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This has been the most difficult week, emotionally and physically, since I left the UK.
Emotionally, because on Thursday it would have been our 32nd wedding anniversary and although I think about Anne everyday it was a very low day as it reminded me just how much I miss her.
Physically, I put in some extra hours walking and have managed to complete 130 miles since my last diary update. I am now about 30 miles ahead of my expected total and am nearly half way to Rome. Unfortunately, the old bones have started to feel the pressure and I did pick up a small injury which is annoying more than painful, but it seems to be settling down.
My weekend in the village of Ushaix near Orange was terrific and gave me a chance to recharge my batteries, meet some new friends, enjoy home cooking and visit historic sites such as Pont du Gard an ancient roman aqueduct, the dukes palace in Uzez (only from the outside as he was not in residence) and the roman theatre in Orange. This theatre is one of the few preserved examples of its type in the world and is host to stars from the world of opera etc every year oh yes and I still managed to do some walking in the countryside.
I have already emailed my friend in Gosport to thank her for arranging the stay with her mother and family but I also wanted to reflect it in my diary – thank you Magali.
On Monday I moved on to Avignon, another historic city with plenty to see and over the 2 days I was there managed to get in a lot of miles of walking. The old part of the city is surrounded by a wall within which is the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) and the Notre-Dame des Doms cathedral. Other sites included the Pont Saint Benezet, a bridge which reaches half way across the Rhone. The Mistral wind was blowing at quite a pace, at times reaching 50 – 70 kilometres per hour which made walking interesting but at least it took the edge of the heat from the sun and I did not realise how long I had been walking for because it was so enjoyable.
On Wednesday afternoon I moved onto Aix-en-Provence which involved a brief stopover in Marseilles to change from train to bus to complete the last part of the journey. By the time I had found out where my hotel was I only had time to do a couple of hours walking before it started to get dark but at least I could find my bearings. Wednesday enabled me to enjoy a nice day of walking around Aix before going out into the country towards the Bibemus Quarries. Here Cezanne painted and it is where the stone used to build the monuments within the city was quarried. Later in the day I headed in the other direction, following the main roads until I reached the motorway.
On Thursday it was time to move onto my next port of call, Cannes. Having checked out of the hotel I was walking to Aix railway station to catch the bus to Aix TGV station when it started to rain. What was really annoying was that once I reached the station I was informed that I had to go the Gare routiere (bus station) which was back past the hotel I had only left 20 minutes before. I was not impressed as I was wet with my main rucksack and a day rucksack I had recently purchased to carry and no opportunity to get the waterproofs out from the bottom of the rucksack.
The journey to Cannes was a chance to relax and take in the scenery, firstly back to Marseilles then onwards via Toulon and St Raphael to Cannes and the Cote d’Azur where the sun was shining but the wind was as strong as ever and forecast to get even stronger. Nowhere near as bad as it appeared to be in the UK or northern parts of France though.
Other things to happen this week included news that I had been nominated by one of the charities for Britain’s most inspirational fundraiser award which is being awarded by The Sun newspaper and EveryClick.com in memory of Jane Tomlinson.
Jane was a lady who although I never met her, I had a lot of respect for and I had read one of her books when planning my walk – she had cycled from Rome to the UK. When I held the press launch for my walk last September, I stated that Anne and Jane were two of the most courageous people I had every come across and their courage had convinced me that it was possible to achieve my aim. Even if I do not win the award, the fact that people feel highly enough of me to nominate me has given me a tremendous boost just when I needed it.
Many of you who read these diary updates do so via Live Journal which a friend of mine back in the UK kindly updates for me – thanks Kay you are a star. As a result of the walk being promoted on the headline page of Live Journal earlier this week, I have had many people from around the world (over 500) adding my site to their own links, many sending words of support and some making donations. In fact, in less than four days the amount raised increased by over £300 as a result of donations from people from as far away as the USA, China and Australia.
I also want to thank another friend who posts the diaries on my site and maintains it for me in my absence – thanks Andrew, several people have contacted me to say they like the site and find it easy to navigate around.
Thank you everybody for your support and please keep those donations coming both from around the world and the UK. Together I know we can reach the £50,000 target for the charities and for Anne.