I, along with my daughter Teresa and good friend (and work colleague of Teresa's) Jo,  are going to walk The Beacons Way between 26 - 30 May 2014. The Beacons Way is a walk of hills, deep valleys and expansive moorland. It is apparently more demanding than walking in Exmoor, Dartmoor, the North York Moors, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales, but is not as challenging as Snowdonia, the Lake District or many parts of Scotland. The route measures 100mls/160kms from Holy Mountain to Bethlehem, and we will walk it in five days.

Forty years ago when I was still a teenager my mother died from an illness for which we had no name. We now realise that what she suffered with was MND. By the time my sister Cynthia fell ill some years later she was diagnosed with MND but we were assured at that time that it was not familial (heriditary). By the time my brother Robert (Bob) was stricken with MND a lot more was known about the disease and it was known by then that 20% of MND cases are indeed familial. My sister Joyce was diagnosed soon after Bob. In fact Bob and Joyce passed away within days of each other in October 2012.

As you can imagine alongside the deep loss we felt at losing our loved ones we were somewhat in shock that we have this dreadful gene running rife through our family. I think most of us were left feeling that we had to do something - but what could we do?? My sister Audrey and her children, my sister-in-law Olwen and her sister and Joyce's children all got busy and started fund raising events and I was doing nothing! I live in a very rural village in Spain and fundraising here for a UK charity would be very difficult. Organising an event in UK whilst living in Spain would be very difficult......unless.....it was something like a sponsored trek. Brilliant!!

That is, a brilliant idea until you take into account that the last time I did any hill walking was when I did a sponsored trek through the Peruvian Andes in September 2000. Since that time I had become very over weight and very unfit. Well, never mind, we live amid the best training hills you could ever wish for. I could do training here and just pop over to UK to complete my challenge! However, having perfect training ground and becoming fit is akin to having diet books and becoming slim. It'll only work if you put in the effort!! I am not a natural walker, it is always a struggle for me and this is the biggest challenge I have undertaken. However, I am determined to make it and it is usually my detetrmination that carries me through. So far all is going well - I have six black toenails and several blisters on my feet but I have lost a considerable amount of weight and am still getting out there and doing what I have to.

Teresa, our eldest daughter, volunteered to do the walk with me. This was very brave of her considering she did the Andes walk with me and I suffered with altitude sickness for the first two or three days! I am also much older now than I was then. I fear Jo doesn't realise what she's let herself in for!

As well as being lucky living in such wonderful training grounds I am also very lucky to have a super fit friend called Karen who knows every pathway for miles around. Karen, and her dog Muttley, agreed to help me train and have walked me up and down dozens of hills covering what by now must surely be hundreds of miles. They have introduced me to many beautiful spots I never knew before. 

My husband, Brian is as always a great support to me and when not helping me train or working out route cards etc. , he is putting up with me being obsessed with this challenge. He, along with Teresa's son Harry (7 years of age) will be providing back up for us during the walk.