Dear William,
Today your son Billy walked the path with me for the last time. I really did not want to walk alone so I called him late last night and suggested he might come today. I thought he was still in London but he had moved to his uncle John's house in Hemel Hempstead so he had a bit of a journey this morning before he could meet me at Putney Bridge. I hope he has forgiven me! Unfortunately he cannot be with me tomorrow as he needs to be with his wife Pauline who is attending hospital all day to finalise details of her treatment with the specialists etc. I have been most proud to have him at my side.
The path this morning was great and it gave us the opportunity to look at some of the London landmarks in some more detail rather than when I zoom past in the car from time to time. The highlight today was visiting the Headquarters of Marie Curie Cancer Care and seeing Celine and some of the girls who work there. Also present were Ros Hooper, their Surrey Fundraising Manager and her team who were in London to attend a course.
I forgot to tell you yesterday that my friend Richard Russell, who is currently on business in India, phoned me to wish me luck with the walk. Richard used to be Head of Outside Sports broadcasts for ITV (I always get this wrong - Richard please forgive me if I have). Now he heads his own consultancy and is much in demand re the Olympics etc. He is THE person when you need to "phone a friend" on any sports question on Who wants to be a millionaire!
One donation of £100 that arrived late last night was very special to me. It simply says A-Ch, In loving memory. This refers to Ana Maria's brother Henrik's wife Ann Christine who sadly died of cancer a few years ago. She was a very good friend of our and would, I am sure, have wanted to join in walking the Thames Path for you were she still alive. The donation has come from her children Carl, Eleonor and Johan, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.
Well, I guess all the training paid off! I went past the 200 miles point today! Tomorrow I hope to finish at the Thames Barrier at around 3.30/4.00p.m. We will start at the Dickens Inn in St Catherine's Dock, next to Tower Bridge at 11.00 a.m. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome.
Only 1 more day to go!
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