Gill's report when she returned from the Pyrenees
dated 16th August 2003

Well, now we come to it - time for me to give you the low-down on what it's really like. Rob's diary is so scientific and masculine. There is total understatement and perfect route description, but no indication of the challenge [both mental and physical] that he has set for himself.

I was really quite upset by how skinny Rob is. This is an indication of how hard he has been working and also how difficult it is to get decent provisions. The disadvantage of being thin is that he has no fat reserves to burn off [unlike Ian and me who will both be the first to admit we had beer-guts to burn.] We estimated Rob should be carrying enough food to supply 3000 calories a day which, as you can imagine, is easier said that done when some of the stages were three or four days long with no chance of resupplying. In the guide book some places were mentioned as having shops or cafes, but when we arrived had nothing! This meant taking days off and hitching down valleys to the nearest big town. Not ideal. It's no wonder that a lot of his diary dwells on what he had for tea! The obsession affected us all after a few days, with cravings for real bread and dreams about massive vegetable salads. There is a limit to the weight that can be carried, and so a lot of the food was things like noodles, pasta, cupasoups and peanuts. The most revolting breakfast cereal I found was chocolate Allbran, and as we ran out of milk powder this was consumed with cold water at 6.00 am - I can't say I will continue to eat it at home.....

Rob is also the master of understatement when he says things like 'we soon won through'. You can deduce from this that he had spent several hours toiling in extreme heat and was nearing exhaustion so he had to stop...... The statement in Volume 9 'Gill found it all a bit much' was when I collapsed in a heap in a boulder field and burst into tears of frustration, only to have my pack wrested from me by Ian. Ian and Rob then both relayed it down the next half a km going up and down while I took for ever just to get myself over all the massive boulders. [I knew having Ian along would come in useful!]

The other classic is mention of 'steep ground'. This translates as easy rock climbing with a 15kg pack on your back... If there is such a thing. One of the passes [the one before the famous rock field, in fact] was like sitting on a chair at 2500m with a steep drop both in front and behind. It reminded me very much of the feeling of vertigo you get when you belay a rock climb from some narrow ledge in the Lake District, and you think 'No need to freak - you're tied on' - except in this case, you weren't! Other steep ground incidents included some ankle turning slopes on grass which was long and very slippy and just seemed to go on for ever above steep drops. Maybe I'm just a wimpette, but I think he's a hero!

The other thing that impressed me was Rob's obvious success at sticking to his itinerary. I suppose it's pretty organised anyway to have a list of what you're going to do every day for 8 weeks - especially when you don't have to be back home by a set day. However, to be able to stick to this itinerary is pretty gutsy, particularly when you consider that in order to do the distances he was doing he was having to get up a 5.30 to 6.30 am every morning. Not easy when it's dark and you're alone. The trouble was that if you got up too late you ended up walking in the heat of the afternoon which fielded temperatures in the low 30's even though we were up high. Some of the days that Ian and I did with Rob added up to ten hours of walking with an extra couple of hours off for lunch, so it's no wonder that initially we had the 'collapsing Rob' problem. We then decided to split some of the days into two, although this had the effect of getting him behind on his schedule. However, it was necessary, and of course we ended up having to do more hitching than planned in order to resupply with food. Again Rob was admirable in that any hitching was not allowed to help him get nearer the Med, and we always had to retrace our path back to where he left the HRP.

What can I say? The mornings were great, the afternoons were usually sheer Hell and the evenings were enjoyable because that was when you could take your boots off and the walking stopped! Anyone who thinks Rob's gone for a stroll in the country and is having a nice relaxing time can think again! He's shed blood, sweat and tears over this one - mainly, it has to be said, sweat.....I hope he raises lots of money for Macmillan, as I think it's a great cause and he's certainly worked hard for it.

The only other thing I would like to say is how grateful I am to all the people who helped us out along the way. It's not just the parents who looked after Issy for two weeks [for which we can't thank you enough], it's all the people who gave us lifts and went out of their way to get us to places in the back of beyond. There was a lovely French couple who picked Ian and me up just inside the Spanish border and went considerably farther than they had planned so that they could take us through the road tunnel to Hospital de Viellha. Having dropped us, they then turned round and went back through it again to get back to Viella. I hope they had a good night out on the town! There was also the wonderful Thierry who was on holiday and picked us up in Andorra. He was going to take us to El Pas, but ended up dropping us in Ax les Thermes. He was an absolute star, so if you're reading this - thank you very much and keep doing the 'auto stop' !

I'm sure Rob will be doing a thank you list of his own when he gets back so I won't list all the sponsors now. The socks have been great, so they will get a plug. However, I think he will have a few negative things to say about certain other items of equipment. Rob is due back on Thursday 21st August, and I'm sure will put the last installment of his diary onto the website. Until then, he has just met up again with Chris and Jim and they all plan to finish the walk together [and presumably party in style at the end!]

Gill

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