It is nearly 19 years since my son, Blake Hartley disappeared (the day after his 25th birthday) and I subsequently spent 2 ½ years searching for him. Remains were eventually discovered in the River L’Arve, 60 Kilometres south of where he was last seen in Chamonix in the French Alps. 

In recent news we have all been witness to how devastating it is having a loved one go missing. To not know what has happened is overwhelming and unbearable. All sorts of scenarios go through your mind without conclusion. So to have a resolution, however heartbreaking it is, in my opinion, better than never finding out. Even though my conclusion was tragic it was better than the alternative. For some people though they never have an answer. 

Sadly, many peope go through this every year, in fact the Charity Missing People says “someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the UK “, adding that “170,000 people are reported missing every year”.

There are 353,000 reported missing incidents every year. https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/for-professionals/policy-and-research/information-and-research/key-information When Blake disappeared Missing People helped me and I would like to help them. So at the grand age of 68 and despite having had Covid very badly indeed in 2020, I am planning to walk the south route of The Shropshire Way, approximately 125 miles, probably a bit further in fact as I’m bound to get lost!

By doing this I would like to raise some money for the charity ‘Missing People.’ So if you would like to help too, please donate, thank you.