Karen Martin 14.11.1951 - 20.09.2017
Well, the blog begins.
I found this photo of Karen from way back in 2011, before the Mesothelioma diagnosis. She was a fantastic knitter and the bird she is pointing to was (one of) her knitted contributions to an exhibition at the Bridport Arts Centre. From memory it was on the theme of a picnic. She was well chuffed, as you can see, to have been included and of all the photos I have it probably shows her at her happiest.
She was always creating stuff and loved to go beachcombing, even for just an interesting pebble or two!
Planning for the walk is now complete, all B&Bs booked, emails all sent. All I have to do now is get into training and do it!
Peter
26th February 2018
... and the training starts!
This is probably the first time you've seen the blog, the
first entry being a test run that I thought I'd just leave up there as the
walk's about Karen as much as me or the SWCP. I'm going to try and post weekly
until I'm actually walking and then hopefully daily, subject to wifi
availability etc. I hope you enjoy it - let me know what you think, anything
you'd like to know etc.
By popular demand, here's a map of the SWCP to give some idea of where all the places are. It's not very detailed - a better one can be seen here . Follow the link to the interactive map.
So, to the blog - wonderful walk last week, with John who I used to work with at Whitbread's. From Lee on Solent (I confess, I'm jealous of anyone living next to an airfield, as well as the coast!) the general idea was to keep the water on the left for about 8-9 miles.
This took us along and through the Titchfield Haven bird sanctuary, the site for the new French electricity interconnector cable, areas of erosion (where we cheerfully ignored the official but unsigned path diversions - we both hate following instructions, as you probably know) and large areas of mudflats, a haven for bird wildlife. All while enjoying my favourite weather of cold and sunny, the constantly fascinating marine activity in the Solent and glorious views of the Isle of Wight and beyond towards the Needles. Not to mention the refinery at Fawley and the old flying boat station at Calshott, the start point for what must have been an amazing service to India and, presumably, back.
More prosaically and recently (well, 1980s) a restored Sunderland flying boat took off here to cover the start of the Whitbread Round the World yacht race. They had to go to Canada to find a pilot qualified to fly it (from the airborne forest fire fighting service I believe). Not his (her?) fault I expect but I think it subsequently crashed somewhere. Shame, it was a magnificent sight. To this lapsed pilot, anyway.
Along the way we passed this pub in Warsash. It's an old Strong's of Romsey pub from before their incorporation within the so-called Whitbread umbrella and has retained the beautiful old tiling which you can just about make out. Warsash was also the site of considerable activity around D-Day and various plaques and information boards give some idea of what it must have been like. Of course now it's choc-a-bloc with yachts, marinas and associated facilities as well as considerable property porn. I like the juxtaposition of filthy, smelly mudflats and rotting hulks alongside £1 billion of white GRP slowly depreciating into the same condition and posh housing doing likewise but a bit slower. Ashes to ashes .....
The walk ended up at the Navigator in Swanwick where Sheila most kindly met us with a change of shoes. I won't be getting that kind of service on the SWCP.
More next week - probably on walking gear (I have a new backpack - most exciting) unless I get in another walk in the forecast Siberian weather.
Peter
By popular demand, here's a map of the SWCP to give some idea of where all the places are. It's not very detailed - a better one can be seen here . Follow the link to the interactive map.
So, to the blog - wonderful walk last week, with John who I used to work with at Whitbread's. From Lee on Solent (I confess, I'm jealous of anyone living next to an airfield, as well as the coast!) the general idea was to keep the water on the left for about 8-9 miles.
This took us along and through the Titchfield Haven bird sanctuary, the site for the new French electricity interconnector cable, areas of erosion (where we cheerfully ignored the official but unsigned path diversions - we both hate following instructions, as you probably know) and large areas of mudflats, a haven for bird wildlife. All while enjoying my favourite weather of cold and sunny, the constantly fascinating marine activity in the Solent and glorious views of the Isle of Wight and beyond towards the Needles. Not to mention the refinery at Fawley and the old flying boat station at Calshott, the start point for what must have been an amazing service to India and, presumably, back.
More prosaically and recently (well, 1980s) a restored Sunderland flying boat took off here to cover the start of the Whitbread Round the World yacht race. They had to go to Canada to find a pilot qualified to fly it (from the airborne forest fire fighting service I believe). Not his (her?) fault I expect but I think it subsequently crashed somewhere. Shame, it was a magnificent sight. To this lapsed pilot, anyway.
Along the way we passed this pub in Warsash. It's an old Strong's of Romsey pub from before their incorporation within the so-called Whitbread umbrella and has retained the beautiful old tiling which you can just about make out. Warsash was also the site of considerable activity around D-Day and various plaques and information boards give some idea of what it must have been like. Of course now it's choc-a-bloc with yachts, marinas and associated facilities as well as considerable property porn. I like the juxtaposition of filthy, smelly mudflats and rotting hulks alongside £1 billion of white GRP slowly depreciating into the same condition and posh housing doing likewise but a bit slower. Ashes to ashes .....
The walk ended up at the Navigator in Swanwick where Sheila most kindly met us with a change of shoes. I won't be getting that kind of service on the SWCP.
More next week - probably on walking gear (I have a new backpack - most exciting) unless I get in another walk in the forecast Siberian weather.
Peter
