Why we do recces

Kay and Eric kindly came to do a recce with me for a walk I’ll be leading next Wednesday.

We ended up walking nearly 9 miles instead of 7 because we could not join up the public footpaths on either side of Great Swinburne. Kay encouraged me to go to the Hall to ask, but my charm failed to work on this occasion.

I have an alternative route to follow so it will be about 7 miles.

Early in the walk a farmer, Roger, drove over on his quad bike to have a chat. He wanted to be sure we knew the route through the woods and said we could walk in the field if we preferred.

As the chat went on, he told us that he has been living with cancer for several years. He and Kay attend the same unit at Hexham, so the chat became more meaningful.

He and another patient made a film about their lives. It is on YouTube and I’ll put the link below. The aim was to try to help other people who are earlier on their cancer journey. I’ve watched part so far and it’s great. What a good idea.

We enjoyed looking around Great Swinburne and taking the footpath through the estate. It did add extra miles…..

My extra is Eric. You will probably remember that he developed heart block a few weeks ago and had a pacemaker fitted. He won’t mind me telling you that he is over 80.

He had opened a very difficult gate on the route had had to plodge in the mud to close it. Then I realised that it was the wrong way….. we “never” climb fences or walls, but we made an exception on this occasion.

https://youtu.be/XeBM5H7vh2Y?feature=shared