First of all there is myself, Andrea, and Dean, my husband. We have been talking about walking the Coast to Coast trail for quite a few years and just needed to work out when we were going to fit it into our hectic schedule. Our last big walk was when we started a Camino from our home to Santiago in 2016 which, unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish, as I got shin splints and after 6 weeks we had to return home. Then my mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, moved home and then broke her hip, so the last 2 years has been more about caring for mum than doing any walking.
Next is Julie and Phil. Julie, Dean and I have worked together for a long time and doing this walk had come up several times in our conversations. Then Julie decided that as she was 60 this year, this was it and she wanted to finally walk the Coast to Coast trail. Obviously, her husband Phil is doing as he’s told!! As Julie had a dear friend die last year she has made the walk about raising funds for a very worthy cause, the Mary Ann Evans Hospice. Please feel free to make a donation at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/julieandco
We started practice walking from January onwards, going to Ilam, Derbyshire and walking in the local areas. Training ourselves to walk hills and long days. We were quite diligent until Dean and I went to Egypt at the beginning of April and then I sprained my ankle on holiday which put paid to my walking until it was better. Julie went away to Madrid for a long weekend as well in April, so fingers crossed that we have enough walking in the bank to do us justice when we start out on 11th May.
In our final week, Julie and I have been feeling particularly not well prepared. Julie has been suffering from plantar fascilitas and my shin splints have been acting up. I think we both feel a bit nervous about the whole venture, so wish us plenty of luck.
Just the Four of us - Walking the Coast to Coast Trail 2019 