It's hard to sum up a life changing event when it has just happened and so often it's a bad thing but when you have experienced something wonderful it's more elusive. Lot's of people have said did you enjoy the walk - at times it was very enjoyable especially elating this morning with the hike from Tatton Park gates to St Oswald's in Lower Peover with lots of lovely folk out along the way to greet us , signs up counting down the last thousand paces etc and a super reception at the church not to mention morning tea and cakes en route courtesy of our local farmers.

It had been a long time ambition to complete a long walk especially after retirement but the knee problem was always a blocker and I must admit something like the North Norfolk way which was flat came top of my wish list. The opportunity to undertake a walk and pilgrimage in one was just right and it all came to a wonderful conclusion today. The sun shone, the crops in the fields were being gathered, a vole scampered over my boot, the sound of leather on willow echoed through our Cheshire byways and we all realised I hope that we were very privileged people.

The photos are from this morning Tatton, Knutsford to Lower Peover, I'm going to put the best shots together but there are more pressing jobs now I've straightened up the gardens as I get the stock replenished and new releases added to our show DVDs for Herne Bay next weekend and a nod towards Lathalmond in a fortnight.

Yes I did indeed manage the last full day of walking on this mammoth undertaking which has certainly pushed me to my limits and stretched my character and muscles. Today we had some relatively large groups as the day went by with a core who like myself, Ged and Roger completed the full distance from Manchester Cathedral to the Knutsford Tatton Park Gates. As ever Mandy was in attendance for support which turned out to be needed very early on as some walkers failed to get to the station on time. Today's prize really went to Sarah who managed to walk the whole distance proving that once again with support and encouragement disability can be overcome.

It was a very different landscape as we left Manchester along the Bridgewater canal and I recorded as much of the scene as I could with my still camera. Today a few more shots along the route, tomorrow now I have Roger's shots which include yours truly I'll try and give a picture of the whole route. A new blister possibly reflects the harder surfaces traversed today. In the morning we walk from Tatton Park gates to St Oswald's in Lower Peover, then a period of rest!

The weather forecast last night hit wide of the mark today, any brightening up came late afternoon when we were in Salford having suffered another ducking in the morning. I One of the main routes we were set to follow was the rotary way, a millennium project between several councils including Bolton and Bury. It was little short of a fiasco as there were unmarked paths, overgrown paths, flooded paths, unmarked path etc etc. We battled on as usual the three of us Ged, Roger and I and eventually got in sight of litter central aka Salford. Reaching Salford we had a cup of tea and eat three Manchester tarts before landing at the cathedral just as their evening service was set to start.  Tomorrow we pick up at the Cathedral and walk to the Tatton gates at Knutsford leaving a four mile stroll on Sunday. Here are some shots from today.
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Hi folks, just back home and well scrubbed down, its still not too late to sponsor the walk for St Oswalds, I think we've earned a bit of support from today's efforts in the Pennines and foul Lancashire weather. We called at St Oswalds at Oswaldtwistle early in the day then resumed walking with a trek across the moorlands which saw us soaked to the skin all day even with a change at lunch time when we met Mandy with the support car - as wet as ever 5 minutes later. The toes started to play up later on but otherwise stood up ok.

Some of the hi lights includes nearly straying into the army firing range, being in the midst of the clouds and rain with poor visibility and loosing track of the footpath. Being in the Rossendale Way which in sunshine may be passable but we copped for floating sphagnum moss above water and peat, I went in up to my boots once then started floating off on a moss islands until hauled up the bank by Roger. Then Ged took a bath in the moss and peat up to his waist but managed to haul himself free and his super new trousers came out almost spotless ( ish).

It was despite the superhuman efforts a good day and I think the three of us felt suitably bonded in our pilgrimage. Tomorrow we resume and walk from Lancashire down into Manchester terminating at the cathedral, only the three of us all day but on Saturday we are expecting our band of pilgrims to grow considerably as we head towards Knutsford Tatton Park. I left the camera with Mandy after the break stop I should have some more photos when we've all exchanged shots later in the week, as I said the most hazardous moments we were concentrating on survival not photos! We must admit that we did end up with a pint, sat in mini paddling pool boots and garments, in dressing gown now ready for bed and my BT email still isn't sending out despite two days notice of the fault.

My back always a constant curse played up like mad when I started to unload Mandy's car then carried on through the evening, even getting the tonic for Mandy's gin provoked an attack, why can't the blessed discs stay put for once. The central heating is on , I'm cleansed and about to have dinner.

Typically it was a nightmare of a day with the email being down with BT who seem to have mammoth problems throughout their net services which was really something we could have done without. Hours spent on trying to do live discussions with India, a call to a UK number, an Indian call centre again, eventually phoned sales - yes instant response and they'll get faults to calls back. Seven hours later needless to say nothing has changed but we are picking up direct from the Orange site which surprise surprise ( not) is part of BT. 

We are both pretty exhausted and the phone started just before 9 am while we were both fast asleep and it's remained hectic through to the afternoon with two bags of post already gone and Mandy will have to hawk around the remainder on our travels Thursday which sees us getting down past Blackburn and Oswaldtwistle area and then by Friday we are heading into Manchester leaving Saturday to get from Manchester cathedral to Knutsford, Tatton Park gates. Sunday is a procession from Tatton to  Lower Peover. At least the walkers today may have caught some sunshine and hopefully not too much rain although Thursday's outlook is reasonably dire. We shall be returning home after each day of walking henceforth, last night we had dinner at the Inn at Whitewell, superb as usual.

Looking ahead a bit of swapping around on dates and we should still be able to fit in most of the locations left on our to do list. Weather dependent as ever we are leaving booking to the last minute rather than wasting time on foul weather visits. I'll update the news page to reflect progress. Certainly retirement has not produced than many extra opportunities for travel. We'll give priority to Ireland after the school holidays have finished and should be able to fit in Norfolk and the North East. We shall be having at stand at the forthcoming Big Orange bus event at Boyle St in October 15-16th. Thus lets have some orange bus photos tonight.
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Monday morning we set off from the spot at Sedbergh where we halted Friday evening. Monday was a tough enough day with plenty of challenges,  some steep gradients and rough surfaces which varied greatly. The blister plaster has worked well and enabled me to struggle on albeit still at times the tail ender, it was certainly a long day with arrival down at Ingleton at 7pm and straight into a pub for refreshing pints all round. The weather although cloudy mostly did have gaps and the occasionall sunny period which lifted the photos. Here are some shots from Monday. The first is once again out of order, no idea why but thats technology for you however the ice cream van was a strange interlude towards the end of a stiff days walking and perched on a track in the middle of nowhere with a young Italian girl serving the ice creams. A woman with two young children passed us on their way to the van in the opposite direction then caught us up, we asked if we were on track to Ingleton but she said they were lost and the ice cream girl told them to follow us. Just a selection from, an extensive range of shots
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Tuesday was a grey sometimes damp day, the previous evening we had stayed at a very comfortable country house hotel but I had a brief sickly spell and it was thought that a leisurely breakfast and catching the walk up a third of the way along route would be a sensible option but the lay of the land and signposting plus map worked against the team and the day was once again ticking by all too quickly with progress none too fast. All were united eventually and the walk strode out along the road down through the forest of Bowland and terminated for the night at Slaidburn where the walkers seemingly encountered a deep ford near the end. This however wasn't the correct route as a rather irate land owner came to inform us, she was from the era of shooting poachers I think and the idea that anyone would rightly divest their boots etc to cross a freezing cold stream was bizarre. I was reminded that my pride in Britain last week with the helpful friendly trucks in Wakefield was all too  easily erased by those who perpetuate the class war, best never to drop your guard. We are now taking a break for one day rejoining the walk on Thursday. All DVD orders will be sent out first thing Thursday. The photos all from Tuesday. We came across the Bibbys coaches early on today at Settle, really nice drivers who we had a chat with. Oh yes the first photo should be the last, yet again. The walk support team provided a much needed spur to tired walkers on this gloomy day. The weather looks good for Wednesday and perhaps a ducking Thursday, oh joy!
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The rest weekend turned out to be very necessary with the need to harden off the blister on my toe, I'm exposing it to the air as much as possible and will have a quick scan through the net and see if there is anything else available to assist the process.  Tomorrow the walk resumes where we left off , we are staying away Monday night so the next blog will be on Tuesday evening with a rest day Wednesday. We are expecting more walkers tomorrow which will help hopefully for the tail end Charlies like myself. 

We were at Clonter Opera last night for La Traviata, the New Zealand soprano Marlena Devoe captured the hearts of the audience and whilst the Clonter productions are always an ensemble effort there was no escaping the fact that she had added a wow factor to the evening. There were new caterers who did a great job, best Tiramasu I've had in years followed a competent lamb shank. I'm getting all the DVD orsders ready, Mandy should have time to find a local post office on her travels as support tomorrow but with more people the logistics will start to get more involved. I'm not sure what the weather is going to do, getting wet is a pain.

I've trierd to download the St Oswalds / Plumley village hall film show to a memory stick but the file was too big, I'll have another go this morning - once it is off the machine I can clear some space on the drive and hopefully get one of the archive films done, I'm looking at UK construction projects The Forth road Bridge ( ( different from that already used) together with the Thames Barrier, Cementation Piling etc. Here are covers for recent DVD realease please remember to visit the Just Giving site to sponsor me on the walk which finishes a week today.
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It was a very hectic day on Wednesday getting everything cleared out of the way including getting the latest truck films edited then packing for the walk and an early nights sleep ready for an early start on Thursday up in Cumbria where we arrived as the other who had stayed overnight were just having breakfast. The weather was fair enough, a few spots of rain - it wasn't too challenging day and we had both a coffee stop and lunch stop at a community pub where as well as fine Cumbrian ale they had the biggest sandwiches I've ever encountered. We passed through some amazing villages which if in say the Cotswolds or Lake District would have been heaving but we had the to ourselves and only passed two other walkers all day. The state of the footpaths was pretty rough in places as was some of the signage or lack of it. We seemed to keep to schedule with Mandy and Elspeth providing logistic support. We had a very nice country house stay and had a meal with the others at The George a pub in Orton. As we left this morning we'd seen a couple of woodpeckers then coming along the drive a red squirrel. 

Today was a much tougher proposition, certainly no coffee shops or pubs as we were working our way across country including a stretch across the fells off any track save perhaps the odd sheep trail. It was a bit of a test for myself, walking were just the three of us and I was usually bringing up the rear. Our descent from the fells wasn't quite the spot we intended and we had to contend with a steep river gulley and I ended up with what turned out to be a blister as well as a few tumbles , lots of horse fly bites and thistle stings which thankfully last a far shorter time than stinging nettles. Roger and his dog made a good team with lots of opportunities for her training amidst sheep. We later followed the Dales Way footpath and we tracked alongside the M6 from the other side of the river Lune which of course we have driven past at speed on hundreds of journeys strange to be foot slogging it. With the blister halting progress I only just managed the last mile or so but did it all the same and am up and ready for the Monday start. Once again we were always welcomed by the other halves in support who managed to identify our 'landing' places even when they had changed. We saw some wonderful scenery and bellow is a selection of shots split between first Thursday and then Friday, I've sent the link to those most interested and put some on the Just Giving site ( allow an hour or two) and you are very welcome to sponsor me particularly as I've now put a lot of real effort into it.
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The shots above all from Thursday the afternoon stretch and arrival at Orton is below (you are welcome to download as required)

Next the exhausting trip we undertook today, the first photo for some reason is the last when we met up with our support crew ( better halves throughout)

We start where we left off on Monday and take all week to reach Lower Peover next Sunday.
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It was an early morning start at 5.30am and this ensured I got a reasonable run over the M62 motorway to Wakefield which if undertaken mid rush hour would be a real nightmare. The weather was for once spot on to the forecast and blue sky all day and temperatures zoomed up to a steady 32C and on the way home peaked at 33C near Manchester airport. I'd only done this section once before but knew it would reward more intense coverage. I achieved nearly 5 hours of film and was still back home in Cheshire by teatime ahead of the pm rush.

The drivers were needless to say friendly all the way and one stopped to give me a bottle of water to combat the heat, he was driving for Downton. Everything always looks good in the sunshine and with such friendly drivers and so much action I thought how good it was to be able to fulfil my interests without any annoying interruptions, folk passing exchanged pleasantries about the weather, I had a long chat with a Polish driver who couldn't understand the hassle we get with fellow Polish bus drivers but recognised that some of the poles who have arrived in more recent years aren't so willing to adapt to our society which made it hard for people like him who have a home here. I went on to record my thoughts on the Poles in Scotland etc but deleted as censorship is rife now in Britain, deciding to go it alone will lose us even the scant protection of the EU which supported the rights of photographers - even those small details will be lost in this march to fascism, we'll end up like Turkey at this rate.

Tonights slide show consists of a few shots from todays coverage, I haven't forgotten Basingstoke and Swindon which i'll put on tomorrow. Also I'll upload the clips to Youtube from the weekend. I've also not told you that all the Malta 2016 and Truckfest shots from Peterborough are on our Smugmug still photo site.


good evening everybody, I did post whilst i was down in Hampshire but you can see the frustrating situation as nothing ever seems to appear, I did limit the message to the title as that sometimes survives but on the occasion even that failed. As I say very frustrating, it's a US outfit the Weebly and they obviously don't give a monkeys about customers in the UK, I would never have started with them if I knew they were going to end up as such a shower of useless plebs who ignore every complaint until you just give up. With the shop there and my main site it will be hard shifting it all and the shops works quite well.

The Alton rally was a corker, large turn out of buses and people, roads really jammed up with the rally traffic, lots of film of them arriving. A great night out with sister Yvonne and Graham in New Forest last night. Filming was at Swindon, Basingstoke, Winchester and Salisbury. I hope to get them all finished by tomorrow night. There was a short sharp shower of rain today and late Friday as Basingstoke but it looks as if we are all going to get two or three very hot days. Tomorrow I'll be busy with the heaving post bag of internet orders and editing but I may make it to the Stobart road transport headquarters which is quite near, I fancied doing that on a hot day. Then Tuesday which is the hottest I'll do the Wakefield facilities, trucks galore in the soaring heat, can't wait. Wednesday I'll be getting sorted for the start of the charity walk with an early start up to Cumbria and then overnight returning home after Friday walking. Restart Monday through to the next Sunday so July is really full now.

It was very pleasant enjoying good company at Alton, we were up on last years takings which is good news amidst all the economic uncertainty at present. I hope I can keep you updated by way of photos and film of the past few days. Lets start with Alton rally.

​ The button should get you to my walk sponsoring page

​https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/DaveSpencerWalking
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