangled up in fishing line if attempting what they were doing. A really idyllic lunch spot and time stands still and we in awe of it.


We walk along by the Wye and the beauty continues round every corner. We approach Llandogo which is on the other side of the river and just have to stop and admire it, photograph it and just take it in. The sun is warm, the river flowing by, the grass is dry and the view to Llandogo just perfect. Could stay here all day from morning light, through midday to the setting sun. We stay for about half an hour just taking it all in.


We enter a field and a white horse takes a keen interest in Rob. Rob tells me the horse wants an apple and once again I am impressed at his ability to communicate with animals. He is a lot more relaxed than when confronted by bullocks with horns.
Around another corner we meet Robert Adams up from Bristol planning a charity walk to support the Darjeeling Childrens Trust. Marilyn Adams set up the trust in 2007 to help children in Darjeeling with education and support to give them a helping hand in life. Robert and Marilyn were in Darjeeling three days ago and tell us it takes a couple of days to get back. If you are interested in what they are doing there take a look at their web site at www.darjeelingchildrenstrust.com.



We stop by Tintern Abbey where we are staying tonight and go for a cup of tea and a big slab of rich chocolate cake. So close to the end we allow ourselves a little indulgence. Peter Little and Henry come over to make a donation to our cause and we share notes on the walk as Peter completed it in ten days fifteen years ago.
It is tough to say one day on this walk is better or worse than any other but today was special and having travelled the world we will put the Wye Valley as one of the best days of the whole walk and one of the most beautiful places in the world.

And tomorrow is the last day! We are so impressed with what we have done. This is the hardest thing we have done in our lives and we have found new levels of endurance and recovery and pushed ourselves on when the body was saying enough enough. 500 mile mark tomorrow and finish Offa’s Dyke and only 500 miles to go!

Walk 37 (OD 12) -16.3 miles - Total 488.1 miles - To Go 511.9 miles

Robins Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
Pandy, Llantilio-Crossinay and Monmouth







Last night we stayed with Ivy and Jim at Onchon Farm in Longtown. Ivy is 72 and still farming and running a wonderful B and B. Their farm is built around a building previously owned by Robert Newton the actor of Long John Silver fame in Treasure Island. It is an amazing location with the Black Mountain imposingly behind and picture postcard hilly Welsh farmland ahead. When we arrive we take tea in the garden with meadow flowers in the borders to attract local wildlife for all to see. Ivy looks after us superbly and tells us all about the challenges of farming in the hills through the winter. Rob can now embellish his silence of the lambs story as he learns more about the seperation process of lambs from ewes. He also learns that there are usually only two lambs per ewe as each ewe only has two teets. What I loved about Ivy was when she asked what time we wanted breakfast and we said 7.30 she said fine. The next morning (Sunday)she was up and smiling and cooked the best poached eggs we have had anywhere yet. It was a very special place to stay.

The big decision last night was could we do the 16 plus miles to Monmouth after our 17 plus miles of yesterday. We decided to go for it. Again the locals tell us it is an easy section and also people we meet coming from Chepstow tell us our bit is all down hill. Don't believe any of them. When there is an up hill there is a downhill that follows and vice versa. We get walking and I engage Rob in the hundred articles in a hundred days I am writing for Ezine. For me it is practice writing and for us it will pass the time. We discuss 'if you are too busy what do you do to do less?', 'if you are bored what do you do to get interested?', 'if someone is insensitive how do you make them more self aware and able to perform better themselves?', 'if someone is elevated to a role they are not equipped to fulfill how do you help them perform?'. This gets us through about 6 miles and is full of lively conversation. Read Ezine if you want to know what we came up with. We stop at St Cadoc's Church at Llangatock Lingoed and make our own tea as we were invited to do and make a contribution. It was a lovely spot and a wonderfully refreshing cup of tea.


Just after Llantilio Cross Enny we come upon a scene of sheep being counted and loaded up in to a lorry. As we talk to the farmer Anthony Evans about what he is doing we find he is the neighbour of Ivy and Jim and has the farm next door called Great Turnout. Anthony is great to talk to and tells us all about the economics of sheep farming. He has his own flock of around 600 sheep which can make a margin of around £50 per sheep so a contribution of £30,000. From this he has to pay for feed, vets, transport and all the other costs of bringing them along. There is not much left and Anthony also drives a lorry to deliver sheep to market which is what he is doing today. Sheep are put in a holding field for the weekend as they will be going to market on Monday and Anthony comes and rounds them up Sunday evening for delivery. He drives the lorry three days a week to contribute to the business. Ben his son is helping and is going to follow in Dad's footsteps and go in to farming. We get a sense of the effort that goes in to giving us our lamb roast on a sunday. As Anthony says sometimes it is the most wonderful experience and sometimes it is awful.

Our next excitement on this route is meeting a herd of bullocks with horns. Our route takes us from the gate we are at diagonally across the field. The bullocks, and there are about 30 of them are assembled around the gate we need to get to. I take the view that all the walkers that have gone before have survived so suggest we head towards them and deal with what happens. I suggest we walk high side of the bullocks and stick together. So far so good. As we approach it becomes a little, or a lot, more worrying as they approach us menacingly. When they are five feet away we are both concerned about what happens next and in the moment I come up with the idea of shouting very loud 'hut hut' and slamming my walking stick in to the ground. Fortunately they understand and charge off. Our only problem is they gather round the gate we need to cross and on the other side of the gate are another 30 bullocks. All we can do is a 'hut hut here' and a 'hut hut there' and walk nonchallently onwards. We survived!



As we walk down through Kingswood I notice Crisp ahead. Crisp is a georgeous Golden Retriever wandering down the hill. They always catch my eye as Raffles my Golden passed away last year after 16 years and a big part of our lives. Crisp is with James and Georgie Zorab who tell us about the rare plants and orchids that grow in the Forest. They show us a local orchid which we can capture for the AXA PPP waymark. We talk and I pose with Crisp who has all the attributes of the perfect Golden.

We are tired as we approach Monmouth and impressed that we can do over 30 miles in two days. As we think about it we are very impressed. We always knew we would do it but it has been a big challenge and we have learnt a lot about ourselves.

Walk 36 (OD 11) -17.1 miles - Total 471.8 miles - To Go 528.2 miles

Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
Hay on Wye, Hay Bluff, Hatterall Hill and Pandy





Hay on Wye is asleep as we rise. A big challenge ahead of us with a nearly five mile up hill walk to 2400 feet at Hay Bluff followed by 12 miles of gentle descent in to Pandy. We are ready to go at 7.30 and are going to go across to Londis where we hope to stock up with sandwiches for the day. As we are preparing ourselves Russell from the Seven Stars, where we are staying, comes out and offers to cook us early bacon sandwiches. He has been the perfect host so far but this is such a great start to the day. Cereal, tea, bacon sandwich and oj to start the day plus doorstep cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch. Russell is a star and contributes to the charity and really sets up our day. Big thanks Russell.



We start our customary very steep ascent up towards Culop. As we cross the field we see a roe deer darting across in front of us. So elegant and gracefully running up the hill field with no effort at all. How can something so fragile be so agile and powerful. The cows in the field also notice her and the whole herd starts chasing her. This is such a funny sight and we wonder what would happen if the cows actually caught up with her. Not that there was any chance of that.We cross the stile after an exhausting climb and Rob turns to me and say ‘only 2000 feet to go’. Rob is actually still quite grumpy and it takes a couple more miles before he eases up. Last night he lost all the photos from yesterday on his pc. I assure him they can’t be lost and we will find them but he is furious. For a man who can take up to 750 photographs in one day this is a huge loss.

We climb higher and meet an agile walker descending lightly down another very steep hill we are climbing towards Upper Dany Forest. He is a local who lives up the hill and stops to talk. Rob asks him if he has to go down the hill all the time to get his milk and provisions. He tells us he does not drink milk, tea, coffee, beer or wine. He also does not want Rob to photograph him and will not tell us even his first name. We are interested and intrigued. Rob thinks he is SAS in training. He should be worried if he is as Rob did take a photo and who knows what fate now awaits him. We wonder if he lives in Cadwgan House which we pass by shortly.

We have walked 2.5 miles and are up 800 feet with only 1600 feet to go in the next three miles. We have our first sighting of Hay Bluff and the Brecon Beacons all in a line. We come out in to moorland in Gorpal Pass which is very soft underfoot and we see about twenty horses with four foals all roaming free. We are later told these are wild horses and we see many more across the ridge as well as some wild ponies. At the top of Hays Bluff we watch a paraglider floating in the air currents. It is amazing to watch and he is probably up there for an hour as we approach. Eventually he comes to earth about a hundred yards from us.



We ascend and ascend and ascend. Most of it is fine but at the peak at Pen i Brecon at 2014feet of our climb we come to a very thin path section and a very steep drop to our left. I freeze, go jelly legged and am terrified. Mouflon Rob stops two feet from the edge to take his photos and insists we stop and take in the views. I am white faced and silent with fear and can’t wait to move on. After a brief stop I am off and well ahead.
With adrenaline pumping through my body I race up the next four hundred feet in about 500 yards until I feel safe and my heart stops racing. Totally irrational I know but if you are terrified you are terrified and I was. Rob is totally unsympathetic and tells me to pull myself together. When I feel safe I meet Margaret Turney who lives near Hay and is out for a Saturday morning walk. She used to live in Gladestry.


We walk along a little further and stop for an energy bar and are caught up by the Exchange Crazies I and Exchange Crazies II. A mix of German, English and New Zealand from the Deutsch Bourse who are training for the Caledonian Challenge. The challenge is a 54 mile walk along the West Highland Way which will be completed in 24 hours on June 12th. We are suspicious that they are a religious sect when we pass them later and see them in contemplation in a circle appearing to chant. We are even more suspicious when one of them shouts come and pray with us.

Close to the top of Hattershall Ridge at 2310 feet we meet Steve Young from West Bridgeford. Steve has recovered from cancer and is on his first walk in over a year. A fellow Forest fan and we talk about the schools we went to in Nottingham. A little further along there are more coincidences as we meet Paul Cherry from Weston sitting beside Katie Blunt. We have friends in Weston and Paul and Stephanie our friend have sat on the same committees.


There is also a charity event today for the Longtown Moutain Rescue. People are attempting 47 km, 27 km or 17km sections some running some walking. They pay a fee to the rescue service which helps pay for the service and many are also raising funds for other charities. We now understand why there are so many runners across the top and why the ridge appears like Oxford Street on a busy Saturday morning with the number of walkers going by.

The views are indeed breathtaking and make us wonder what we missed in the Clwydian Range last week.

President Robert Appoints His Cabinet

President Robert has completed his manifesto presentations to the voting population Proletariat Len. Voting becomes irrelevant as under suspicious circumstances the only opposition mysteriously disappears. There are already underground critics of President R’s ideas but nobody surfaces yet for fear of what might happen. President Robert will keep Grammar Schools and have selection at 11-13 and will strengthen Secondary Moderns. President Robert will privatise hospital delivery while critics say they should be kept with the State. Finally President Robert will stop all the nuclear build programmes and use all the saved money to apply to solar research and be confident he will fill the energy gap with the knowledge he creates. Critics say we must keep nuclear so there is no interruption of tv and brewing cups of tea for the nation. President R takes us in to Europe and works at shaping it from within and will remain a friend to America. Critics say we should stay on the outside and just keep all the benefits of trade status. President Robert announces his cabinet and is seen congratulating Minister of Health Karen Vacha after dining together in the Three Tuns in Hay on Wye. At one stage there had been rumours Karen would stand for President but somehow the chemistry between her and President R has left her satisfied with the post of Health Secretary. The cabinet President R announces has three appointments for each position. The first is a living politician, the second a dead British character and the third a dead world historical figure. President R believes these combinations will take on all the challenges ahead and is recommending the living politician should take clear advice from the other two figures for their position before taking any action. The appointments with immediate effect are:
Foreign Secretary – William Hague, Winston Churchill and Alexander the Great
Chancellor – Ken Clark, Dennis Healey and John Maynard Keynes
Home Secretary – Tony Blair, Harold MacMillan and Thomas Jefferson
Health – Karen Vacha, Nye Bevan and Alexander Fleming
Defense – Douglas Hurd, Duke of Wellington and Genghis Khan
Chief of Staff – Peter Mandelson, Richard III and Machiavelli
Education – Margaret Thatcher, William Caxton and Mahatma Ghandi
Works and Pensions – Gordon Brown, King Offa and FD Roosevelt
Press Secretary – Me, Alistair Cooke and Abe Lincoln
Sport – David Beckham, Bill Shankley and Mohammad Ali
Arts and Culture – Nigella Lawson, William Shakespeare and Puccini

Walk 35 (OD 10) -10.3 miles - Total 454.7 miles - To Go 545.3 miles

Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
Gladestry, Newchurch, Disgwfla Hill, Bettws Dingle and Hay-on-Wye







A ‘short’ ten mile walk to Hay on Wye and one the locals say is an easy section. We have learnt that the locals are stronger than us southern softies and even the easy sections have challenging moments and this is no exception. We are finding though that muscle recovery is quicker and we are amazed that on our tenth day of walking we have no aches and pains apart from my left foot. We are definitely fitter than a year ago.

It is cold, grey and a little rain at the start. A feature of today’s walk is that as we get closer to Hay the Black Mountain gets bigger and bigger. It is fearful but we concentrate on enjoying today and leave any anxiety we need to have about that until we do it tomorrow. We move at a good pace so we can have an afternoon off in the bookshops at Hay on Wye.

Along the way Rob stops me and asks me what I notice about the field we are in. I go through the usual things like sheep, grass, hedges, trees but miss what he has noticed. There are two things. The first is the sheep are quiet and the second is there are no lambs in the field. From these two attributes Rob builds a tale of sadness about the lambs being taken away from their mothers and the mothers are now quietly expressing their sadness. A tear comes to Rob’s face as he misses the friendly lambs that have joined us on the way. Rob says he now has a much deeper understanding of the ‘Silence of the Lambs’. I need to bolster him up as this comes on top of the loss of Offa’s Dyke until south of Monmouth that he has not yet got over. This gets us talking about the psychology of noticing for a couple of miles. Always talk about what you see as it will often be different to what others see and be aware that what you see is not all there is to see!

There is an eclectic mix of people we meet along the way going North along the Offa’s Dyke path and none of them are English today. We meet Dietmar from Dortmund. We then meet Cathy, Al, Pam and Jacqueline from Yukon, Canada. Imagine that....coming from scenery and walking that must be fantastic to taste some of Wales and England. They are loving it and are full of smiles. Al gets me by telling me Friday afternoon is half day closing in Hay. I fall for it and then realise he is having me on. I tell him the rest of the walk North is pretty much flat all the way but from his laugh I think he has some idea of what is coming. We meet Paul who was born in Seattle and now lives in Oslo. We bump in to Tony Lees who should be rock climbing in Cornwall this week but his friend had to drop out with a heart problem so he decided to do some of Offa’s Dyke instead. He also has a heart problem and is finding the up sections very challenging. Tony lives in the Orkneys on Sanday Island. Another coincidence is that the group from Yukon are going up to the Orkneys next week but not to Tony’s island.
Finally we meet Johann Kikstrr from Friesland in Holland. Johann has a 17kg bag on his back with camping gear and is finding it tough to find campsites along the way. He had more weight at the start but found it too much so has posted some of his kit to the end of his route.


We arrive in Hay on Wye and settle in to the Seven Stars Hotel. We spend the afternoon browsing in the bookshops. This place is famous for its literary festival which starts in two weeks and is visited by anybody who is anybody in writing and publishing. The festival is now out of town as over 150,000 visitors come and the main street became like a football crowd before a big match.
One book shop has over 400,000 second hand books and wonderful chairs to flop down in as you make your choices.

Tomorrow is the big one with a 17 mile stretch over the Black Mountains. We will get to our highest point on the whole walk at about 2500 feet and we are told there was snow falling a couple of days ago. As I said earlier we will save anxiety for tomorrow and enjoy dinner and sleep tonight.