Sam's Walk
Iron Sign, Harrow Hill, Whitton Dene, Halton Shields, Port Gate, Planetrees and Wall
Hi Sam. We are starting out on your walk again today and thinking about you. We are wishing for success in Robin's work to find a breakthrough.
Lots of people we meet are wanting success and are so generous with their contributions and wishes. The highlight of my morning is talking to my goddess and the love of my life Karen. The sun is shining after heavy rain last night and every day gets better when I connect with her. I love you darling and really admire the bravery and courage you show each day fighting the challenges MS sends your way. Keep at it and we will do our walk and our work to raise hope for you and all others with this disease.
We start walking and most of today will spend either side of a B road which was Military Road. We see regular evidence of the Vallum (ditch) to the south of the road but it will be a while before we see the wall. Rob tells us he feels great this morning so I ask him to describe it some more. He feels at ease with the world, calm and notices it is warm around us. He excudes good vibes. Viv is itching to see some wall but will have to be patient.A feature of today is me going at a brisk pace and Viv and Rob chatting at a leisurely pace up to 20 minutes behind me.
I stop at Whittle Dean Reservoir and go in to the bird watching hide. A lovely spot where I am sure keen birdwatchers spend many happy hours. The book shows a wide variety of feathered visitors with over 6000 sightings of Golden Plover in 2007 and 1 American Wigeon in 2001 and a Temmints Stint in 1991. Rob and Viv turn up with Rob in avid conversation with one of his City Chairmen. Viv is intrigued how Rob and I remain connected to the world via our phones through the walks. 
Rob goes in to the hide for the first time in his life. I notice an entry from two days ago saying 'Rain won't stop, trying to warm up here, at least it is not winter!'. But today it is sunny and glorious.
We stop at the Robin Hood pub for tea or shandy as to taste. Being big kids at heart we may be in our mid fifties but like young boys we still get excited about getting stamps in our passport. This is the second of six to get along the way and if we get them all we get a certificate at the end. Exciting hey.
A little further along near Halton Shields I stop for a tea at the Ramblers Rest and wait for Rob and Viv. They do turn up about 20 minutes later and I am now learning this is a great way to get longer breaks and take in the scenery. Ramblers Rest is a great little place with its won guinea pigs in a run on the lay by lawn named josie and bebby. The guinea pigs are a gift from the grandkids joshua and bethany and are so called to have similar names. Makes you think about a spot like this where over 1 million people pass each year. If each person has on average a cup of tea and a chocolate bar then this spot has over £1 million per year. Rob and Viv have been connecting and talking family. Viv actually engages with Rob in his little quizzes. Rob loves filling time with questions like 'which was the only football team not to lose in the world cup but went home early?' and 'how many times bigger than our sun is the newly discovered biggest star in the universe'. I get bored quickly and frustrated Rob has to tell me the answers but Viv is really interested so there is real excitement between them as they discuss sun and stars.
Finally towards the end of todays walk we come upon the Wall. Great excitement as we finally can touch it and think about this nearly 2000 year old piece of history. We are moved. Tomorrow we see more.
We met lots of lovely people today. In the Robin Hood pub Rob walked in with Randy Dicicco from Watsonville California, her duaghther Rhiannon from Santa Cruz California and Rebecca Hall also from California. They are doing the wall and already we have met twice today. 
Near the Errington Arms we meet Sue and Phil from Ottawa who are staying at the place we left this morning. Thank you for your very generous donation Sue and Phil we know it will help us with our cause. Their neice has just been diagnosed with MS at 31 years old and she has three children. They wish us success with our campaign. At the Errington Arms we meet Maria Sexton and her daughter Elin from Gothenburg. 
Maria is Swedish and Elin is British as born here and Mr Sexton being Scottish. Again we meet at our first sighting of the wall and they are staying at the same place as us tonight.A short walk today but many lovely views and thoughts and feelings as the day unfolded. As we step through our thousand miles we are hoping Robin and his team are making small steps to a big breakthrough that will give hope to Sam and all others suffering from MS today.
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