Hello there.

Thanks for looking at my fundraising page, I’m raising money
for a charity very close to my heart, which is my village recreation ground in Calder Vale, Lancashire. The recreation ground is very special because it is one of the few flat pieces of land in the village. As the River Calder valley is so steep, houses can only be built on one side of the road, so all residents need a “level playing field.”

We don’t complain much because the village is nestled on the
western edge of the Trough of Bowland, 400 feet above sea level, and 18 miles due east of the top of Blackpool Tower. It’s a very special place and I’ve been very lucky to live here all my life (89 years and counting). It is fair to say that because the village is a cul-de-sac we’re very much hidden away.

So isolation is nothing new to us, as recently as the late 1960s, there were only 3 cars in the village and a bus service twice a week to the local market down of Garstang, 4 miles away. At that time there were 3 working mills in the village, 2 weaving mills and one paper mill, just up the valley at Oakenclough. Now, we have one of the very few fully working weaving mills in the country, the Lappet Manufacturing Company. It’s always made shawls, and its biggest customers are the Saudi royal family, you’ll be familiar with the iconic red and white pattern.

I always walk every day, but since the start of lockdown, it’s
become a bit more organised,  not least, because I got my first Fitbit watch on 1 April 2020, when I managed to fall over in Barnacre, which put me out of action for a few days.

When ‘r Guy decided to do a virtual walk from Lands End to John O’Groats during the 1st lockdown, I said it was a good idea, and I’d walk with him, fat chance, he left me in Truro on Day 1, and I haven’t seen him since. Anyway, I suppose it’s a bit like the story of the tortoise and the hare, I just kept plodding on and as we reach the end of this very challenging year for all of us, I’m approaching the milestone of 1000 miles out of my 1111 mile, end to end journey.

I’m following the LEJOG route of Mark Moxon, the long-distance walker, Land's End to John o'Groats with Mark Moxon (landsendjohnogroats.info). It’s been really interesting to virtually walk the length of our country.

When ‘r Guy did the walk, he set out to raise £1 for every mile, I’d like to go one better, so my fundraising target is £1112. If you feel able to support me, I’m very grateful to you.

I’ll try to post a few updates and memories from my lockdown
walks during the year. My “normal” daily walk is 3.5 miles, which is a circular walk up out of the village and is a climb of 300 feet, we call it “Walking round ‘t farms.” This involves me feeding bread and carrots to all the local farm animals and wildlife, I’ll tell you more about them as we walk along, but my first picture introduces the motley crew to you all. We call the white alpaca "Boris."

Stay safe and keep healthy

Russell