Sierra Nevada’s, the Pacific Crest and a very Grand Canon my 6th trek from Macmillan Cancer Support. 2005

If you can imagine a place so beautiful that merely remembering it produces visions of such intensity that you feel as if you can reach out and touch the flowers that grow in a place of natures most elaborate grandeur. Meadows teaming with life, tumbling blue lupines and delphiniums, powder blue and purple butterflies dancing, while sapphire blue jays hop on laden branches of great Redwoods too old for their rings to be counted. Shinning, silvery granite, smooth and round from glacial erosions, deserts so hot and dry the sun burns fiercely soon after dawn and canyons deeper and wider than those of any dreams. This was to be my next adventure and sweeter still it was to be shared with my husband, Martin.  Neither of us had backpacked a long trail overseas before and for him it would be his first time above 3000m.

I had somehow convinced my doctor to give me a month’s supply of Diamox, I think he was resigned to the fact that I was going to go anyway and at least I was equipped for the trip. The trek was a double one as I would return home and fly out to Geneva two days later to complete the Mont Blanc Circuit with the guiding company Exodus.

A Pyrenean adventure. The GR10, my 5th trek for Macmillan Cancer Support. 2004

Having now got a taste for a real adventure I planned another trek with Exodus, (who had proved a reliable guiding company to use).  This was to be the GR 10, a 200 mile trek across the central region of the Pyrenees in south western France. The mountains form a natural boarder with Spain and are home to some stunning 3,000 metre peaks, the highest of them being Pico del Aneto (3,404m).  The Pyrenees are much older than the Alps, mostly made up of granite but with foothills of softer limestone. The French Pyrenees are as green and lush as those of Snowdonia. While if one takes a walk over the Spanish boarder it is possible to imagine yourself in North Africa, the difference is so pronounced. Here the lack of water and the searing summer sun has baked the rock into a bewildering barrier of fire and gruelling climbs. In the scorching sun of the Spanish side, what was a tough climb becomes arduous and taxing. 

The Western, French Pyrenees are adorned by beautiful glaciers that cling like pearls from the upper sections of the mountains. Here the snow fall in the winter is deep and covers the rock well into the summer, hiding alpine flowers and tiny streams. Waterfalls sweep the rock as if hiding a shy bride on her wedding day, they tumble noisily, an encore to springs return. The area contains some of the most beautiful national parks in France, with diverse wildlife that still retains such beasts as European bears and eagles, although wolves no longer dwell there.  But mountains are not all about scenery on a grand scale, they contain some of the most exquisite tiny Alpine flowers and a world in miniature of colourful butterflies and insects. 

With the trek booked and training never really finished, I was busy cycling, walking and arranging events for the summer months of fund raising. By now I had quite a few carnivals to attend, the first of these was always the Verwood carnival.  Invariably wet and notoriously boggy, it was always worth putting the wellies and gazebo sides in the car.   A tombola stall is pretty hard work to organise. Prizes have to be acquired by asking the press to advertise you’re fund raising activities, or begging for items from friends and neighbours. Then comes the sorting and washing of items for sales. Teddies spin around the tumble dryer looking fluffier than they have ever been before and old ornaments once again become shiny and sell-able. The work doesn't stop there, cloakroom tickets need to be stuck on each item and then all the prizes are packed into boxes ready for the big day. Just when you think that’s the end, there are a couple of thousand tickets to fold, which is always a good job for a family evening around a summer chiminea fire in the garden. Finally it’s all down to the weather on the day.