First steps – Saturday

I’ve met the other 25 in the group, and it’s a really good group. People from all over, all ages and shapes and abilities. There’s going to be lots of good chats along the way.

We drove for about an hour and a half out of Beijing and our local guide gave us all sorts of fascinating information. We are staying two nights here and have had a quick jaunt up part of the wall to get a sense of what it will be like over the next eight days? It’s not going to be easy, but it will be scenic and rewarding.

Soon it’s dinner time and then a long sleep for all of us.

c

Hello Beijing

Hello Beijing. What an amazing and massive and huge airport. Everything on a massive scale. So many people, who knew?

I had to give my passport in order to get a Wi-Fi access code and no access to twitter so far. So, nothing controversial coming from me on this trip. Communism is awesome.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been somewhere where I have no idea what’s going on around me, I forgot how fun it was.

I’m now waiting at International arrivals for the rest of the crew to arrive from London.

The adventure begins!

I’m off

In a few hours, I make my way to Beijing to start my trek across many miles of the Great Wall.

When I started thinking about this adventure last year, I was anxious about how much money I would need to raise. I have to admit that I had serious doubts that this would ever come off and I half expected that I would have to pull the plug. But it’s happening, and it’s because of the generous givers in my life. Over the last few months, I have been blown away by everyone’s generosity. Genuinely and sincerely, I have been so humbled and am so deeply thankful for the generous outpouring of support that I have received from so many people, far and wide. It has been a big motivation to get me training and preparing and it will be the thing that pushes me on as I climb up my 22nd thousand step and it all starts to get a bit much. It feels good to embark on this interesting adventure and to have so many of you supporting me along the way and it feels good to be able to give thousands of pounds to a charity that I know will make a very positive impact during a very negative part of people’s lives.

No one wants to die of cancer, but if that’s the card you get dealt, it must be of some comfort to know that there are amazing places you can go where events can take their course and you can be surrounded by family and beauty and peace.

Anyway, this trip is for Francesca and this trip is for Peter. This trip is for Bernard, and Helen. This trip is for Hunter, and Debbie, and Lolly, for Rebecca and Marj. This trip is for Jo. This trip is for Henri and Jean-Pierre and Michel, for Donald and Phoebe. For Paula, for Naomi, for Peter and Alix, for Donna, for Julia. For all the people I’ve missed that have dealt closely with cancer.

This trip is for those of us in the future who will be diagnosed with it.

Thank you again so much for your support. Wish me luck!

xo
c

Local hike

I’ll be honest, the Grouse Grind got to be a grind. So intense, so full-on, basically it was an hour of a intense step machine with trees.

So, bearing in mind that I still need to train and get in shape, I decided to vary the training style somewhat and go for nice long rambling walks with a spin class and some step machines thrown in. Hopefully that’ll be enough.

My buddy Shaker and I drove this morning to the neighbouring Pacific Spirit Regional Park and did an 8.5km “hike” (pretty much flat).

Not a great challenge, but beautiful ‘foresty’ and I got a bit of a sweat going and that’s going to have to be good enough.

If I fall over and collapse while on this big wall, we’ll all know why.  Still, so long as there’s just one person behind me on this thing, I’ll be OK.

c

Grouse Grind #2 (sort of)

For the second week in a row, I am at the top of Grouse Mountain. It’s one of the little mountains that lies to the north of Vancouver and it’s regularly swarmed by fitness fanatics who practically jog straight a 3km steep incline to get to the top (3000 feet). Luckily there is a cable car that takes you back down (or brings you up if you are not inclined to sweat).

Anyway, last week was my first attempt and it was hard work, clearly I have some work to do to get in shape for China.

This week, I tried a slightly different path called the BCMC trail which takes a bit longer and has a few more zigzags.  It’s meant to be ‘easier’. I wish I could say it was but I was still a sweaty mess when I got to the top. Clearly I have more training to do as I understand this wall in China has some steps in it.

With all this hiking (or in my case sweaty ambling) there is time to think. Today I was thinking about a dear friend of our family, a wonderful lady called Helen. She passed away yesterday, bathed in sunshine, at peace, and surrounded by all her family. She was staying in a hospice called Dorothy House after a long and courageous bout with cancer.

I haven’t seen Helen in a long time but my parents are dear friends with her and her husband Gordon and I would often get the full update from my mum about what they were all up to. Helen had had cancer for a long time and was a source of inspiration in the way that she dealt with it.  Not just to me, but to my family too.

I read somewhere once that you’re not supposed to frame cancer as an enemy. You’re supposed to avoid using terms like ‘fight’ and ‘beat’ and ‘winning and losing’. I remember there being a sound reason for that, but I can’t remember what it is and hard as I try, I can’t think of any other way of phrasing it. People do fight cancer.  Sometimes they win and sometimes they don’t.

I have been moved and inspired by the stories of how Helen has held herself through something that most of us would find an unbearable ordeal.  Just like with Francesca, who started me on this path, and just like with Peter (my father-in-law) who continues to inspire me today with his  courage and determination.

So, I’m just going to keep putting one foot slowly in front of the other and climb these (many) steps and try to do something useful for someone who may one day need some help with their battle.

Thank you again to all of you who have donated to the cause.  I’m getting close to my fundraising goal which is such an inspiring thing.  Aside from everything else, I HAVE to do this as you’ve all given SO MUCH MONEY to make sure I do!

c

 

Grouse Grind #1

Okay China, I am getting ready. I just walked straight uphill for over an hour to get to the top of Grouse Mountain.

It’s a well-known hike here called the Grouse Grind. It’s a bit of a rite of passage and I’m glad that’s over with!

It’s not easy but it is good training for the many ups and downs in China so I think I will be back before I head off in six weeks.