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Introduction
Links on Walking Places
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Deborah and Gwen's
Coast to Coast Diary Introduction |
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Introduction My name is Deborah (to my Mum) Debbie, Debs or Deb (to my friends). I am 44 and live in Sheffield with my husband Mel and three teenage children, Tom, Megan and Jane. I am a freelance photographer but specialise in people so don’t expect too much from my landscapes. I am a fairly active person, I play basketball and enjoy rock climbing, mountain biking and walking in the beautiful Peak District. My Mum, Gwen, is 75 (she won’t mind me telling) and lives in Mid-Wales with my Dad, David. She retired from teaching 15 years ago when she had some heart problems but has since regained her health and confidence and is generally a very active person. She enjoys gardening, regularly walks with The Welshpool Ramblers and still enjoys camping holidays in the north west of Scotland. Mum and I experienced our coast to coast adventure between 17th and 31st July 2006. During the walk I used old fashioned pen and paper to record our memories but since returning home several people suggested that I should publish a journal. Personally I have enjoyed reading other Coast to Coast journals so thought I would give it a go. The most difficult thing was deciding what to put in and what to leave out as I have no idea who might read it. After much deliberation I decided to write it for myself and for my Mum, transcribing most of my daily jottings in full. Apologies if it rambles on a bit but writing it has been such fun – helping me relive the journey. If you have walked the route yourself I’m sure you will recognise many of my descriptions and understand some of our emotions. If you are reading this as a prelude to your own crossing I hope you find at least some of it useful.
How it all started On January 1st 2006 Mum, unbeknown to me, made a new years resolution – to walk a long distance footpath before the year was out. She settled on the C2C and initially Dad was going to do it with her. I offered to cycle the route with our son Tom to carry the luggage, remember this was before we had heard of the Sherpa Van service. Anyway it was all getting a bit complicated when Dad announced that his knees wouldn’t last the trip so somewhere along the line I stepped in and agreed to walk it with Mum. Mel and the kids were very supportive. Mel had lost his Mum in 2002 and had often said he wished he had spent more time with her. So that’s how the adventure began.
Pictures
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