Gosh winter seems to have arrived with a very cold wind and driving rain. I was hoping for sunshine as we say our goodbyes to Connor. It seems that the whole island is involved in his day today. If you weren't at the funeral you were covering the work of people who were and that is how the island works. We decided to stay together as a family today and cover the work of someone who wanted to be at the funeral as well as doing our scheduled work. The boys and Pete have taken on a very large prestigious house to clean on a Saturday for new guests arriving later in the day. I am sort of supervisor but I always end up doing more than that and today the pressure was on as we had a second house to get ready in order for that housekeeper to make it across the island to Connor's funeral. Working hard and staying together felt the best thing for us and I think it helped Harry get through the day.
I am snuggled under my blanket with kitten on lap and fire on and I still feel frozen. My body is not in a happy place at the moment and I can't seem to stay warm. As soon as the cold sets in the pain levels rise so you see the problem. A recent poor health review has made us all address a number of issues as a family. One of the most important for me is a determination to keep moving as long as possible and that includes unaided walking. With that firmly in the front of my mind we have decided to bring forward a long held ambition to walk the West Highland Way which is approximately 100 miles of captivating trails and countryside.
The original plan was to walk it over a 14 day period with a couple of rest days but I have to be realistic and that is now not possible. The danger is if I wait too long it won't be possible at all. So, after discussion in the family, we have decided to go for a tag team approach where the baton is passed along a line of walkers until the whole journey is complete. We always had it in mind as a charity project and by involving others we can raise more money as well as raising the profile of the charity. We haven't decided the charity as yet but research is underway and we will be announcing that decision as soon as possible.
The plan is to aim for the walk in early autumn 2014 and to involve as many people in the project as possible. That gives us a year to plan and raise the profile of the walk before we actually do the walking. We want to use the walk as a source of creative work using art, photography and writing to draw attention to what we are attempting to do. We also want to think how this work might be shared beyond the project and we have some ideas brewing for that as well.
So, Scottish island mum puts out a gentle call of support on facebook last night and we were overwhelmed with the responses. So many people want to help that the project becomes immediately feasible. So now the planning needs to begin and I need to step up my training through the winter. As you know I do a decent walk once a week already but I am going to double that during the winter before increasing it further in the spring and summer of 2014. I am grateful for my walking partners most of whom will be joining me on the West Highland Walk.
If any of you would like to get involved do let me know. We will need people to help with the logistics of the walk with cars to move people around and we need lots of writers and artists etc as well. We will also need people to help promote the project that will feature on both Scottish island mum and One soul many hearts website. We are already keen to announce the feature of 'spiritual walkers' who are people who can't do the walk but want to walk alongside one of the walkers in spirit. That means for every person who actually walks it is, effectively, two people. Those partnerships will then work together to fundraise as hard as they can and to also spread the world. I have already secured my spiritual walking partner because Lisa lives in Canada. She is one of our photographers on the One soul many hearts team and she will be able to promote the project with her Canadian friends.....you begin to see the value of the spiritual walkers.
I can not say how much of it I will be able to do but I don't want this to be about that. If someone can walk just half a mile that is just as valuable as others who might manage 10 miles. I will just walk as far as I can and that is all I can say on that front.
I am off to jump about to try and get warm but do drop me a message if you would like to be involved in our charity project. This one promises to be very special indeed.
Photograph provided by David & words by Dawn
I am ending by sending all the love and blessings I can muster to the family of Connor. I know that you are so proud of all his wonderful achievements and we share in that pride. Connor will always have a special place in all our hearts. xxxxxxx
Until tomorrow. xx
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