Dear William,
Today we started the walk in your memory. For the next fourteen days I shall be thinking of you and sharing my experiences on this walk.
This morning just before we started an amazing thing happened. A gentleman by the name of Benjamin Spender, who is 47, came up to me and told me that he had been your pupil between the ages of 11 and 14 and he had come to pay tribute to you! He now plays the guitar professionally and among other things teaches guitar at Bath Spa University! He brought with him some memorabilia dating back to around 1974 which he has kept all these years. As you can see your legacy extends beyond the confines of Gibraltar!
There were a few of us at the start; Ana Maria, Celine, cousin Reg, second cousins Edward & Marie and of course our new found friend, Benjamin. Ana Maria and Marie were to act as our support group for the day, with Benjamin for company. Celine, Reg, Edward and I did the serious walking stuff, with Reg leaving us at Somerford Keynes, as planned. The going was very bad with miles and miles of waterlogged fields which took us hours to circumnavigate! The sight of Reg valiantly seeking a way through but slowly sinking up to his ankles in the mire will stay with me for ever! The rest of us plowed on, becoming more and more exhausted. Some six and a half hours later we were within 15 minutes of reaching Cricklade, our destination, when we came across a flooded field which was totally impassable. Much to our regret we had to backtrack about one and a half miles and negotiate a new route which then meant we were on the road for eight and a half hours and walked nearly 17 miles instead of the planned 12. This detour was the low point of the day. Never has a hotel bed felt so good!
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