THE WALK - DAY 12 - 05/09/07

Dear William,

As I was waiting at the train station this morning to catch a train to Richmond to continue my walk along the Thames Path, I noticed an ad for a TV documentary. It was entitled "The only way to Heaven is through hell!" If that were the only criterion to get in I'm in already 'cause with my feet I have been going to hell and back! The good news is that my left foot appears to be healing well - still a bit sore but not nearly as painful and my right foot, although still painful, less so than in previous days. Looks like the vinegar soaks are working, painful though they are.

Anyway, enough of my woes. Today was a lovely warm and sunny day and I enjoyed the walk very much. I went from Richmond Bridge to Putney. As you know a part of this from Putney to Mortlake is the course for the annual Boat race betwen Oxford and Cambridge, a race that I have watched in person many a year. The start of the race near Putney Bridge is lovely with a large number of boat houses which give it a rather festive look particularly on race days. There are also a lot of famous landmarks all the way from Richmond to Putney; Kew Gardens, The Harrods Furniture Depository which is a beautiful building, the Fairbairn memorial etc.

I still cherish the memory of my very first truly international regatta I won, in the late sixties in Casablanca. I received a small medal which I gave to dad. He had it made into a keyring which he always kept. Remember that? Since he died I have the medal back. Dad also had a stand made for you with a small wooden guitar and an open book, I seem to recall, when you got your first music award. I wonder what became of that?

Anyway, back to business! Regrettably the path at Chiswick and parts of Hammersmith were in a sorry state, full of rubbish and obviously have not been tended to in a long time. It is a disgrace that a National Trail, something so coveted in this country can be mistreated in this way. If there are any local councillors reading this blog, please take note!

There are now only two days left and you know what, I am definitely going to make it! during the course of last week when the pain in my feet was at its worst, I sometimes despaired of ever finishing. Now I wonder what I am going to do when I finish - life will never be the same again!

THE WALK - DAY 11 - 04/09/07

Dear William,


Today it was Ana Maria's turn to take me to the path at Kingston Bridge, before making her way to her office. As I had intended, I just did a 5 mile walk starting at 8.00 a.m. and finishing at 9.35 a.m. This is a very nice and easy stretch of the river and everything was very peaceful at that time of the morning. I later returned home courtesy of British Rail, via Richmond, Clapham Junction and Weybridge.

As I was approaching Richmond I came across an Argentinian restaurant "Gaucho". It reminded me of that time that I lived and worked in Buenos Aires . It was there that I met one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen and who, a few years later, agreed to be my wife. We have known each other for 37 years and have been married for 33. I love her as much now as I did when we first met.

The restaurant has a beautiful tree in its grounds, which is considered to be one of the Capital's Great Trees.







Today I want to mention two letters that were waiting for me when I returned home this midday and which for me have been the icing on the cake of everything I have been trying to achieve these past 11 days. The first was a letter from one of my neighbours, Jan Dutton, who writes:

Dear Robert,

Your walk is a wonderful gesture to all cancer sufferers and their
families. My mum died of cancer 2 years ago leaving £10 in her
purse. This is her £10. Wishing you success in raising the £2000. Warmest wishes.

Jan

The second letter was from Archie McNair, my old friend and mentor. Archie was the business brains behind the Mary Quant Group of Companies and was the Chairman and Managing Director of Thomas Jourdan plc (TJ), an offshoot of the Mary Quant Group. I was priviledged to work as the TJ Deputy Managing Director and Group Secretary for many years. Most of what I learnt about business I owe to Archie and I hope he still thinks I was not a bad pupil! Mary Quant and her husband Alexander Plunket Greene were non-executive directors of TJ and I have very fond memories of those days. Archie sent me a cheque for £1005 and I am sure he will not mind me quoting from a small note that accompanied the cheque:

Dear Robert,

Thank you for inviting us to participate in the William Gomez Challenge; as I write I can imagine you must be approaching our towpath in Fulham. I hope your walk is proving comfortable and that your feet are standing up to the exercise (he obviously has not been reading my blog!). I remember William well - we met and talked at the theatre in Gibraltar..........I enclose some money for your excellent cause with great pleasure......Best wishes and love to you all.

Archie

Thank you Jan and thank you Archie. You have both made my day!

Only 3 more days to go!

THE WALK - DAY 10 - 03/09/07

Dear William,

Yesterday I was advised that I would need to take a break from walking to avoid serious damage to my feet. As a consequence I decided on a fairly leisurely stroll from Laleham to Kingston Bridge (some 12 miles). Tomorrow I will only be doing 5 miles to rest the feet but keep the leg muscles toned up.

Running shotgun today was my good friend Elias Mattar who very kindly provided our transport in the morning. His wife, Greta walked with me today around 5/6 miles until she had to leave for another appointment. She then found out that she hadn't brought any money so I lent her £10. I took a photo of her holding the money to make sure she gives it back to me in due course! Greta, apart from being a good friend, has been a nurse for many years and is the one who has been tending to my feet.

During the final stretch from Hampton Court Palace to Kingston Bridge I was joined by Ros Hooper the Marie Curie Cancer Care Surrey Fundraising Manager and Lisa Flanagan, another member of their fundraising team. I am very grateful to them for taking the time out of their very busy schedule to walk with me.

Earlier this evening I had a phone call from Henry Sacramento the Community Officer at the Royal Gibraltar Police who was sending his own best wishes and those of the Commissioner of Police and other ranks. It is good to know that people are taking the trouble to follow my progress on my blog.

Well, William, not too long to go now! For some reason I remembered today that time that you came to London to play at the annual dinner of the Society of Electrical Engineers. You thought it would be a bit boring so you insisted that I came along with you. You also managed to get them to agree to pay me £100 for assisting you. You made me hire a dinner jacket and then I had to sit on the stage with you and turn over the music as you played. As I do not read music I found it hard all the time to contain my laughter! And...we got fed as well! We used to have a good laugh every time you came to London.

This afternoon Diane came to the rescue as usual and collected me from Kingston Bridge and took me home for a well earned (I think!) rest.

Well, I am almost there and barring any major problems I should reach the Thames barrier on Friday 7th September somewhere between 3.30p.m. and 4.00 p.m.

Wish me luck

THE WALK - DAY 9 - 02/09/07

Dear William,

As my feet are killing me today I decided to do a slightly shorter walk of around 12 miles. We started at Boveney Lock near Eton and finished in Laleham about a mile and a half short of Chertsey Bridge.

Tomorrow I should be going on the tow path by Weybridge, where we live, so it is going to be an interesting experience. I have now walked around 160 miles with another 50 or so miles to go. I never thought I would get this far but I have so many people supporting me that it has been relatively easy to carry on day after day.

This morning I was joined by Billy and Edward who walked with me up to Runnymede where we stopped for lunch. The whole route from Eton onwards is very beautiful and we took time to admire the many fantastic properties along the river. Ana Maria joined us after lunch and walked with us to Laleham. She insisted on carrying my rucksack so that my feet would have less weight to carry! Isn't love great! Greta was in charge of transport and came up with half a melon and a bottle of wine at the end! Marie Falquero brought Edward and made sure our lunchtime refreshments arrived on time. I guess I am blessed with having so many good friends.

Edward has promised to come back and walk with me on the last day, and I look forward to that. Billy and Pauline have to return to Gibraltar soon and may be unable to join me again before I finish. Ana Maria will also be walking with me on Friday , the last day, as will James.

Today I also got some photos of the Walk for William in Gibraltar where your two daughters walked with a few of your friends in your memory. I am delighted that all your children have now honoured you in this way.

Tomorrow I will be starting from Laleham at around 9.00 a.m. and should be crossing the river on the Shepperton Ferry to the Weybridge side some time around 10.00a.m. A couple of people are joining me there to walk part of the way with me. A reminder that anyone wanting to do so can phone me on 07789502530 for further info.

Only 5 more days to go!

THE WALK - DAY 8 - 01/09/07

Dear William

Today has been the perfect day! The weather was great - cool with a nice breeze blowing. Ana Maria, Billy & Pauline joined us on the Thames Path and Cecile, Gillaine and their friends did their "Walk for William" in Gibraltar.

They called us several times during their walk and so for a short time at least we were able to say that we were walking the path together! It was an unforgettable experience. The day however belongs to Pauline. She has been receiving radiotherapy treatment for the last five weeks but insisted on coming the whole way with us today! We started in Aston this morning at 8.00.a.m. and had reached Maidenhead by 12.30.p.m. We then decided to carry on to Boveney Lock where we arrived at around 3.15 p.m. having completed a total of nearly 17 miles!




I have to say a big thank you to her and to Ana Maria and Billy who were also game enough to stay till the end of what was a very gruelling but enjoyable day. The scenery was beautiful, we came across some cows (again) and we saw the Cookham Village Regattas en route.









Yesterday Diane had again been in charge of transport and had provided me with her customary beer (2 this time round!) when I finished, for which many thanks. Thanks also to Greta who provided transport today. Not to be outdone at the end she came to meet us with the most delicious water melon and a bottle of non-alcoholic Riesling!







All in all it was a perfect day!

THE WALK - DAY 7 - 31/08/07

Dear William,

Today I started my walk in Purley-on-Thames and finished in Aston which is about three miles downstream of Henley. I walked some 16 miles in total. Today was also the last day of the first week. I am amazed that I have lasted this long!

The path today was excellent and I was able to make good time. It was also kinder to my feet which although still very painful appeared to be getting better. The path at Reading was a bit of a mess as the Reading Festival appears to have finished yesterday and the path and surrounding fields were covered in rubbish, discarded sleeping bags etc.

The highlight of the day was walking up to Henley. This must be one of the nicest stretches of the river. I was delighted to see the Leander Club, membership of which most rowers can only dream of! I also went past the Upper Thames Rowing Club. You may remember I raced against them all those years ago and I regret to say we got soundly thrashed on that occasion!

Tomorrow is going to be a special day for me. Another "Walk for William" has been organised by your daughters Cecile and Gillaine and they will be leading a large group of friends on a walk between the Frontier and Europa Point. During the walk they will be phoning me as I continue my own walk, so for a time we will all be walking together. Ana Maria, Billy and Pauline will be walking with me so it will be a jolly family affair. We hope to cover about 15 miles or so and the first person to drop out buys dinner!

As the start of the second week approaches I would like to thank all those who have been kind enough to sponsor my "walk for William". They have been most generous but I would like to ask one more favour from them. I am going to ask them to send a link to this blog to 5 of their friends or work colleagues to see if we can give the fundraising one more push. With thanks

THE WALK - DAY 6 - 30/08/07

Dear William,

It was my friend Greta's turn today to take me to continue my walk and to collect me at the end of the day. Contrary to yesterday I did not get a bottle of beer and I have told her this service must improve in future! Greta is a nurse and she brought with her a collection of plasters. Apparently I had told her I wanted to get plastered but did not make it clear it was beer I wanted not the other stuff! Seriously though, she has been very good cleaning my wounds and is concerned about the blisters on my left foot. Tomorrow we are going to try some different dressings to try and ease the pain.

Something happened today which made me wonder if you had sensed my pain in some way. I was walking downstream of Wallingford when I came across the Oxford University Boat Club. You know how much I love rowing and of course James used to row for Pembroke, one of the Oxford colleges. Anyway, I went up to one of the windows to see if I could see any of the racing boats. The one nearest to me was named "WILLIAM"!

After that, I continued my walk with renewed vigour notwithstanding my feet! Today I have covered 16 miles and walked from Shillingford Lock to Purley-on-Thames , which is only a few miles from reading. Tomorrow I hope to walk as far as Henley. On Saturday and Sunday your son William will be walking with me as will his wife Pauline, who is currently in the UK receiving treatment following breast cancer. Also with me for the two days will be Ana Maria, so it will be a good family affair. My transport tomorrow is in the hands of Diane again, so I can look forward to my cold beer. Greta, please take note!

THE WALK - DAY 5 - 29/08/07

Dear William,

My good friend Diane Ball came to collect me this morning at 6.30 a.m. to take me to Sandford Lock where I had finished last night. I continued my walk along the path at 8.30. a.m. and ended up seven hours later in Shillingford a very beautiful village by the Thames.

My feet have been extremely sore today and there was one point that I almost gave up. I'm glad I didn't as later in the day things became easier and the pain eased somewhat. The weather was sunny in the morning although it clouded up in the afternoon, with a very welcome breeze blowing! The morning walk was very agreeable and I even managed to avoid the cows and one very mean -looking bull!) but the afternoon was pretty boring as, although I was walking along the path close to the river I couldn't see it as there were bushes and trees for miles and miles between the path and the river, blocking the view.

As I was walking on my own I had time to reflect on our youth once more. Do you remember that wooden board that Dad made up painted as a football field and the teams we made up using buttons? I suppose it was an early form of Subbutteo. We should have patented it! I seem to remember you were a very bad loser! It's funny to think that in those days we did not have TV's or computers to while away the hours. Those were the days!

At the end of the day Diane was there again to meet me and walked part of the way with me. She had even thought of bringing a cold beer. I must ask her to come again!