Hi!
I hope that those of you to whom I recommended the blog have
found your way here and have enjoyed what I have had to share with you so far!
I have had one comment, constructive criticism you might say, that I should be
describing the region I will be walking through, its unique history and natural
character, rather than rambling on about seemingly irrelevant matters (like this photo of Jews Ear fungus taken on Sunday).
He may
have a point.. but rather than describe the wonderful Lycia to you now I will
tell you a bit more about my preparations for the walk. I’ll give an
introduction to Lycia in my next blog post, and subsequent ones, hopefully,
will be relayed from that very land itself!
So you may guess that with only 19 days until I fly to
Turkey my plans for the expedition are gathering pace. I have had the
inoculations recommended for Turkey and am working through the last remaining
items on my pack list. This includes some odd ones; a whistle, a tick remover,
a ball of string. This last one is for lowering a billy-can into a well or
cistern to collect water. Some of these cisterns are quite ancient, and
strategically located to accumulate rain fall. Of course I have water
purification tablets and I plan to get filter-fitted bottles too.
Towards the end of
last week I was thinking that camping a few nights might be a good idea,
reducing accommodation costs and making the options of where to stop and
spend the night more flexible. It would also add to the sense of freedom and
adventure… but probably at the expense of good quality sleep. An experimental
attempt to fit camping gear into my rucksack this weekend was less than
encouraging – a two-man “bug” tent added 3 1/4 kilos and a lot of bulk to my
pack. I'm trying to keep my pack weight down to 10 kilos!
On the subject of walking with a back-pack I decided that I
needed some practice, and on Sunday loaded my rucksack with an odd collection
of items to provide a weight of 12 kilos
(Curiously these had a beverage theme; bottled water, cartons of fruit-juice
and two ancient bottles of cheap bubbly – as well as the aforementioned tent,
poles and a rolled-up sleeping mat). The weight was daunting but once on
the rucksack was reassuringly comfortable, the straps and padding fitting
comfortably against neck, back and shoulders. I set off for The Common at noon.
Despite grey skies and a bitterly cold North-Easterly wind I
found that the main problem was regulating body temperature - unexposed parts having a tendency to over-heat!. After a long muddy
trek through muddy forest, over muddy hillocks and soggy meadows I arrived at
the Windmill. I had completed over 5 km and was ready for a rest and
refreshment. Did I mention it was muddy?
The Windmill café is a useful facility for local families
enjoying the fresh air and wild landscape, and exercising dogs and/or children.
They offer all-day breakfast, a full menu of traditional café fare, cakes, ice
cream and steaming mugs of tea. I suspect that there are few patrons who arrive with the
Sunday paper, spend more than a lunch hour
there and whose only experience of fresh air is that encountered between the
café and the adjacent car-park. Good luck to them.
Having collected a justifiably calorie-loaded snack and the
obligatory tea, I disengaged myself from the rucksack and lowered it to the
floor – then almost floated to the nearest table! I mused about the prospect of
refreshment stops on the Lycian way. The attraction of the Windmill café on a
cold and blustery March Sunday in South-West London is the warmth, piping hot tea and shelter from the wind. In three weeks time my ideal rest-pause
site might be altogether different!
It was a good time to take a break, giving me the chance to
flex my neck and shoulders, and when I hauled the pack back on it felt familiar
and comfortable. The five km return walk seemed to pass more quickly. I was
home by 4.30pm not too much the worse for wear. I did however crash out of the
sofa and it was after 6.30pm before I “came round” and resumed an upright and
conscious state.
During last week at The Elmgreen School I was delighted to venture into a classroom
to find a class of Year 7 students busily designing and colouring posters
entitled "Water Aid". Although the school is not officially part of my
fund-raising challenge my joint Head of Department, the lovely Genevieve has decided to make an end-of-term staff
tea-party an instrument for fund-raising for Water Aid! I also received my "official" Water Aid T-shirt (photos soon) and leaflets to back up fund-raising efforts.
Fun-raising is going really well. I am now confident of achieving
my target and now secretly setting my sights on a much higher figure! If you
have not yet donated, or know someone who might, please go to, or direct them
to; http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RobinThomson
Thanks to all donors for you thoughtfulness and generosity. Thoughts of your kindness and of what your donations will achieve will give me energy and resolve to carry on when things get tough. To find out more about Water Aid go to http://www.wateraid.org/
Robin
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