I don’t blame you for thinking I had gone! I thought you had all gone too as my journey was over and I had become lax with posting….. I thought you would all be bored with my ramblings but I have been asked several times ‘When are you going to update your blog?’

I have still been struggling with the lack of an ambition now that I have satisfied my lifelong urge to walk from John O’Groats to Lands End.

Yes it is a hard one to follow….

What I do know is that the preparations, the training and the walk itself left me in better shape than I had probably ever been…….. I don’t want to lose that!

Potentially at 65 things can deteriorate very fast……. and I don’t want that to happen.

I am focussed on the need to keep mind and body in good order to get the most from the last section of my life.

What could my next achievement be? I don’t run, I have often passed runners on the road (from the comfort of my car) and thought ‘I don’t get it!’

However could my next challenge be to learn to run and then go on to run a marathon? I haven’t run for about 52 years so that is a very big ask. It would be a big challenge ………….. and then my mind went off into the world of fantasy where I thought could I get fit enough and train to achieve a marathon on my 66th birthday?

I did say it was a world of fantasy ……..could I challenge my 3 sons to run in the same marathon?

This train of thought was getting ridiculous but winter is coming and it is so easy on dark, damp days to stay indoors and not get enough exercise and fresh air. Last year I had the focus of the JOGLE. I had built up my mileage during the long summer of 2018 and when winter came I joined a gym to make sure I had no excuse not to exercise even on the wettest of winter days.

I still have the gym membership and I have been using it to keep my fitness levels up since the big walk. As I mentioned earlier I am in better shape than I have ever been.

I was an overweight child…. I am short, just five foot and come from a long line of short round ancestors!! I have had to be aware of my food intake all my adult life.

At 15 I was 11 stone and I would say that 95% of my adult life I have been within half a stone either side of that weight. Sometimes heavier and very, very occasionally lighter!

Now you can probably can see why I was never a runner……a five foot, eleven and a half stone, flat footed (forgot to mention that before) runner isn’t really a very pretty sight.

I spent many years working as a weight loss consultant trying to help people make changes to keep their weight under control. This was something that was close to my heart as I was constantly aware from my own genetic make up how easy it was to gain stones!

When I became a mum I was very aware that I needed to make sure my children learnt good eating habits so that they didn’t become overweight.

They can all tell you stories of how they got healthy snacks for school where their friends had sweets. They never had sugar in drinks or on cereals (and they didn’t have sugary cereals!) They were all sporty and had good teeth and didn’t get fat so I must have been on the right track!

So back to the present…….. My weight dropped during my training for the JOGLE and I have managed to keep it under control and I am now approx nine and a half stone. This is still borderline overweight for my height but I feel it is a healthy weight for me and I want to maintain it. This is not possible for me unless I eat healthily and exercise regularly……….back to my next challenge…….. it has to make me exercise and eat healthily…….

So let’s forget a marathon…… for now anyway.

I think I have come up with a focus, something Royston and I can do together, something that gives us both a reason to stay fit over the winter……….

Can you guess?

I am so tempted to leave you there on the cliff edge and tempt you to come back to find out but I am not that mean.

My plan is that next June we will do 3 peaks in 3 weeks! I know that is a piece of cake for many young fit folks but it is a sensible challenge for us!

So we will take 3 weeks holiday in the camper during which time we will climb Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. So potentially I will climb Ben Nevis on my 66th birthday.

We will be able to see more of Scotland, which we fell in love with, and will be able to choose the day’s we climb in order to have the best views from the peaks!

It is something to look forward and a reason to keep fit and healthy through the winter…..

Have I climbed a mountain before? Find out in my next post!

If you have just found this blog I suggest you scroll back to the beginning to follow my journey from John O Groats to Lands End which started on April 17th 2019 and ended on my 65th birthday June 20th 2019

Sorry I can’t believe I let another week pass before writing more.

I have been so busy……

I mentioned the fact that hi viz was needed for the walk…… with some research I found a company online that could print the front and back of a hi viz vest with my details.

See photos

This made me visible and told anyone I talked to or anyone behind me what I was doing.

I had thought this would help with fund raising but it was not as effective as I hoped…

Why ……. Well they might be hi viz but they have become ‘invisible’ !

What I mean is that everyone wears yellow hi viz whether they are cycling, walking their dog, on the way to school, working on the road, fixing broken down vehicles or working as a PCSO. So we all see them and keep them safe but we don’t give a thought to why they are wearing it …….. other than to keep them safe.

So my yellow did keep me safe but it didn’t help me fund raise ……however I was on numerous occasions asked for directions ha! ha!

So if I did the walk again, for the sake of the charity, I would choose a different colour to attract more attention!!

I never imagined I could wear hi viz and be invisible, but it was proved as I walked through a crowd of thousands on their way to a match of the Warrington Wolves and not a soul acknowledged my journey! It should have been a good chance to fundraise? Maybe I am just not ‘pushy’ enough to be a serious fundraiser?

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

Sorry for leaving you so long but this is the busiest time of year for me…..

Today the weather was good and I had time to go to a local car boot sale to sell my unwanted goods and try to boost my donations to Alzheimer’s Society.

I took my boards saying what I had achieved and a photo of me at the finish post.

It was a small sale but I did manage to raise another £62 in sales and donations.

I will do another one in September when I have accumulated some more items to sell.

By the way my mind keeps wandering back to what I should do next?

I need another personal challenge. I had wanted to do that walk for 58 years ……why did I wait so long?

Will be with you in a couple of days…..

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to use a familiar, comfortable coat…… the problem was it was black, not a safe colour for walking on the road. During the training walk from Bristol to Wellington I was also trialling a back pack that I didn’t usually use. The back pack had a waterproof cover which was orange so that helped with visibility from behind but I realised that as you walk towards the oncoming traffic on their side of the road that wasn’t enough for the JOGLE. I would need be visible from all directions.

The back pack in question had a frame which is good for air circulation on the back plus spreading the weight but it took up a lot of space in the small camper so this gave me more searching and testing to do before the big adventure.

Also I realised that as I had support I didn’t need to carry as much as I did on the first long training walk. I had contact with the support vehicle by mobile phone, (subject to signal) If I needed a change of shoes I could summon my support, so no need to carry extra shoes!

The problem with backpacks, particularly in the rain, is that to get to anything in it you have to take it off, usually put it on the wet ground, remove the waterproof cover unfasten the pack, rummage and then put everything back, fasten, put the cover on, and put it on your back! A bit of a faff in the rain!

At this stage in the training I had 2 old IPhones on different networks and I was using one of them to listen to audio books. The problem was that my phone batteries ran out very quickly so I needed to carry battery packs to charge the phones so that Royston could track me on Find Friends ( subject to signal) The battery pack had to be plugged into my phone by a charging lead. Very awkward especially in the rain. Hence more trips into the backpack!

Something else to improve before the adventure, more research to do.

Obviously we needed to charge lots of devices in the camper, phones, battery packs, etc etc …….more modifications….. The camper has a solar panel so we needed to install multi charging sockets. We also needed to get usb charging leads for other everyday items, electric toothbrush, camera battery charger, razor etc. This would mean that we didn’t have to rely on campsites with electric hook ups. This would mean we could be off grid and not need to drive lots of extra miles to campsites.

You may be starting to see how important the training walks were…….

More soon!

As I mentioned in the last post I did another long training walk. In January I walked from Clifton, Bristol down to Wellington. It was a 3 day 20 mile a day walk and at the worst time of year because the daylight hours were so short!

The plan was to walk to Tiverton, where I started the last training walk but it was a Friday afternoon and the final few miles were on the road. The traffic was heavy and the light and visibility were poor so for safety reasons I stopped when I got to Wellington. I had still walked 60 miles in 3 days.

This walk was a real test but was also amazing!

It was really cold in the mornings. I needed hat and gloves (not really me to wear hat and gloves!) and my fingers were still so cold I couldn’t feel them! As I walked through the suburbs of Bristol I had some massive hill climbs and at this time the majority of my training at home had been on the towpaths! My progress was hindered by the multitudes of discarded Christmas trees strewn across the pavements! I guess it was a good year for real trees.

The walk was certainly one of contrasts. Royston had planned this to be part of the main walk so that it was a another chunk of the JOGLE route that was planned and checked.

I guess that many of you have been to Cheddar Gorge? I walked to, and through, the Cheddar Gorge. It is so surreal to walk through places that have in the past been the destination. When you walk you see so much more than you ever see as a driver or even as a passenger in a car.

It is so hard to explain but I will never be able to get this feeling out of my system or be able to adequately explain it to someone who hasn’t done an end to end or similar. Oh dear I am rambling but writing this has just connected me back to the feelings experienced on the JOGLE. Towns are actually so close together and I couldn’t get over the fact that in England I often walked through 2 major towns in one day. We lose touch with the world when we are in those tin boxes on wheels. In history how many times do we hear that armies marched from one place to another often hundreds or even thousands of miles apart. Somehow the experience of walking the length of the UK connects you with the way we were! We were born to walk!

Right…… back to the training walk. We stayed overnight in the van in Cheddar. A very cold night and when I started walking as soon as it got light there was a very heavy frost and icy roads. After the climb out of Cheddar and spectacular views I was headed for the contrast of the Somerset levels. Quiet, open countryside and it was here that two deer ran across a field, jumped a fence and ran along the road in front of me before disappearing into a field on the other side of the road. Stunning…..

I am missing the experiences of the freedom of walking so much!

If you have ever thought about doing something like this, do it! You cannot buy these experiences, you have to make them happen.

I need a break…… to reflect……. and to connect back to things I need to do today…..

See you tomorrow…….

After the walk from Tiverton to Camborne we made storage modifications in the van.

I packed all the things we might need on the walk into small labelled containers that fitted in the small storage spaces we had. Actually that sort of thing is right up my street! I like to be organised and know I have everything and where to find it! When we are next in the van I’ll take a photo of the cupboards to show you!

I am better at practical things and whilst I was messing around with small containers and labels Royston was up to his neck in maps, plans, gps devices biographies, google map, iPhones etc plotting a safe but as direct as possible route! He wrote meticulous directions for every mile of the route and I copied them onto index cards to carry with me! This took months of work!

I was still trying to find the right shoes/boots, trousers, tops, coat, backpack etc. This was all trial and error and despite masses of trials when I did the JOGLE there were things that could have been improved!

I have talked about shoes before and since being home have sold off all the unused shoes and boots I bought at a profit! (So my footwear cost nothing!)

Whilst on the 112 mile training walk I had to deal with some torrential rain and had bought a nearly new Berghaus waterproof coat. I soon decided I really didn’t like it! It felt too ‘stiff’. It had loads of pockets that had waterproof zips but trying to use them in the rain was really awkward. I didn’t like the double zip, then flap over etc etc….

After this walk I sold that coat and tried several others! I rejected them all for one reason or another. When I did the next long training walk I used a coat I have had for a long time a Regatta which was very light, comfy and warm as it is fleece lined on the top half. It also was good to roll up, when not needed, and stuff into a small space.

After wearing it on the next long walk to check it. I decided it was the best one to take because it offered warmth and wind protection and I wasn’t sure what weather conditions I would come across in Scotland!

I bought Nikwax Tech Wash and Nikwax In Wash Waterproofer and followed the instructions.

Need to pop off now but I will be back tomorrow for the next instalment!

Keep sharing the link to this blog

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

And to my Just Giving page

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

If you are still following this blog, thank you for your dedication and patience!

I have just spent a very busy couple of weeks with my gorgeous grandsons but they have all gone home now so tomorrow I will tell you more about the preparations for my walk!

I am missing the thrill of achieving the necessary mileage each day! I need a new challenge.

I will be with you tomorrow!

I was fortunate with the weather in 2018 but when I spotted that Celtic Leisure who run several gyms in my area had a joining offer in September I decided that it would be a good idea to join for the winter months so that there was no temptation to let my level of fitness slip!

Royston was very concerned that most of my training walking was being done on the towpaths and that I wasn’t tackling many hills!!

He had a point……. I live surrounded by hills and mountains but my choice was always the flattest route! My walk was going to start in the Scottish Highlands so there would be no getting away from hills there! This is where the gym membership came in handy. I was able to build the hill climbing muscles without actually climbing hills!

I think my aversion to hills is a left over from when my knees were so painful with arthritis (before I started taking Rose Hip tablets).

I didn’t use the gym obsessively and always chose to be outdoors when I could be! The advantage of the gym was the concentrated workout when I didn’t have the time for a long walk.

In October I did a 3 day walk along the Monmouth and Brecon Canal using the camper van as a support vehicle and our bed for the night! I walked 55 miles in the 3 days.

All went well but this was still a flat walk and I didn’t have much navigation to cope with! Just follow the canal!

By this time Royston was busy route planning which took many, many hours partly because he is very meticulous, and partly because he knows I have no sense of direction and am hopeless at map reading!

He planned the section of the route from Tiverton in Devon down to Camborne in Cornwall about 112 miles. This was so that I could practise on part of the actual route and tie in the training with visiting my aunt & uncle in Dorset and my grandsons in Camborne.

He equipped me with maps and very detailed instructions which referred to the maps and even photos of some of the more complicated junctions. This walk was a real test of how the JOGLE would work. We used Find Friends on our phones so that he could keep an eye on where I was!

I needed to prove to myself that I could walk 20 miles a day back to back whilst sleeping in the van!

We needed to establish a routine for ‘walking’ days.

We had to work out how I was going to eat properly when on the 9 week walk using the vans limited cooking equipment and food storage space.

Royston needed to know that I could follow his instructions!

I needed to tackle ‘real’ hills and believe me Devon has plenty of those!

November is a challenging time of year to train like this as the weather was not very good…. there was plenty of mud and puddles to deal with. This helped us plan how to modify the van to deal with wet clothes and muddy footwear.

The other main problem with walking 20 miles a day in November is the lack of daylight hours and the fact that when the weather is bad so is visibility! Once again it gave us information on what equipment I needed to carry and what hi viz clothing I needed.

This walk was very challenging but I did manage 112 miles in 5.5 days.

It gave us answers to many of our questions about the John O Groats to Lands End Walk.

It proved to me I could consistently walk 20 miles a day and gave me the confidence to tell the world my plans for 2019!

My dream was going to become reality!

More about our preparations soon!

I really wish I was still on the ‘walk’. The focus on the task in hand was fantastic and I am really missing it!

Back in May 2018 Ben, my eldest son ran his first marathon, not an easy road marathon, no ….. he ran the Windermere marathon, a toughie by anyone’s standards!

Whilst I was passenger in the car on a journey home from visiting elderly relatives, I followed his progress on Find Friends on my phone. I was so proud of his effort and his determination. He works long hours, has a family, is always busy but he had made the time and put in the training to make sure he could finish the race.

I was overcome with emotion and pride when I saw him cross the line and received a photo of the finish.

If he could find the time to train, make the effort and achieve his personal target what was stopping me?

By the time we arrived home my mind was in overdrive! What was stopping me? What excuse could I use for not achieving my target?

Now was the time!

I had to go for it…….. I would be 65 next summer……time was running out.

So that night I went to bed with my heard full of plans and personal challenges.

My pride at Ben’s achievement sparked the desire to ‘go for it’

I got up the next day fired up and ready to test myself.

I needed to start walking………..

Over the next 6 weeks my average daily walk was 8 miles a day…..and it was during this testing/training period that I got blisters and lost toenails.

We talked about the ‘walk’ and during this time we bought our elderly camper van…… now I had no excuse I had a support vehicle and I had a willing support driver. The challenge was on!

I started to order and read biographies of previous End to Enders. Royston started to research the route.

I upped my daily average mileage to 12 miles a day!

I could easily achieve these distances but I soon discovered that it didn’t leave me much time for anything else.

The summer of 2018 was fantastic and made my walking easy. I would regularly walk to town and back (almost 5 miles away)

I started to worry about how I would maintain the fitness and walk the distances during the winter……Wales is renowned for it’s rain. I am NOT a fan of walking in the rain! I bought a secondhand treadmill to use during the ‘wet season’

The plans really were taking shape!

I was starting to take shape too…… with an average weekly total of 50-85 miles I lost a stone in weight. I focussed on eating healthily and looking after myself.

It was starting to be a serious plan.

We used the camper for several short trips and made the changes we needed to the interior to make it ‘ready’ to live in for the 3 months of the walk.

This was only the start of the preparations!

More very soon…..

I meant to start telling you of the preparations for the walk that started in 2018….but as I am very prone to do ……

I got sidetracked!

I have been so busy ……. busy with life and with catching up, but most importantly I have been trying to spread the word about how much of a miracle my walk was considering my deteriorating health 9 years ago.

I want to give as many people as I can hope for the future. So many people are in pain and have written themselves off….. I had!

Recently I joined a Facebook group Osteoarthritis Support UK Only and realised just how huge the problem is and how many people suffer.

I know many, many people suffer in silence every day with joint pain but haven’t consulted a doctor because they fear they will be told……one or more of these

1. It’s your age

2. You need to lose weight

3. It’s wear and tear

4. You need prescription medications

5. You need an operation

So most people struggle on using over the counter painkillers for many years as I did.

This is what I posted yesterday on the Facebook group

“Never lose hope! I achieved my life long ambition of walking from John O Groats to Lands End arriving on my 65th birthday June 20th this year despite the fact that 8 years ago I was in so much pain from arthritis I could hardly walk and lived on painkillers! Both knees, both hips and both shoulders hurt and I was so miserable! So stay positive and keep an open mind about how much a natural supplement could change your life. I am certainly glad I did as I walked over 880 miles in 9 weeks with no joint pain and no painkillers. My saviour was Holland & Barrett 750mg Rose Hip tablets which I started over 7 years ago and followed dosage on the bottle exactly and had stopped all painkillers after 6-8 weeks. I still take the tablets every day and wouldn’t stop or change brand! Now the crunching sound of bone on bone in my knees has completely gone and my knees have returned to a normal size. 9 years ago at the age of 56 after an arthroscopy I was told my only option was a TKR…….now I don’t need one.’

Of course it won’t work for everyone but if it works for someone my post is worthwhile.

I just want to make sure everyone knows that this natural remedy has been completely life changing for me ……… and as a side effect I haven’t had a cold since I have been taking it

Keep an open mind and if you try this then don’t treat it as a painkiller give it time to rebuild the cartilage for lasting results. It’s not a painkiller it helps repair the joints and then you get relief from the pain.Never lose hope! I achieved my life long ambition of walking from John O Groats to Lands End arriving on my 65th birthday June 20th this year despite the fact that 8 years ago I was in so much pain from arthritis I could hardly walk and lived on painkillers! Both knees, both hips and both shoulders hurt and I was so miserable! So stay positive and keep an open mind about how much a natural supplement could change your life. I am certainly glad I did as I walked over 880 miles in 9 weeks with no joint pain and no painkillers. My saviour was Holland & Barrett 750mg Rose Hip tablets which I started over 7 years ago and followed dosage on the bottle exactly and had stopped all painkillers after 6-8 weeks. I still take the tablets every day and wouldn’t stop or change brand! Now the crunching sound of bone on bone in my knees has completely gone and my knees have returned to a normal size. 9 years ago at the age of 56 after an arthroscopy I was told my only option was a TKR…….now I don’t need one.

Of course it won’t work for everyone but if it works for someone my post is worthwhile.

I just want to make sure everyone knows that this natural remedy has been completely life changing for me ……… and as a side effect I haven’t had a cold since I have been taking it!

Keep an open mind and if you try this then don’t treat it as a painkiller give it time to rebuild the cartilage for lasting results. It’s not a painkiller it helps repair the joints and then you get relief from the pain.

Please share my story with everyone you know who could be suffering in silence… It may work for them or for you…..

It has to be worth a try and at the moment I have just bought more Rose Hip tablets online from Holland and Barrett because they are half price.

I never pay full price …….. I buy when they are on offer so that I always have supplies.

Yes it is still expensive but that bottle of 240 tablets will last 40 days on the starting dosage and by the end of the 40 days you should be feeling benefit. That’s about £3 a week, who wouldn’t pay that to become pain free? Once the tablets are working you use the maintenance dose and a bottle of 240 lasts 60 days. For me it is a ‘no brainier’ as they say, to keep maintaining my joints and avoid colds (very high Vit C in Rose Hip) for 29p a day!

Cheaper than an orange and so much more of a benefit to your health!

There are no guarantees in life but if you don’t try you won’t know whether it will improve your health and your joints. Make sure you follow the dosage and take at least the whole 240 before you make your judgement!

I will never stop taking these and I will never change brand…it has been so life changing for me!

If some of you have found this boring, because I have mentioned it before, I am sorry but without this I couldn’t have walked from John O’Groats to Lands End.

Please share this blog

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

I am still collecting donations for Alzheimer’s Society

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

If you want to contact me

Email junemayou@hotmail.com

Facebook June Mayou (Bright)

My desire to walk John O’Groats to Lands End started in 1961.

In 1960 television was a new acquisition for most homes and when Dr Barbara Moore walked from John O’Groats to Lands End the nation was excited to see footage of this amazing lady on their television.

Shortly after Dr Barbara Moore’s walk Billy Butlin organised a race from John O’Groats to Lands End and gave high value prizes. The nation was gripped with JOGLE ‘fever’!

It is worth googling Dr Barbara Moore 1960 and watching some footage of her walk!

She did the journey in 22 days that really is fast walking!

My dad was fascinated and the next year he took the family to Lands End and we looked at the photos and stories in the makeshift gallery for End to Enders. From that day I wanted to walk from John O’Groats to Lands End.

It took me along time to find the right time to do the walk.

The preparations for my walk started in May 2018………

More about my preparations tomorrow……..

Hi everyone!

Today I received my certificate and am now officially an End to Ender!

To be awarded the certificate we had to send off proof to the association of the journey.

At regular points along the journey we had to have their official record sheets stamped, signed and dated at places such as post offices, libraries and tourist offices. Of course the stamp at John O’Groats and Lands End were most important!

Last stamp of the journey……at The Lands End Hotel!

This week I received an email from a couple I met whilst walking who were walking the opposite way. They were doing their Land’s End to John O’Groats Walk in stages a stage each year. Their next stage will be their last, Inverness to John O’Groats.

Reading the email made me go back to the early part of my blog to check on where I met them and doing that made me realise how much more I want to tell you all!

So don’t go away…… I promise you a new instalment tomorrow.

I am still collecting for Alzheimer’s Society so please share this blog

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

I am very busy back at home catching up with all the things I literally ‘walked away’ from as I embarked on my journey from John O’ Groats to Lands End.

The whole adventure took a year in the planning, training and execution and now it feels so odd not to have that focus…….

I need to tell you about the planning and preparations that made sure the walk was a success and not a disaster.

My focus now is on simplifying life as the time on the road, walking and living in a small camper van gives you plenty of time to focus on what is important in life and what is just clutter and complication.

We don’t know how much life, or how much health, we have left but we can make sure that we make the most of those days, months or years.

Please share my blog and keep looking out for my next instalment….. I will be back very soon!

I am still collecting donations for Alzheimer’s and am currently trying to arrange to attend a car boot sale to promote my walk and to sell lots of possessions and donate the proceeds to Alzheimer’s Society to help me achieve my target!

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

http://www.justgiving.com/JunesJOGLE?utm_id=25

Back soon more sorting to do for my fundraising!