2womenwalking Walk Gower
I love this poster. I love this poster for a number of reasons. Firstly is is about the Wales Coastal Path which is simply the best long distance path in the world. Now I know that others will disagree with me on this. Some will put forward the pilgrim trail of Santiago de Compostela, with its hundreds of years of history. Some will suck on their teeth and whisper the name of the mighty Appalachian Trail with over 2000 miles of wilderness. Others will rhapsodise about the Coast to Coast or Hadrian's wall. I realise that all of these people will feel strongly about their own preference but I'm afraid that, lovely as all these people are, they are just plain wrong. The Wales Coastal Path is the best, it is as simple as that. It's in Wales for starters.
I love this poster because I love the shop where I bought it. It is from Mundos in Cardigan and I asked permission of them to use it in the blog last year. Have a look at their website, they sell all sorts of lovely things. Mundos.co.uk
I love the tag line 'One step at a time' because this has been our mantra over the years. We are really crap at this long distance walking lark. I will admit that we are a little better these days than when we started but we are 59 years old and still fairly crap. Let's be honest here, we were never Mother Nature's children to start with. We were never the outdoorsy sorts. We were the indoorsy, reading books and drinking wine sort. However, over the years we have grown to realise that that if you just take one step at a time you can end up walking very long distances indeed.
I love the fact that the image is so vague they could very well be lost. This rings bells of recognition! They could even be looking at a hard to spot iron age hill fort!
And finally we come to the wonderful lie, 'The drier side of Britain'. I'm sure this is tongue in cheek and it makes me laugh every time I read it. We got so wet last year we could wring out paper handkerchiefs that were in the pockets of our waterproof clothing! Beautiful? yes! Historical? Yes? Rewarding? Oh YES! But dry it is not!
It is now July and we are both getting very excited about this year's walk (Covid willing). I have already had a major SNAFU about the booking and will detail it in the full blog articles. Suffice to say it was almost as catastrophic as Keygate and every bit as embarrassing as my failed interactions with Short. This time next week we should be packed and ready to walk the Gower section of the path. This will involve us walking from Loughor to Swansea and we will be taking in some fantastic places. Gower was the first Area of Natural Beauty set up in the UK and they are not making it up. It's a fantastic place to walk and this year we might have a few people dropping in on us when we walk, sort of 2womenwalking+
The Teacups
Every year we have walked a different section and every year we have nominated a charity to try and raise some funds while we are walking. Over the year people have been astonishingly generous. This year we will be taking Mrs Oram's best china out for another stroll of around 55 miles. The cups have now travelled quite some distance and have started to take on a life of their own. We know of at least one occasion when two perfectly sane (but lost) women who were walking the Path were asked if they had their teacups with them by someone who had read the blog!
It's never easy to select a charity, there are so many and they are all worth supporting. We also realise that people have their own preferences. Last year we walked in memory of our dear friend Jeremy Williams. This year we are walking in memory of someone we have never met. Thanks to the miracle that is social media we became aware of the most amazing woman this year, 'Grandma' Gatewood. He actual name was Emma Rowena Gatewood and she became the first woman ever to walk the Appalachian Trail as a 'thru-hiker'. That means she walked 2168 miles. Not only did she walk that distance she did so wearing canvas shoes and carrying a sack. She had no outdoor gear but took a shower curtain with her in case of rain. With breath-taking understatement she told her children that she was 'going for a walk'. They knew that she was both resourceful and tough. And so she walked it, at the age of 67. (And again, aged 69. Then she walked right across the US from Delaware to Portland.)
Her children knew that she would be OK because she really was a very tough woman. She was a survivor of domestic abuse. This went on for many years until the local mayor, seeing her beaten half to death, offered her a safe place to live, with her children. Sadly this is a situation that faces many women and the strains that Covid has placed on society hasn't helped any. This year we will be walking the Gower in memory of the amazing Emma Gatewood and raising money for the charity Refuge. The following is taken from their website:-
'At Refuge, we believe that no-one should have to live in fear of violence and abuse. On any given day Refuge supports more than 6,000 clients, helping them rebuild their lives and overcome many different forms of violence and abuse; for example domestic violence, sexual violence, so-called ‘honour’-based violence, human trafficking and modern slavery, and female genital mutilation.'
Refuge helps women (and some men) and children via a range of services and we are proud to walk for them this year. We have never monetised the blog, we are happy to share our stories with you on the off chance that they will amuse you as much as they have amused us but we will ask you to consider making a donation to Refuge this year. (Or to your charity of choice, we realise that charitable donations are very personal things).
So, donate here
It's via the Just Giving site. None of your donations will go on blister platers or wine!
2womenwalking walk the Gower, I can't bloody wait! (And neither can I).
Can’t wait :)