Day 28 - Saintes to Loulay

Catching up a bit here because I didnt get the opportunity to post the pictures yesterday as we were camped out in the tent with only a weak mobile signal...

As well as this Walk Across Borders, 19th September was also the date of the Reunite International Child Abduction Centre sponsored walk and it was wonderful that they took the time to contact me over Skype... Next year, i will do what I can to be at this walk as it is a perfect opportunity for parents and families to meet who have been affected by parental child abduction....

Reunite are my nominated charity so PLEASE help me to help them support affected families by donating to www.justgiving.com/walkacrossborders..

We set off from the hotel at about 8.15am and once again found myself having to walk in the rain.

Fortunately, the weather took a turn and gave us some lovely sunshine...

Michelle's eyes lit up again because it gave her the opportunity to get our her roadside washing line again...
She also seems to have found an obsession with cows, chickens and graveyards which is quite concerning.

I had slowed the pace up a bit today as I had been getting a few muscle pulls so just wanted to make sure all was ok... It made the day a long one but better being safe than sorry..

The route itself was quite pleasant.. Some lovely country roads and historical buildings. It was a nice change from the long and straight roads we had on a couple of previous days.

In a small village, I caught up with the support car and we went to get some bread and croissants and met a lovely group of people from Leeds who were there to attend a wedding. I gave them information about the walk so hopefully, they will read this and get in touch.

During the day, as mentioned earlier, I connected with reunite and the walkers on their sponsored walk via Skype. This gave me a real boost guys so thank you so much. I am so glad that the walk in London went well and hope to see some of you join me once I reach UK soil on 1st to 5th October

I also spoke to a few people from UK media over the phone for which I really hope they can run a story without restriction of what is planned.. I have tried so hard to believe in the system for so long. I pray that this will prompt some positive action for families than have been affected by parental child abduction and parental alienation.

I didnt finish day 28 until after 7.00pm as there were a number of stops along the way. However, I completed another 26.1 miles to get to LOULAY ...That makes the total 719.1 miles. (1157 km)

Almost as soon as we had pitched the tent, I was asleep
The destination on day 29 - Niort

www.justgiving.com/walkacrossborders

Day 22 - Lesperon to Labouheyre (half way)

I have finished day 22 which is the half way stage of Walk Across Borders... It really wasn't easy today..

After last night's thunderstorm with heavy rain, I quickly packed away the tent (to Michelle's amusement) and moved away from the woodland area into the town (to be safe).. For us, it was the rest of the night sleeping in Brum (the car)... 

 

I started early this morning as Brum was not the most comfortable sleeping area and i set off on my journey.. It was picturesque first thing with the sun rising through the trees and the fog but it actually turned out to be a very long day..

It was road after road going into the horizon and constant rainfall.. Michelle tried her best to keep positive but could see it was difficult for her too... 

finally, in mid afternoon, the sun peaked through and became quite pleasant for the final 5 miles or so in respect of the weather. 

Unfortunately, worse in other areas as firstly I started getting a few problems with my right leg and when I took a little pain relief, became quite nauseous... I did, however, keep pushing on until I reached Labouheyre.. 

Once at the destination, we found a small bar but was disappointed to be "greeted" by one of the rudest, unwelcoming persons ever in the bar staff .. It appears that she was just about to close up for the day when we arrived.. I just had to see the funny side of it... It capped off a pretty difficult day.

There really wasn't much in Labouheyre so we have pitched the tent early and going to catch up on some of the sleep we missed with last night's storm..

On the positive side, I completed another 24 miles today keeping on my schedule.. The total now is 564.5 miles (908.5 km) in 22 days. 

Tomorrow I go to Belin-Béliet.... sleep well all... and PLEASE.... If you can help to raise awareness of what I am doing and why ... it would be greatly appreciated.. This could be as simple as sharing my posts and links or contacting different media to ask if they will run a story... 

Awareness is a MASSIVE part of why I am doing this... We have to get the right people to sit up and listen ... Let's get parental child abduction and parental alienation issues into the media spotlight... One day closer xxx