This walk has been a journey through my life in many ways! I have been in touch with people I knew as a child, at college, at work, as a new mother, past neighbours, past friends, work colleagues, business partner, employers, customers from my various past party plan and weight loss classes, long lost cousins etc etc! Who could have guessed that going for a walk could be such an enriching experience?

To each and every one of you thank you for making the effort to contact me and support me!

My time in Cornwall during and after the walk was amazing! I met up with so many friends from my past!

Thank you the those of you who came to my ‘Open House’ at Wetherspoons in Camborne. I hope we can keep in touch. It was a fantastic few days.

I hope many of you will come to Wales for a holiday and spend some more time catching up!

http://www.neathvale.co.uk is my holiday cottage next door to our home.

http://www.bythesea.Wales is as it says, by the Sea, about 10 miles from our home and is Royston’s holiday house.

I am now at home and playing catch up with preparations for the summer season but I haven’t finished sharing experiences from the walk so please click on follow so that you will know when I have posted!

Please send the link to my blog to anyone you know to help me achieve the Target I set on my Just Giving page!

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

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

I want to tell you more about things that happened on the walk and I am trying to persuade Royston to give you some insights from the support side of the trip!

So keep an eye out for updates!

If you watched the video of the finish you may have noticed that as I crossed the line Sam, my youngest son, handed me an ice cream cone.

During the walk I had told him that all I wanted when I got to Lands End was a Cornish Coffee ice cream! I had fancied an ice cream all the way from John O’Groats.

It was a sunny day and, for Sam, a Cornish Coffee Ice Cream was probably the most difficult thing I could have asked for! Why? They didn’t sell that flavour at Lands End!

However he wasn’t to be defeated he was given liquid coffee and vanilla ice cream to make his own coffee ice cream!!

Thank you Sam for your efforts. ……… As you will have seen things were a little hectic and excited at the finish line and I didn’t have time to eat it…….. Sam returned to the ice cream shop to put it in their freezer till I was ready!

After a photo shoot with the Lands End team for their social media and the official photos at the Lands End post, signing the book, and a phone interview with Radio Cornwall it was much, much later when we returned to retrieve the Sam made ice cream! Unfortunately the people in the shop had decided we weren’t coming back and had thrown it away!

They did give him the ingredients to make another but at that stage his gesture had been ruined!

I appreciated it Sam! Thank you!

The whole family was camping at Gwithian Farm Campsite and a table was booked at a local restaurant for 6pm to celebrate my birthday.

As everyone headed off in their own cars I told them to look out for Tim and give him a toot and wave as he was due to arrive at his campsite in Sennen for the night, ready for his finish on Friday.

They all spotted him and texted me! We stopped at the road to his campsite and had an emotional hug. The camaraderie of fellow JOGLE and LEJOG walkers is ……. so special.

We are part of a very select group!

To have shared the experience and finished so close together was special! Thank you Tim!

At this point some of you, the ones who have been following my blog since Day 1, will be wondering what happened to Richard?

Richard is a 75 year old who was attempting the JOGLE carrying a heavy pack on his back and camping. He had already walked LEJOG when he was 72! Amazing man.

Unfortunately he was taken ill near Newcastle and was too weak to continue. He had nothing to prove he had completed the journey south to north at the age of 72!

Back to my birthday celebration.

We had a great family meal together and then came something I wasn’t expecting………

A personalised cake made by Paula, Tom’s wife! Thank you Paula it was lovely and so unexpected.

At this point I want to say a big, big thank you to all my sons wives for the part they have played in this big adventure. Lucy, Paula, and Charlotte, along with Ben, Tom and Sam have tirelessly shared stuff on social media, rallied support, and gathered so many donations by their efforts that they are responsible for the amazing total I have raised for Alzheimer’s Society so far. Thank you to you all!

I haven’t finished collecting for Alzheimer’s Society……..

Take a look at my Just Giving page

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

Now that I have finished walking I can concentrate on increasing the total!

Please share the link to this blog with friends, contacts, work colleagues in the hope it may inspire them to achieve their dream, help them banish their arthritis pain, or encourage them to make a donation!

https://junesjogle.home.blog/

Thanks for reading this blog but don’t go away I still have questions to answer and tales to tell!

If you have any specific questions you want to ask email me junemayou@hotmail.com and I will answer them in this blog as I am sure you won’t be the only one wanting to know the answer!

Back soon………

I hope you were able to play the video of me crossing the finishing line.

I still can’t watch it without shedding a tear!

Everyone at Lands End for the finish made it such a special experience!

As if it wasn’t enough to have all my sons and their families there, Helen, Tanya and Alison who were friends at College of Sarum St Michael in Salisbury from 1972 – 1975 made the journey to Lands End and Helen made that fantastic banner!

Thank you girls, it meant so much!

The icing on the cake at the finish line were all the guests who watched my arrival, and joined in singing Happy Birthday and those who readily donated cash to Alzheimer’s Society. I collected £81 in cash at the finish.

Thank you everyone!

Every small donation helps to add to the great work being done by Alzheimer’s Society to find a cure for dementia so if you have just found this blog and feel you would like to help please visit my JustGiving page

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

Don’t go away ……. the story isn’t over yet!

Of course crossing the line isn’t the end……..you aren’t a true end to ender until you have signed the book at the Lands End Hotel and had your picture taken at the Lands End Post

Fantastic photo with my three sons and their sons! I love you all so much!

I haven’t finished my story…… stay tuned I will be back!

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As I walked away from the entrance booth towards the finish line I could see a crowd standing at the entrance to the complex! Ahead of them I could see flashing lights and banners and a finishing tape!

I was already sobbing and as I approached the finish tape held by my grandchildren the crowd in the background all started to sing Happy Birthday!

I was busy hugging all my family….my three sons, Ben, Tom and Sam, their wives, Lucy, Paula and Charlotte and my gorgeous grandsons Harry, Oliver, Shaun, Joel and Evan.

Helen my friend from teacher training college (72-75!) had made an amazing banner and was at the finish line with Tanya and Alison!

What was amazing was the way the visitors to Lands End joined in! Play this video to see for yourself!

I get emotional each time I play this ……

Time for another break but do come back there is still so much more to tell you!

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Day 65 Thursday 20th June

Well this is it……… the final days walk!

A bright morning, although there was some rain in the early hours. We stayed in Penzance last night after having a meal with my college friends. After breakfast we headed back to the spot where I had stopped walking on Saturday which was at the top of the hill out of Newlyn.

2pm was the finish time I was heading for and I had 9.5 miles to walk.

I opted to walk the interesting route rather than the A30! I thought you would like some pictures of ancient Cornwall rather than a main road!

First came the Two PipersThen a little further on were the Merry MaidensThen came the Tregiffian Burial Chamber.I thought I had plenty of time so was happy to have photo shoots……….. but not everything was to go to plan.

My route showed that I should turn done a lane that led to another minor road. Royston had said if I preferred I could stay on the same road. I looked at the entrance to the lane and wasn’t sure which route to choose. I made the wrong choice!

The start of the lane was quite closed in by the summertime growth of the hedgerows but I decided to go for it! I did get quite wet because there had been significant rain overnight. After a while the lane became much wider and I thought all would be well….that was until I found a section that was waterlogged and very muddy with no way round. I tried to go through but as I put a foot in the mud came over the top of my shoes and I decided being stuck in mud in the middle of nowhere with my welcome party waiting for my arrival wasn’t really an option. I was over a mile down the lane so what were my options? I tried to find a way past the mud bath by going into the fields on either side but that didn’t work!

I decided there was no option but to turn back. As I walked back along the lane I spotted through a gateway that looked as if there may be a way across the fields back in the direction of the road I had been on. I decided to try that rather than get wet again through the narrow part of the lane.

After several fields I climbed a gate and rejoined the road I had started on.

I had now added about 3 miles to my walk and gone from having plenty of time to needing to get a move on!

I stopped at the van for a drink and changed my very muddy trousers and shoes and carried on.

Meanwhile family and friends were gathering at the finish.

As I got on to the main road to Land’s End the emotions were starting to bubble up!

I really did have the finish line in sight …… little old me had walked 883 miles…….unbelievable!

As I entered the gateway of the Land’s End complex with its to marked lanes and two booths I chose the right hand lane, ahead I could see a crowd. The man in the booth said ‘You have just walked from John O’Groats haven’t you?” “And it is your birthday isn’t it?” He leaned out of the booth and gave me a hug and started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ That was it ….the floodgates opened!

But that was nothing compared to what happened in the next 10 minutes….

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Keep tuned in for the next instalment!

Day 64 Wednesday 19th June

I am excited and can’t wait for tomorrow……. never thought I would be excited about being 65! Well actually it isn’t about being 65…….. it’s about crossing the line at Lands End!

I am meeting my friends from college in Penzance tonight for a meal and then walking the 10 mile stretch to Land’s End tomorrow!

Today has been very special because I have met up with Tim Whittle, a Devon lad, who started his JOGLE a week after me! He is on target to cross the line on Friday! We walked together for a while and shared experiences! Well done Tim, an amazing achievement! So good to meet you after following your progress all the way!

You should have expected the Devon hills and I should have expected the Cornish weather!!

I will be posting more when I finish the walk ….. so don’t go away!

Tomorrow is the big day when I complete my challenge!

Please share this blog to help me collect donations for Alzheimer’s Society.

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Day 63 Tuesday 18th June

As Royston pointed out to me this morning I have earned this holiday as I didn’t take a rest day every 7th day as we originally planned!

Back to the subject of shoes and the like.

After much trial and error I managed to find a collection of shoes and boots that I could walk in! I needed some waterproof shoes/boots, some trail style running shoes and of course some sandals as I was likely to meet all sorts of weather conditions.

I took far too many shoes with me! The unused ones will get sold when I get home.

Two of the favourite pairs of shoes to walk in were Ecco and were waterproof, the other pairs were a pair of Karrimor trail shoes and a pair of Karrimor running shoes. In total these 4 pairs cost me £20.80 and I got an unworn pair of Karrimor sandals which I have worn on the walk for £2.20. So that is £23 for 4 pairs of shoes and a pair of sandals ……… all looking like new when I got them!

The profit I have already made from buying and selling the ones that didn’t suit was probably in excess of £100 and I can make at least another £100 profit from the ones I haven’t sold yet and the ones I took with me and never wore.

The knack was to look for virtually new shoes that were listed at a low start price on an auction but that had a high Buy it Now price! People looking for an auction bargain tended to ignore these and then I got them for a song. Eg the the most I paid was £8.60 but these shoes were listed with a start price of £8.00 and a Buy it Now of £35! These were shoes that would have cost over £80 new!

So enough on feet and shoes. I was prepared!

Am I fit? Well I can walk, I have coped with all the hills, I haven’t been in pain. I have been very lucky to have no illness or injury but ‘fit’ I don’t know!

(Refer to Day 17 of my blog for reference to arthritis and pain and how mine was cured! Today I had a message from someone who read it and started taking Rose Hip to say it is now starting to work! If you have pain do read it)

In October I walked the length of the Monmouth & Brecon Canal 55 miles in 3 days.

In November I walked from Tiverton to Camborne 112 miles in 5.5 days.

In January I walked from Bristol to Wellington 60 miles in 3 days

I was prepared!

My route was also prepared in great detail!

Now I am getting excited and impatient in equal measure to complete my challenge.

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Day 62 Monday 17th June

So today I woke up in a comfy bed at the start of a lazy day!

I just have to try to think of it as a holiday I have earned by walking 870 miles! Laziness isn’t me!

I am really enjoying meeting up with old friends.

Another popular comment…….

You must be fit!

I don’t consider myself to be fit but I was prepared!

It was May 2018 when I decided that I would aim for my 65th birthday to complete my John O’Groats to Land’s End Walk.

As I explained yesterday my feet weren’t the most suitable for purpose!

My first task was to try to find shoes or boots that were comfortable enough for me to walk distances. I have had a distinct lack of comfort in the foot department since I developed a bunion.

I then had to find out if I could actually walk distances!

I started walking a lot and for 6 weeks I averaged 8.5 miles a day. I then did a couple of weeks of averaging 12.5 miles a day! At this point I decided that I could walk but that I needed to scale back the miles because I didn’t have time to do anything else!

As you will remember we had a dry summer in 2018 and it was good to be outside. During these first 2 months I lost some weight by walking so many miles and felt good ……. but what about the feet…… well there was a lot of experimenting with footwear. As I was struggling with comfort the majority of those miles were walked in Karrimor sandals. I wore out 2 pairs during the summer of 2018.

I have very little income and couldn’t afford to buy expensive walking shoes/boots only to find out after 5 miles that they weren’t comfortable.

However that is exactly what people with more disposable income do……… so I started to search EBay for those worn once shoes at bargain prices. Yes you can find them….. My first plan was to try different makes and styles till I found one that was right for me and then buy at least 2 pairs exactly the same from the shops.

I discovered very quickly that when I bought the size I always wore there was too much pressure on my poor misshapen foot. I lost several toe nails and I had blisters!

I bought many pairs of almost new shoes for very cheap prices, most I only had to try on indoors to know they wouldn’t work for me. I then listed them with better pictures and descriptions than they had when I bought them and sold them for a profit, which enabled me to buy more!

Once I realised that I needed to go up a size I was starting to make progress!

I am sure I am boring some, if not all of you…..

Go and make a cuppa or have a drink and a break from my waffle and I will see you soon!

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Day 61 Sunday 16th June

We stayed in Penzance overnight and then made our way back to Camborne.

There was a family gathering at Sam & Charlotte’s home and as Ben, Lucy, Harry & Oliver are now in Cornwall on holiday I got to spend some time with 2 sons and 4 grandsons!!

Only one more son and one more grandson to arrive!

Also great to see my very special nephew, Zak, who was visiting from Dorset.

As a treat Royston booked us into the Wetherspoons hotel in Camborne for the night.

As I have caught up with quite a few friends I am noticing a pattern in the questions asked and comments made and I guess many of you have the same questions?

1. How are your feet?

2. Did you have blisters?

3. How many pairs of shoes have you worn out!

Answers

1. My feet were pretty hideous to start with……. I have a horrible bunion on my left foot and the start of one on my right!

I am completely flat footed………… apparently that may have helped cause the bunion!

I have a genetic condition called HNPP which causes numbness and nerve pain! I can never wear a shoe with a heel as my feet go completely numb for weeks! I get random nerve pains and have had them a few times on the walk in my big toes! The condition can cause foot drop but I was lucky on this walk!

Unfortunately I have passed this condition on to 2 of my 3 sons and at least one grandchild.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hereditary-neuropathy/

However I only needed to take paracetamol a couple of times to break the nerve pain cycle.

So no major problems with feet!

2. Blisters….. In the words of Frank Sinatra “I’ve had a few But then again, too few to mention”

With the luxury of a support vehicle my strategy was to change my shoes and socks when my feet got hot! This meant they weren’t damp and pressure changed to different spots with different shoes. Some days I wore one pair of shoes but more usually two or even three! Sometimes sandals felt right!

3. As I have worn several pairs of shoes I have worn down the heels quite dramatically on about 4 pairs but they are all still wearable!

More Questions and Answers tomorrow!

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Day 60 Saturday 15th June

As I walked through Redruth yesterday I noticed that it was Murdoch day today. We decided to pop over and have a look before I did my walk today.

Fortunately there was no rain to spoil the day.

After the procession and a look around we headed off to Fraddam for me to start the day’s walk.

There were lovely views right from the start!

The walk was pleasant and took me through quiet villages and evoked lots of memories of the past.

I walked through Relubbus and Goldsithney

P

After leaving Goldsithney and crossing the main Helston to Penzance road and walking down the road towards Marazion the views of the south coast became stunning!

Great views of St Michaels Mount and because of the strong breeze there were lots of kite surfers.

I walked through Penzance, the last town of the walk!

I decided to continue through Newlyn and at the end of the walk climbed the very steep hill out of the village.

Only about 10 miles left!

We spent a very pleasant evening in Penzance at the home of Kathy, a work colleague at the MMB from 1976 -1979.

Kathy made us a Cornish pasty and served a dessert of fresh fruit and Clotted Cream.

Lovely Cornish food and great company.

Thank you Kathy, we will stay in touch.

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Day 59 Friday 14th June

Back to the point between Scorrier and Redruth where I finished on Tuesday.

It was only minutes into the walk before I was able to catch glimpses of the sea on the north coast over the rooftops

That is the beauty of Cornwall, you are never far from the sea, but of course that does account for the extra wet days!

The walk was easy enough and as I spent so many years in this area I didn’t need a map! I walked through Redruth and on to Pool.

This is probably a good place to comment on something I have observed all the way through England and Wales the massive amount of development……. the huge housing estates being thrown up everywhere.

I moved to this area in 1975 and Camborne, Pool and Redruth have changed so, so much since then.

As I walked today I was trying to picture the streets as they were in the 1970’s.

My goodness that was a good memory test!

From Camborne I walked on past Penponds school and through Barripper where I was pleased to see The St Michaels Mount Inn still going strong.

So many of the pubs that were hugely popular in the 1970’s have long gone.

As I walked on through Carnhell Green, I passed one such casualty.

The rest of the day was an amble through country lanes on through Wall and Reawla and on to Fraddam where I crossed the Hayle to Helston road to finish at around the 10 mile point.

I was pleased to see Parbola campsite was still open as that was a family run campsite where I took my children in 1980’s. It was only 4 miles from home but once you were there you could have been anywhere!

So now I only have approx 20 miles left!

I was craving a pasty from Hampsons in Hayle so we went there hoping they wouldn’t

be closed! There were cleaning up but they had one very large steak pasty left and it had my name on it!

It was so massive we had half each….well I couldn’t deprive my support driver could I? We then went back to Camborne where the day was about to get even better!

After that pasty we needed a drink and Wetherspoons had my favourite beer, the first time I have tracked down The Beast on this walk!

Perfect West Country food and drink!

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Day 58 Thursday 13th June

We said our goodbyes to Kate and Phil and headed to Mullion to visit Pat, who has been a friend for many years. Good to see you Pat and thank you for all your help and advice over the years. I hope everything goes well for you, will be thinking of you.

Next, it was a catch-up with a Trish, a friend and work colleague who when we first met used to compare notes on our children, now 28 years on we are comparing notes on grandchildren! Where have all the years gone? We both worked for Slimming World then started our own weight loss company Lifestyle.

I am aware you are probably getting bored now …… don’t worry tomorrow I am going to walk!

Spent a lovely evening in Camborne with Sam & Charlotte and my two youngest grandsons Joel & Evan.

Don’t worry there will be plenty of family pictures next Thursday!

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Day 57 Wednesday 12th June

As we stayed in Camborne just around the corner from last nights eating place we treated ourselves to a breakfast there.

Then we had to do mundane things like banking.

As I am now in Cornwall and not going to be walking 15-20 miles a day and am likely to be sampling Cornish delights such as pasties, cream teas and ice creams I reckoned that if I have lost any weight over the last 8 weeks (Yes I started from John O’Groats 8 weeks ago today) that I was likely to put it back on before I get home!

I was curious, to see if my weight had changed (and people keep asking me) so I visited a surgery and asked to use their scales. It looks as if I have lost no more than 5lbs.

My goodness it won’t take many pasties to gain that!

Then off we went to Helston to visit a lovely couple who used to employ me some years back and whose company I really enjoy and, as usual when we meet, we spent several hours chatting. Lovely to see you Mel and Chris!

We then went on to Franchis Holiday Park, the campsite we worked and lived on for several years. Thanks for having us Kate and Phil, lovely to see you all again and I can’t believe how Sarah and Becky have grown. We are staying on the campsite tonight which has given me a chance to do the laundry and best of all bring you all up to date with the blog!

As I have been sitting here in the camper in the peace and quiet I have been listening to the owls hooting outside and remembering all the things we loved about being here.

Royston has just woken up and said he thought he could hear raindrops but actually it was me typing this so as you are now all up to date and it is 1.30 am I guess I had better say Goodnight!

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