A Christmas card to the woman who walks with me

This is a bit of a departure from the usual 2womenwalking articles as its going to be 1womanwriting about the other 1woman. I thought that I would be seasonal and send her a Christmas card blog article. And I will have to write it quickly so that she doesn't see it on the Blog in the drafts section. (Oh the miracles of modern technology, eh?)

For those of you have haven't known us forever I've known Rhian since we were 11, so 47 years. The old gag would be 'I'd have had less for murder', which is true. Many marriages don't last this long. We have know each other as giggly teenagers, tired mothers, moaning teachers and now as Women of a Certain Age. She still makes me laugh and she is still kind enough to laugh at my crap jokes.

She is quite possibly the only person who could put up with walking over 600 miles with me. God knows what she must have thought when I first suggested it, but she was a game old bird and rose to the challenge fabulously. She been by my side during the hardest points of my life, literally and figuratively. She knows when to listen and when to give advice. Having her walk with me makes the harder bits seem easy. Seeing her shooting down the hills makes me keep plodding on and I think she is the only person who can see my arse ahead of her on a steep hill without laughing. Or at any rate, not laughing too much. If any of you wonder how we have pass the hours when walking its mostly bickering, sharing scurrilous gossip and laughing.

Out of this walking I have learned 3 things.

The last 3 miles are the hardest.

I can walk a lot further than I think I can.

I am blessed to have an amazing friend.

So here's to you Oram, and I've already started planning walking the Gower. I think it has some sand dunes I can explain to you. x