Ten years ago, 5 of us walked at least 100 miles of the Portuguese Camino to Santiago de Compostela. On this, our first walk, I was accompanied by Arthur Cope & Patrick Solomon as former school contemporaries, Arthur's friend from America, Jim Tegart, and Pat Hall, then aged 84.

Arthur, Patrick, Jim & I agreed we would all reunite for the first time along with Jim's friend, Ceci, to walk what we could of the 3rd Pat Hall Memorial Walk on the Francigena pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. Arthur, Patrick and myself had previously walked from Canterbury to Dover in May 2022 and last October the five of us walked most of the route from Lucca to Siena in Tuscany. This raised 2/3rds of my £3,000 target for HCPT.

On Sunday 23 July 2024 we will hold another English Pat Hall Memorial Walk, the 4th PHMW and the 3rd in this country. Everyione is welcome to paricipate in one of the 4 walks that day, ranging between 12+ miles to 1+ mile, to suit all abilIties.The Walks will be followed by a Mass at the Kairos Centre in Roehampton and a buffet supper at the nearby King's Head. It is essential to book your places at each of these - please email johncaflood@gmail.com if you want further details and an application form.

The walks are sponsored in favour of HCPT. Half the additional sum raised will go to the 1925 HCPT Cycle from Versailles to Rome and the other half to HCPT Group 24.

John Flood's Blog for the Francigena Walk from Lucca to Siena in October 2023

On Sunday 8 October the five of us started the walk in Pat's memory, with a 6 day, 83 mile walk from Lucca to Siena.

In 2014 Pat’s participation, at his age, resulted in £6,000 being raised for HCPT, a charity with which he was involved for almost all his adult life. Below is the 'blog' I have prepared as a record of our journey which has been full of eventualities and fun, while being much tougher than we had anticipated, necessitating some changes to our plans.

If you should wish to support us and donate to HCPT in Pat's memory, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/3rdpathallmemorialwalk -otherwise by all means just take a look at our story below where you will find further details and where I have now added a summary of each day’s highlights, along with some photos.

HCPT was founded by Dr Michael Strode in 1956 to take disabled and disadvantaged children to Lourdes each Easter. On his retirement he became a Cistercian brother on Caldey Island. A number of us are have formed a committee 'CBMC' to promote the Cause for Brother Michael's Canonisation - see www.brothermichaelstrode.org and let me know on secretary@brothermichaelstrode.org if you would like to be on our database for updates. Pat Hall was one of Brother Michael's closest friends and colleagues as an HCPT trustee.

John Flood

PROLOGUE

Friday

On Friday 6 October Patrick Solomon and I were at Gatwick by 7.45am for our flight to Pisa at 9.50 and received a message from Arthur Cope that his BA flight from Heathrow, following his transatlantic flight, had been cancelled and he had been rebooked on a flight at 7.20pm! Not a good start, especially for him!

We enjoyed a visit to Pisa. Our first challenge was declining the young man who wanted 5 euros to look after our car. I was concerned that we hadn’t purchased. a ticket and might end up with one for non-payment. We decided to return to the car and move it elsewhere for less than half the cost.

I suggested a coffee at the café which Andrew had researched as providing the best coffee in Pisa when my whole family were there last October. When I could see the sign “Specialty Coffee” about 10 yards before I would have reached it, I turned around, only to find Patrick had not followed me. I walked back some distance before receiving his message that he had turned around to go back to the Tower, but I should go on and enjoy my coffee, so around I turned again, this time to go the extra 10 yards to the café, only to find it had just shut! When I got back to the Tower, he was nowhere to be seen in the nearby cafes, so more messages were exchanged before I found him inside one, rather than outside! Was all of this a sign of things to come!?

We had 6½ hours to kill so I took Patrick to the beach which our whole family had so greatly enjoyed twice last year, where I went for a swim with no towel, before we had a meal. We had been puzzled why the What’s App updates from Arthur had dried up from Heathrow, but we read this as bad news as Arthur had intended to message us once he was taking off. Ultimately, we decided to check online, only to find he was airborne and landing at 8.30pm, in less than an hour’s time. Patrick had told me the restaurant closed at 7pm but the waiter had been very slow to come to us. I suggested, correctly, that he had actually been told the kitchen opened at 7. His Italian, unlike his Spanish, is virtually non-existent! I had an excellent meal of mussels and clams, but during this we discovered that Arthur had landed 20 minutes earlier than previously envisaged, and we were half an hour away from the airport. By the time we got there Arthur had decided to get a taxi to Lucca, but luckily hadn’t implemented that plan! While I went to the loo, they both completely disappeared leaving me to go backwards and forwards to the car before they finally showed up. Once we got to Lucca we found we were in a superb hotel with its own car park and an excellent restaurant next door for Arthur to have a well-deserved meal. Afterwards I fell asleep fully clothed on the bed while watching the news, with only half my repacking for tomorrow done. I woke around 3, finished the packing and went to bed properly!

Saturday

This was Jim’s birthday and we decided to treat him and Ceci to a meal at the restaurant that Tony Palladino had recommended to me. Jim managed to get us 5 bikes for nothing from the hotel. These enabled us to tour the wonderful walled city of Lucca very speedily, including cycling around on top of the whole circumference of the city walls. Before that we had gone to the restaurant, as online it was showing as fully booked in the evening. That remained the case but by putting Tony P on the phone to the manageress, we were able to change to lunch which turned out to work very well and to our advantage for the rest of the day. The food was superb and the service and ambience excellent. The chocolate mousse was exceptional – the best I have ever had! And they provided a mini cake with a candle for Jim’s birthday!

Patrick decided to relax afterwards at the hotel while the 4 of us went first to see the Villa Torrigiani next to the farmhouse we rented last October, Buralla, which we also drove close to enroute to Montecatini Alto, on the scenic route. We got to the funicular which carried us to the top which was looking very pretty with all the restaurants lit up for the evening. After looking around rather more thoroughly than with my grandchildren last October, we relaxed over some drinks before rushing back to Lucca to re-join Patrick. It turned out he had already gone to bed so the 4 of us walked into the city and enjoyed another good meal, mainly of pizza. I on the way had to return the hire car and then had difficulty finding the restaurant, and even when I got there, without knowing it was the right one, I failed to spot them!

THE FRANCIGENA WALK

Sunday

The first day of the walk, to Aliopaicio. Arthur had been repeatedly insisting the walk was 9 miles long, but on checking, had to accept it was in fact 11. Jim & Ceci went ahead while we were waiting for Patrick to pay his city tax and undertake his “morning duties”! We didn’t see them again until we reached our new hotel which they did at least 2 hours ahead of us. After the first 500 meters we reached a T junction where we could not see any signs. Arthur insisted we should go right, whereas I, as the holder of the maps, was equally adamant that the right way was left! Arthur had the previous day several times teased me about a minor error on the Canterbury – Dover route (he insists on calling it ‘rout’!) and blaming my reliance on the maps. To give him credit where it is occasionally due, he conceded, and hence we went ahead on the correct route and narrowly saved a fiasco!

A little later I sought to get water from my ‘camel’, but initially none would come, however I set it. I needed to get my haversack off but found the knots I had tied were impossible to undo in the strap holding it together. So, the two of them had to lift the rucksack off over my head and it proved impossible still to untie the strap. So back it went, over my head, where it remained until we reached a café with a coffee stop. There I sat on a seat, still with the haversack on, and behind it was the camel. Leaning against the back of the chair caused the lid to pop off which left me with embarrassingly wet trousers and a puddle in the bottom of my immovable haversack! Arthur borrowed a screwdriver from the café owner with which I manged eventually to do what the other two had failed to achieve and undo the reluctant knots! By the time we left the haversack had dried in the sun and the camel water was flowing! A further good couple of hours+ went by, without us finding anywhere open for lunch. Eventually we found an ice cream bar where their provisions were limited to that, water and coffee. But the lovely lady serving it told us of an hotel about half a mile away and off our route. We arrived there where Arthur mistook a guest for a waiter when requesting grub, and then we learnt that the kitchen had closed and there was nothing they could provide. So, back to the ice cream bar where we indulged ourselves with the largest cones on offer and ended up covered with ice cream and very sticky! We felt our presence was a magnet for the other passing travellers as the clientele rapidly grew.

When we left there for the second time, I indicated that the map showed us as having covered a little less than 2/3rds of the journey. Our feet were getting sore, especially as we had been on unforgiving tarmac all the way! So it was, on switching from sheet 1 to sheet 2, that it dawned on me that the latter part of the route was repeated on sheet 2. This definitely exceeded even the moment the screwdriver did its unusual job as the Halleluiah moment of the day!

We reached the Paola hotel at 5.22pm , conscious that the next day we would be doing an additional 7+ miles and that we had averaged only a little under 2 miles an hour, with the temperature reaching 27 degrees. There Patrick was offered the superior room with a balcony and asked Arthur to carry his case up 2 flights of stairs! He soon discovered that the bed was a single, whereas we each had a double! Then he couldn’t get the air conditioning off and complained of the cold. He did help me off with my shirt which was so wet that there was absolutely no possibility of me getting it off on my own!

Dinner was excellent at ‘La Dispensa’ restaurant Aliopaicio, with a huge plate of beef and mushrooms, washed down by a Tuscan red vino. Everyone retired pleased with their efforts and the fun that the day had brought, albeit concerned at what lies ahead with all bar one day being longer than the first including an 18+, a 17+ and a 15+ mile day!

Monday

Today is the longest one with 18 miles before we reach San Miniato. Unlike day one the majority of the route is on tracks rather than tarmac roads. The scenery is also more varied and attractive. I went ahead of Arthur & Patrick and found a café which provided tasty juices and on arrival Arthur went to a bakery which provided us with bread and ham for just 5 euros for the 3 of us. We stopped for lunch at a closed pizzeria which had tables and chairs outside. When we came to leave, we were uncertain which of several options was correct as the route but, by a process of elimination, we found the right one. Patrick’s boots had become uncomfortable and he sensibly decided to quit for the day and go in search of some replacement footwear. Eventually an available taxi was identified after several false starts with Uber which had no availability. The one that came was a fraction of the Uber price. At this point there was an Italian lady who asked to join us in Patrick‘s place. She spoke fluent English which came in handy on several occasions. Chiara also spotted a sign soon after we crossed the river, which meant we stuck to the correct route. To start with this was along the riverbank where we saw two Herons and other wildlife which added to our enjoyment. Chiara decided at the next town to follow Patrick’s example and to take a taxi, but not before the café owner who summoned this for her had taken photos of the 3 of us together. For Arthur and I, it was a long slog to reach the outskirts of San Miniato and it was dark before we did so. We were in for a tough final mile and a half which was a long steep hill to the old town, and we reached that just after 8pm when we were faced with 45 steps to climb to the hotel itself. It was certainly a tough finish to a very long day which was only 18 minutes short of 12 hours. The hotel was old and comprised of spacious rooms. The dinner was excellent, and Patrick had kindly arranged 2 very large G&T’s to refresh us. After dinner I lay on my bed and the next thing I knew was that it was 3am and I was fully dressed and still had to sort my case and clothes for the next morning in order to have the case ready for collection by 8am.

Tuesday

Jim had the previous day been challenged by Camino Ways that his bag was overweight and that this would cost him 20 euros per day! This was simply wrong as his case was only about 2/3rds of the 20kg permitted. Patrick had acquired new footwear but was worried that his bag would be overweight with the old boots and deck shoes added, especially as he was already taking some of my excess weight in his case. So, I offered to check with my case scales. It turned out that I used them on the wrong black bag and his was flat on the ground. So I picked it up, not knowing he had left it open, and everything fell out! He was not pleased! Arthur eventually persuaded him to leave the old boots with the bedroom maids, one each!

Outside the excellent delicatessen we met Chiara again who tipped us off what bread to have for our lunchtime sandwiches. Again, she joined us which was a bonus. The route to Gambassi Terme proved to be really tough. There were 22 substantial and significant ‘ups’ on the section we walked. The scenery, right from the start, was fantastic and the view as we left San Miniato revealed how undulating the route would be. We had been warned that there were no cafes or bars on the route, so we stopped for coffee while still in the town. There were water stops which was just as well. Once again Patrick found the walk too much for his back, so he decided to back out at lunchtime when Chiara managed to summon a taxi. We had been walking for over 20 minutes when she realised we were way off course, so we had to retrace our steps back to the lunch spot, where we found the sign we had followed was the cycle route! This lost us 45 minutes and added nearly 2 miles to our journey. It also added an unnecessary significant up and also down. It was the downs that caused my right large toe to become very painful and swollen. The scenery was even more incredible. We began to get messages from Patrick who had clearly fallen out with the guest house proprietor on arrival who wouldn’t let him have the key for Arthur’s room, thwarting his intent to have the best room! So he had to settle for the bedroom which had a sitting room between it and the bathroom but the sofa was a sofa bed which was to be my bed, contrary to the arrangements we had made for all of us to have ensuites.

As time went on it became apparent to our leader, Arthur, that awe would be lucky to reach our destination before 8.30 or even 9pm. He sensibly consulted with me and Chiara and the decision was taken to cut our losses, as we had walked the equivalent of the whole mileage, and so a taxi was sought. By this time my toe was really excruciating, and I was happy to fall into a ditch to get the weight off my right foot.

We had been booked into a Pizzeria where again we had an excellent diner, preceded by large gins. And tonight, I managed to stay awake until 2.45 to update this blog!

Wednesday

Alas, I woke up with a very swollen large toe! Nurse Arthur marched me hobbling down to the pharmacy where they sold me an antibiotic cream and it was then decided that I should go to the doctor next door. Arthur thought he had upset her by banging on her door, but once our turn came, she could not have been more charming. The toe was dressed, and the decision taken that I should not walk today. When I oiffered payment, she responded charmingly “It is a gift”! With the quantity of downhill yesterday the toe had been banging into the inside of the toecap and this had significantly damaged it (in addition to general wear and tear underneath on both feet). It had become pretty painful and it would have been risky and stupid to carry on today. So we went to a cafe for a co n nmkjffee and asked the bar tender whether she could call a taxi. In fact she turned to a lady (not young!) called Anna and asked her whether she was available, Before long Arthur’s Italian had been called into action. And arrangements were in place for her to take me directly to today’s destination, San Gimignano for 40 euros. It wasn’t long after that that Arthur renegotiated a diversion to a town we had passed through yesterday, where Anna would take me to a shoe shop where I could acquire a larger and softer pair of trainers. Off we went, with Anna (with my permission) smoking her self-rolled fags and driving pretty fast, apart from when passing the innumerable cameras, all of which she seemed to know about! Evidently, according to Patrick, Arthur could not stop laughing for 10 minutes after we left! Once in Castlefiorentino, Anna walked me to the shoe shop where there were two English speaking shop assistants. It wasn’t long before a very smart pair of trainers were acquired and protecting my injuries. Back to the car where Anna wasn’t pleased to find another car had parked in such a way that she had to get in my door and clamber over the gear lever! After that it was back to Gambassi Terme, from whence we had come, and then south to San Gimignano, all in for 80 euros (plus 65 more for the shoes!)!

Before arriving I had discovered she had come from Lebanon and had visited ‘Londres”, which was accompanied by a thumbs up from her! She stopped short of the town for me to take a photo and then deposited me at my hotel.

There I had to negotiate with the charming receptionist how to get Wi-Fi and BBC News. The latter we eventually got a picture, but no sound. The same was the case next door in Patrick’s room so she put it down to the new technology that was forced upon them and doesn’t work as well as its predecessor! Then I heard from Jim & Ceci that they had arrived in their hotel, so we met for a 3.15 lunch. Afterwards I spent another 13 euros on a ticket for the Duomo, two museums and the highest of at least 8 towers, which kept me amused till 7pm, by which time Arthur & Patrick had also arrived after another very tough day with a large number of very long ups (and downs), but the best scenery so far.

I greatly enjoyed my sightseeing and taking photos. I was pleased that around 250 steps up didn’t cause me any grief and that I managed the 15 or so ladder steps which took me to the very top. I had thought twice about the wisdom of the climb, given the notice at the bottom about those with heart conditions or dizziness! But remembering my two training climbs up Box Hill, my confidence returned, and I lived to tell the tale!

Ultimately it was back to the hotel for a shower, another dressing, an excellent dinner, the walkers’ company and finally a repack, a doze on the bed, a What’s App from Lucy (following others that I hadn’t seen from C, Claire & Em, a call to C and a further redressing before finishing the packing and now going horizontal, properly. We shall see what the morning brings …….!

Well done to the other 4 for continuing the walk on my behalf on what by all accounts was a taxiing day for all of them. Tomorrow is another 17 miler which only leaves 13 for Friday with Siena at the end of it, God willing.

Thursday

Today could have been the second longest, i.e. 17 miles. However, I was in two minds whether or not to return to walking after the toe incident and both Arthur and Patrick were disinclined to walk all the way. I decided to join them having dressed my toe and donned my new trainers. Soon after we set off Chiara and her friend Dan came up behind us and not much later Jim & Ceci did the same. The route was similar to the day before, i.e. constant mainly long ups and downs with virtually no flat paths. The scenery was amongst the best. Twice we had to cross streams on steppingstones, in each case without mishap. We eventually all met up in the middle of nowhere at a property where drinks were available, and food was also provided. It was tough; in fact, Patrick referred to it at one stage as transformational. I think both he and Patrick were still suffering from similar terrain the day before and they made the decision not to attempt to walk all the way. Jim and Ceci reached the same conclusion and we all stopped for a late lunch and left there in taxis. Before this I had applied Biofreeze to my troublesome shoulder, but rather more liberally than I had intended, which left me with a burning sensation. When we reached our hotel, it was delightful and boasted a swimming pool which Patrick and I enjoyed. The dinner was good, but Patrick was anxious that the nail on one of his small toes was coming off. I dressed this for him with the gorse and antibiotic cream I had acquired for my own war wound the day before and he was advised by Arthur that he probably should not attempt to walk any distance on the final day. We will wait for the morning to see what we all feel we can cope (sorry Arthur!) with but over dinner we had concluded that this walk was unlike any we had ever experienced before, at n since two of us had climbed mountains near Kandersteg in Switzerland as boy scouts nearly 50 years ago!

Friday

Today was to be the last day of our walk, We are delighted that those youngsters, Ceci & Jim did complete their walk today on a walk which was longer than predicted and as tough as many of the previous days and we congratulate them on their achievement, which we were able to celebrate with them in their superior Siena hotel over dinner tonight.

Sadly, after both Patrick and I had had to take time out from walking due to damaged feet, today it was the turn of Arthur to suffer from a problematic knee. Patrick’s small toe was also sufficiently damaged to make it unwise for him to soldier on and we quickly made the decision to stick together and forgo our desire to finish the walk. I have calculated that with two and a-bit days out, my distance covered would still have amounted to over 50 miles which comprised the toughest walk we had done since we first gathered with Pat Hall (aged 84) to walk double that distance in 2014 at the age of 67 or, in Patrick’s case, 66. Now all at the age of 76, and with a variety of defects between us ranging from limbs to more critical organs, we owed it to our families to be sensible and cautious and, although disappointed that our participation was curtailed, we know we did the right thing, as Pat would undoubtedly have encouraged us to do had he been with us.

We are delighted that those youngsters, Ceci & Jim did complete their walk today on a walk which was longer than predicted and as tough as many of the previous days and we congratulate them on their achievement, which we were able to celebrate with them in their superior Siena hotel over dinner tonight.

It has been quite an experience, both onerous and beautiful, with our meeting up most days and some nights with several people from Italy, the UK, the USA and elsewhere, whose company we have enjoyed. We have also been helped by a range of hotel owners and receptionists, taxi drivers, pharmacists, a doctor, shoe salespeople, waiters and waitresses, maids and ice cream vendors, to mention but some of the charming people who have made our journey a little easier and enhanced our experience in so many varied ways, sometimes simply by our experiencing their personalities. We were saddened to learn of 3 deaths in an horrific lorry/car crash this morning close to our last night hotel, adding to the international horrors which have taken place while we have been enjoying the peace and quiet of the Tuscan countryside.

We have reminisced about the September 2014 Camino with Pat and about him, as well as enjoying revisiting the photos taken then. We have also remembered the experiences of the Menorcan Cami de Cavels around the whole coast of Menorca in 2017. Hopefully we will gather again for a more leisurely 4th Pat Hall Memorial Walk in England, perhaps in 2024, when we can be joined by some of the many people who walked with some of us on the 1st & 2nd PHMWs in 2019 & 2022.

THE EPILOGUE

Friday

Our time in Siena was longer than envisaged. Our hotel was in the centre and Ceci’s and Jim’s was not far away. This time there’s was definitely a cut above ours and we were quick to accept their invitation to dine on the terrace outside theirs on the first evening. The 3 of us had enjoyed a pasta lunch and then Arthur & Patrick disappeared for a large chunk of the afternoon to the laundrette, whereas I had brought enough clothes not to have to resort to this time waster! Our hotel was basic but adequate and actually the breakfasts were among the better ones. Like all the hotels, other than Lucca, the TV didn’t have BBC News and what it did have was very poor TV programmes quality. Once again I wasted my time going through enumerable channels in search of news on the diabolical Israeli/Palestinian conflict which was particularly distressing after our parish pilgrimage there 13 months ago when we struck by the inequality of the living conditions of the two nations.

After an excellent dinner and returning to our hotel I quickly fell asleep, fully dressed, waking after 2.30am. So the blog writing was delayed 24 hours.

Saturday

In the morning, after a very good breakfast, Arthur and I walked through Siena to the Budget Rent-a-car office where we met Sabrina. She seemed to take a shine to us once we disclosed we were staying at the Duomo Hotel, as her best friend, Martha, worked there, and had in fact served us breakfast. Consequently, we ended up with an upgrade from the ‘Compact’ car we had paid for, to a French registered Renault Hybrid ‘Arkana’, which was large and comfortable. We decided to head south from Siena to visit places that Sabrina had recommended, the first of these being Buonconvento which had a charming old town. Next stop was Montalcino which was close to where Celia and I and 3 of our children had rented a house 21 years ago to celebrate our Silver wedding. After lunch there we went on to Sant Antimo Abbey, built originally in the 9th century, on the approach to that farmhouse. When we had visited the Abbey in 2002, French monks had recently arrived from Normandy to take over the vacant monastery and we had enjoyed listening to their chanting in the Abbey. Sadly, they left about 8 years ago and in their place 4 nuns now live there and run the shop. I then went in search of our former Farmhouse down a dirt track which caused raised eyebrows from my two passengers, one of whom thought we would get stuck and that we were on the wrong track. Yea of little faith! Unfortunately, there were gates before the farmhouse, so we did not see it, but our return to terra firma was without incident. The other passenger was determined that we return to Siena in good time for us to host our last dinner with Ceci & Jim at the Vival restaurant near our hotel, and he must have known he was going to spend 25 minutes in conversation with 2 Columbians to explain to them where they could and couldn’t park their car. Truly the “Good Samaritan”! Nevertheless, we were all at the table by 7.30pm to start what was another excellent meal. We were sad at the end of this to say goodbye to Jim & Ceci after 8 days of their company and witnessing their achievement.

Arthur and I took a walk after dinner to see the outside of the Siena Duomo and the A Campa at the centre of Siena, where I found the restaurant where our family had eaten in 2002. Both these landmarks were stunningly lit up.

Sunday

Arthur and I went to the 8am Mass at the Duomo. Including the priest and the server there were just 15 people at the Mass. Then back for breakfast and packing before bringing the car to the hotel for our bags.

Having left Siena we approached Monteriggioni where the Sat-Nav told me to take a left turn. I thought that it had given me insufficient notice as what I thought was that left turn appeared immediately. In taking it the others quickly realised I was in a one-way road which was one way in the other direction! Fortuitously nothing was coming the other way!

Monteriggioni turned out to be a very small walled hilltop village. The place was buzzing as an off-road 50km Cycle was finishing there that morning. We managed to find a place away from the worst of the noise to have a coffee, albeit that there was a cheer every time a cyclist passed us shortly before the finish, and particularly when there were two or more cyclists level with each other. We were able to walk around two sections of the wall and pick out the hotel we had stayed in two days earlier. From there we drove on to San Gimignano which Arthur & Patrick had not had time to see on Wednesday. We had lunch there on the terrace of the same restaurant that I had lunched at with Jim & Ceci that day. We took a walk around part of the town from which they got a good feel for the place, and we then moved on towards Volterra, as recommended by Sabrina, which was reached by a winding road and exceptional scenery at a considerable height. Arthur decided that we should not stop there but soon after regretted it! So eventually we found somewhere we could have a coffee and he could use the facilities! The result was that, after stopping at two petrol stations, the first for fuel and the second for me to surreptitiously change into more suitable clothes for the cold weather which awaited us at Gatwick, we reached Pisa Airport an hour earlier than necessary. We therefore had bags of time for our last Italian snack. The flight was on time and smooth and we were met by Celia and home soon after midnight. The next morning Patrick was to have his Covid jab and Arthur and I played 9 holes of golf where honour was satisfied, at least as far as I was concerned!

We have had a great time, albeit not without some difficulties and certainly some tough times. We all feel we have achieved as much as was sensible and honoured the memory of Pat, who was 8 years older than we are now when we walked together in Portugal & Spain in 2014. He was a truly exceptional and endearing gentleman whose memory lives on in the hearts of so many. We were privileged to share that time with him, and we are grateful to all those who have followed this journey and supported us and HCPT. Disabled and disadvantaged children will be the beneficiaries of your generosity when they enjoy a holiday of a lifetime in Lourdes in the coming years.