The Final Day

The final day started with news that Oscar hadn't had a great night, he'd had a further seizure and been heavily sedated to keep him calm and rested. Although there still wasn't any conclusive evidence of what the cause of the seizures might be the hope was that it was something he had ingested and it would work it's way out of his system.

I only had 9 miles left to walk, so we made the decision to get the walk completed this morning and then collect Oscar from the vets in the afternoon when all his tests were finished. This wasn't quite how I imagined the final day of the walk would be!

I started the day in Compton Valance somewhat distracted, but looking forward to completing the walk. There were some steep up and downs on this section, but the weather was pretty much perfect, it was a lovely bright sunny day with a cool breeze.

The Penultimate Day

Things didn't get off to a great start on the penultimate day of walking. I set the Sat Nav to the Sheaf of Arrows where the back up team picked me up at the end of yesterday. The journey time came up as 45 mins which was the same time as the drive home, but after about 20 mins we realised we were heading in the wrong direction. What's the odds on two pubs with the same, unusual name, being equidistant from our holiday accommodation. Frustrating but it just meant I had a later start than planned and we had a bit of a drive round some of the beautiful Dorset countryside.

Sat Navs and Emails!

Day 20 of my walk, two more days to go to complete the full 290 miles of the Macmillan Way! Today I am walking from Sandford Orcas to Melbury Osmond, a total of 15 miles.

It felt a bit cooler today following the heat of the previous few days, but the humidity remained high and things really warmed up again in the afternoon.  Oscar was still limping, so we gave him another rest day, and hopefully he would be fit and ready for the last two days.

You Can Sit Anywhere But You Can't Sit Here!

Unfortunately Oscar has picked up a leg injury and was hobbling around looking very sorry for himself this morning, I can't think how he could have done that, I did have a chat with him, "let that be a lesson to you", but I just got the slightly quizzical look as much as to say, what's this muppet on about now! Anyway I thought it best to let him rest today, which with hindsight, was probably just as well as today's walk included a lot of road walking.

Is that your Cat?

Today's walk took me from Trudoxhill to Bruton, 14 miles, a more straight forward walk than yesterday, following lots of trails and forest paths. This meant Oscar could be off his lead for most of the walk.

It was a really hot day and the dappled shade provided by the trees helped to keep us both cool. No rivers today but plenty of puddles for Oscar to sit in and cool off, it's amazing where he finds water.

Fancy a Swim?

It's great to be back on the Macmillan Way, I've had a bit of a break over the Summer due to hols and a mysterious foot injury, but all good now and I'm really looking forward to completing my journey over the next few days.

So far I have walled 215 miles from Boston to Beckington near Frome, and I have just 75 miles before I finish my journey in Abbotsbury, Dorset.

My wife (the back up team) and Oscar the Dog have both travelled down to Somerset with me, Alison will be dropping off and picking up, which means no heavy rucksack to carry, and I'm hoping that all three of us can finish the last leg of the walk to Abbotsbury together.

Hope & Hopefully Glory

Its that time of year again, the start of the football season and anything is possible. After the summer break it's great that football is back, and the whole sense of optimism  is fuelled by the warm weather, there is nothing like  attending a few games in your shorts and t-shirt. It feels a long way off to those cold dark winter days when the season is won or lost. At this stage of the campaign, if you lose a couple of games so what, it's a marathon not a sprint, and even though the warning signs are there, that we didn't quite address all those old frailties with the strong defender, or the pacey winger, or that 20 goal guaranteed a season striker, somehow this season will be different, this will be the one.