Another walk

This time last year we were getting in to our stride during our Camino walk with Austin and Pauline. Next Saturday Mary and I are setting out on another walk only this time in Umbria, Italy. We will be attempting to walk the route of St. Francis from Assisi to Rome. This old traditional walk is about 180 miles long and passes through many historic and beautiful Roman hill towns and villages. I have promised some of our friends from the Camino that I would resurrect a blog for this so I will start writing next Saturday from Pisa. By the way I hope you are impressed by the fact I was able to include a photo. See you next week.

Roddensvale

Well folks today was a very special day for Mary and I. This morning we attended the assembly in Roddensvale Special School in Larne and it was a truly wonderful experience. After being introduced by John Madden, the school Principal, we gave a presentation on our Camino walk. With the aid of an overhead screen we showed our journey, who we met along the way and what we saw. I must say that the photos of cows, sheep, eagles, storks, and lizards, were the ones that caused the most interest. The pupils and staff were the most enthusiastic assembly audience I have ever stood in front of. At the end of the presentation there was an opportunity for the pupils to ask questions and this was for us the most rewarding part. It was a morning Mary and I will never forget. Three things have made this Camino worthwhile, the generosity of people towards our charities, the knowledge that the medical and educational staff involved in these institutions will be able to do extra good with the money, and the wonderful people we met during our trip. As usual I will post photos on Facebook but unfortunately most of the photos we have cannot be used since they show children's faces but I hope you enjoy the ones posted.  Thank you all for making this such a great experience. You really have, with your generosity of money and kindness of spirit, rekindled our belief in humanity. Colin

Presentation cheque to NI Children's Kidney Fund.

candmcamino: Well today was a day that brought all of our effor...: Well today was a day that brought all of our efforts together. Because of the generosity of so many people we were able to present a cheque ...

Presentation cheque to NI Children's Kidney Fund.

candmcamino: Well today was a day that brought all of our effor...: Well today was a day that brought all of our efforts together. Because of the generosity of so many people we were able to present a cheque ...

Well today was a day that brought all of our efforts together. Because of the generosity of so many people we were able to present a cheque to the Northern Ireland Children's Kidney Fund for £4250. We can never  thank you enough for the generosity you have shown to us, not just in monetary terms, but also in messages of good wishes that motivated us along our journey. The combined efforts from so many people will be rewarded in the wonderful work achieved by the nursing and medical staff who administer the fund. Since so many contributed  we could not thank you all personally but we feel that special mention should be given to the small core of family and friends who collected tirelessly on behalf of our designated charities. I will not mention our core support group by name since,with my memory, I'm bound to leave someone important out, but you know who you are and you will always be in our thoughts and prayers. On Friday we will be visiting Roddensvale Special School and making another presentation. These presentations are in many ways more physically, emotionally and mentally demanding than the walk and we all found today hard, each in our own way. Well Friday is another day and I'll post a blog telling you how we get on. Forgot to say but I posted photographs of today's presentation on Facebook. Call me stupid but I still cannot get photos on the blog. Thanks. Colin.

Closing the account.

We have decided that the cut off date for the candmcamino account will be Friday 27th September so that cheques can be given to the two designated charities, The NI Children's Kidney Fund and Roddensvale Special School Larne. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their generosity. At the present moment we have over £8000 and have been astounded by the amount of money you have donated and will never be able to thank you. Our original aim was £2000 but you have made £8000 which is so generous. The next blog will be about the presentations with some photographs.

Home for a week

It is now a week since we returned home and I thought that it would be a good time to look at what has happened during the past six or seven weeks. I cannot speak for the people we met during our journey but for Mary and I the return has been emotional, interesting and physically challenging. After such a long time away it is wonderful and indeed beautiful to spend quality time with our family. We knew that we had missed everyone, especially our grandchildren, but we didn't realise by how much. You would think that after walking five hundred miles you would return fit and strong. Our experience is that since our return we have been tired, stiff and physically sore. I keep wondering if our fellow travellers have experienced the same? I believe that the walk created its own energy and with the  adrenalin rush as the journey neared completion we were swept towards Santiago on a cloud of enthusiastic anticipation but now that we are back it is like someone sticking a pin in a balloon. Have the other members of our pilgrim family all returned home safe and sound? Has the journey made a significant change to their everyday lives? Have the positive thoughts and intentions experienced on the walk evaporated like New Year's Eve intentions or have they grown and flourished? Only time will answer these questions but hopefully the walk has had a positive effect on all of us.  Since our return the generosity of people has continued to amaze us. We are hoping to hand over the money to our charities towards the end of August.  We have had contact from several fellow travellers including Joe and Rick from America.