WE DID IT! I am very emotional today and keep crying happy tears. Mainly relief and amazement. It is amazing how each day of walking builds up to 800km. We were motivated to finish as people have put their money forward to help the charity so we had to deliver for them. Being a police officer now feels a million years ago which is what I wanted to achieve, to put some distance between my old life and my new one. I am determined to put as much effort into my new life as I did into policing. Considering we used to work 60 hr weeks and on call, that is one huge amount of effort. Greg and I did not argue or annoy each other which is amazing as we were together the whole time. EarPods and podcasts are amazing for a marriage and the Camino. Top tip, always have a dream, research it, plan it, get fit for it and then one day at a time deliver it. A massive hug and thank you to everyone for your support x

Sorry for the lack of updates but hopefully you have seen the insta and facebook reels showing what we have been up to. We are currently sitting in our last hostel (which has very thin walls) reflecting on the last couple of days. Monday was a long walk of 36 km, Tuesday was 23 km and today was 33 km, so feeling a bit tired, not least because the sun has been out and there is not a lot of shade. So Monday was a long day to a hamlet made up of one cafe, two hostels and a house. We thought we were booked into a hostel but the women said she had not confirmed our booking via email and was now full. Thankfully the second hostel had a couple of spare bunk beds but we were all very close together. Just when we managed to sleep the cockerel in the garden made sure we were all awake at 5 am.  I did partake in some alcohol to encourage sleep and this is the picture on the blog, not a romantic view of a sunset (yes those are beer crates). Tuesday felt just as long as the Monday however after a visit to the laundromat we went for a cheeky gin and tonic only to bump into our Irish dad and daughter who encouraged us to stay out late… 9 pm. Starting to feel a bit emotional about finishing, can’t believe by lunchtime tomorrow we will have finished. Currently feel more a sense of relief that it is over, than achievement but I am sure that will come later. I will really miss walking in the dark and the change as you are able to see in the half light and then the sunrise. This is my favourite part of the day. The atmosphere has changed on the walk over the last three days as new pilgrims have joined the walk for the last 100km. They move in packs of 10 to 30, often blocking the paths. So we are never alone on the path anymore apart from when we start in the dark. We had a lovely moment with three owls the other morning as we walked through the woods listening to them talking to each other. It felt a million miles away from civilisation.

We have just finished two days of walking along (up and down) the Cantabrian mountains which were just so beautiful. The local communities are all farmers and lots of men and their hounds were out for what we assumed were local hunts. On Saturday we walked into a very small village and they were having their festival. Ever since leaving Pamplona we have seen each town having their festival which invokes lots of alcohol and partying all night. We have often seen them still partying as we set off walking at 7 am. So we joined in the dancing as the road was blocked my a massive lorry carrying the band and speakers. Today was more straight up the mountains but we arrived to a stunning hotel with a pool. It will be difficult to leave in the morning as the sun is out, the views are amazing and chatting to a dad and daughter just make today full of laughs. Tomorrow we need to dig deep for our last long walk of 36 km to make sure we get to Santiago on time. Free accommodation is tight and this is the only place we could get a bed (not even a private room). Starting to get excited and amazed at our 800 km walk with just 100km left to go. Want to say thank you to everyone for their supportive comments and for the funds to help others in need.Greg's update, as we have moved into the region of Galicia we now have Amstel beer which is just awesome. 

Giddy again as we are back in the mountains, which is our favourite. Almost a scramble level incline but very enjoyable and beautiful.  We had some time today to review the trip and blog so far. The best bits for me are definitely the sunrises, being up and about to start the day seeing the sun come up. We do miss the days we walked on our own as we felt very remote. Finding a clean and bouji cafe to have some cake and a cup of tea are always a joy. We have learnt it is really important to have time out, pause and take a break. when you have climbed a mountain you need to enjoy the view. As you can see in today’s picture Greg enjoys the beer and the view.

So today I realised how well I am ( this does not mean I have a stress or anxiety free life) and how far I have come from when I had a lonely and tough time with what I now know was complex PTSD. We do a tough unrelenting job and we should not be surprised when if affects us. So to anyone having a tough time... you will be ok, you can face this. You are not alone. But you must ask for help.

We were expecting a really hard day today as it is described as a steep and slippy descent over 25+Km (28 in total), however it was ok and no falls (just a couple of near misses) on the rocky paths. Dread to think of doing it in rain, which had been forecast. The Camino guide book may have somewhat overplayed the charms of Ponferrada and we are looking forward to leaving tomorrow. Booking.com description & pictures of our hostal were similarly flattering.  Currently sitting in our first McDonald’s of the year to cheer ourselves up. We keep telling ourselves that we will look back on tonight's accommodation and laugh. Eight more days of walking, feeling physically great, mentally a bit drained but just loved being in the mountains again today. Greg's update - they can't make a decent cup of tea over here but McDonalds were best so far. How I miss a decent brew, an English breakfast and a Sunday roast. That said, I suspect I've not lost any weight! They're pretty sorted on beer...

At the end of each day Greg empties his rucksack all over the room. Today this behaviour caught up with him as he left his walking shorts and top at last nights hotel in Astorga. At last minute we were able to cancel a grotty hostel and went 4 star instead, for just £8 more. Beers, wine and dinner with the regulars we often high five at the destinations. We left in the dark, almost a bilking. Receptionist shouted out the door that we hadn’t paid! Whoops.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers.... is that I have one! Greg's dodgy toe has resolved nicely thanks to the rest days and he is now back to his annoying and enthusiastic self. We are still walking in a straight line by a road, with now a growing number of pilgrims who are increasingly more grumpy as their own injuries kick in. Everyone has an injury. We spent two hours today trying to book the rest of our accommodation as a couple we spoke to have struggled to get any for the rest of the trip. I am focusing now on the days left. In the morning I can say we only have 10 more days of walking. We do have some big climbs and steep descents ahead. My shoulder and knee are still sore, hoping there's nothing long term. I did feel anxious last night as after our rest days I was anticipating the pain/physical effort and a struggle to get back in the zone. Fortunately my music mixes and audio books are really helping. Greg's update - a decent rest, a late Friday night in Leon and the therapeutic effects of steak and lager have done the trick. Now I'm just sore and ache a bit, rather than lame. Em's been her usual unstoppable self, setting the pace, even though the temperature has crept to 31 or above today. 🥵 It really is a boost to receive texts, and messages via the blog. We've got a communal bunk room albergue coming up soon, at end of a hard day of uphill, probably in the rain. Sure that'll be fun. 🫢

This church represents half way across Spain. We started in France so are over half way of our journey and Spain. We only have another 300 km to do having completed 500 Km. Can't believe we have walked all that way. Today has been a well earned rest in Leon. We arrived yesterday and my brain was fried, I just could not focus on any more planning the walk or walking. Thursday was my second day of walking on my own and achieved 40km, it was all great until the last 10 Km which felt like 50. I did not see another human for several hours and the road was flat and straight so I felt like I was in an endless loop of walking which would never end. Last night we went out for drinks and sat outside a bar in the centre centre and just met up with lots of other walkers, as you can imagine it was the latest I have been to bed in a while. We are "living" in a city centre flat and have complete freedom (although the normal washing and accommodation planning must be done) My feet are still throbbing but no blisters. Greg's foot is slightly better and we will see what happens tomorrow as we return from our day off to the last 12 days of walking. Greg's update - I've had two very long, boring and sometimes painful days while Em was putting in the hard miles. Boots on again for 6km Friday but had to jump a bus into Leon. No damage done and even managed to walk around a few (too many) bars yesterday evening though! Today was a total slob out, lunch and dinner in the apartment and Netflix and chill!

So this was my view this morning as I set out at 7am on my own. Greg has a really bad foot and can't put any weight on it so I am for the first time since I was 18 years old, alone in a foreign country. It feels amazing. It is an easy road today which is straight for 30 km with a few diversions through villages. There were other walkers/pilgrims to talk to  but I wanted to just listen to my audio book and take in the scenery. Felt awesome when I finished and booked myself into the hostel and waited for Greg. (Ps there are no filters on the photo ) 

Mixed emotions, we are today half way (or annoyingly 3 km short as the only town in this rural area is 403 km from Santiago). We have definitely walked further as the milage always appears to be longer than advertsied so we have learnt to add on 2 km to any Camino sign to avoid disappointment. The landscape has changed and is reminding us of home. The weather is now thankfullly cooler, although still shorts and t shirts with brilliant sunshine after a cloudy start. Over the next three days we are upping the distances a bit, walking 30km and 40km and then a cheeky 24 to get to Leon to give us two nights there, and a full rest day. We are feeling really fit but with the odd niggle and could do with resting the feet from pounding the gravel and concrete paths. The Spanish have a penchant for concreting rural paths which is why my feet are throbbing all night.

31km achieved today, the first morning start in the dark where we have felt any cold. Our hands were so cold we could not use them properly but then we were still in shorts and t-shirts. A lovely sunny day with a light wind which was just a joy not to be a puddle of sweat by 8am. Struck gold with the hostel tonight in Hontanas which is a bit bouji for a hostel, literally in the middle of nowhere. The small town sits within a river basin so you can't see it until you arrive. Three years ago today I was on my last day in Norway with the CPP from which I came home a changed person. All staff within the emergency services will experience and witness more trauma than anyone should have to. I am passionate that we give staff the awareness of the impact and then the skills to identify and respond to its effects. Greg's update - Compeed blister plasters work! Lovely 20km walk alongside Nial from Dublin (ex-customs). Compulsory ice cold beer at his finish point before our last 11km push. Me and Em definitely feeling strong in the legs, it's just the aches everywhere else! 

Thank you for everyone's comments on here, email, social media,  the comments are really appreciated and help to keep us motivated. So we did not go into the 5 star hotel for breakfast, as I feared I would never leave. Two Kiwi ladies later told us they had stayed there and the breakfast was a big disappointment as no eggs and bacon. Good decision then!Walk, eat, wash clothes, sleep and repeat. Day 11 of walking, what have we learnt? Mainly I have no demons or baggage to leave behind on this trip. Although this was not the case a few years ago, and why I am now so passionate about raising funds for the CPP to thank them for their support. This trip is about people, my faith in humanity has been restored. Everyone is so nice and I don't want to arrest anyone. We are now taking more breaks and talking to others about their journey. We have met so many inspirational people including the lovely lady who is on her last round of chemo and they can't do anything else for her. She is not ready to die so is walking the Camino with her sister. The lady whose arthritis is getting worse and her boss has given her extended time off to walk her dream before she can no longer walk it. The young lad who can't go back to Ukraine. So my throbbing feet just need to be ignored as petty and we carry on with a positive mindset. We have 21 more days to walk and just a little more than 500 km go.                        Our spirits were lifted today when my bro, his amazing wife and daughters came to visit us for lunch in Burgos. X 

The real world has disappeared and we exist in this Camino bubble of walking, cleaning clothes, hunting down food and chatting to other Pilgrims either in English or hand gestures and shouting the odd word of Spanish or French. Today we had the pleasure of meeting Colleen, an inspirational woman from Adelaide, Australia. She is in her 70s and today we took a moment together to celebrate her husband Ron's birthday (he passed away two years ago and she promised him she would walk the Camino). I am so glad we are doing this to raise money for the CPP who really know how to help people as it would be so easy to stop. Dilemma, please do comment... so last night we had one option in the albergue for dinner and it was nice but small. The tiny hamlet shuts everything on a Wednesday. This morning at 6 am we walked 8 Km to find breakfast... the only place open was a five star hotel. Would you have stopped and had breakfast at the five star hotel, knowing that you had another 20km to go and it was getting hotter by the minute? Or keep walking to the next village? 

Estella to Torres del Rio, 31 km in 34 degree heat. So today we have upped the km as my knee is feeling stronger and less painful. The picture is of Greg and I, this is a good view of the day although we did have several steep climbs. Towards the last ten km I put my ear pods in again (not used since the fall) and a mixture of the Killers and French & Saunders 'Titting about' helped melt the km away in a joyous fog. I am exhausted, with the relentless heat and having now completed over 140 Km and being away from home for seven days. Still able to talk to my girl every day which is always a highlight x Surprise of the day was Greg booked a hostel with a swimming pool!

Day 5 Puente La Reina to Estella 23km Up and walk, eat on the move, drink lots, head under taps and sweat. Finish, shower, find local bar and restaurant. Feelings of satisfaction from the walk and joy of finding new bars, food, people and repeat.

Pamplona to Puente la Reina, 24 km.

Zubiri to PamplonaSo, after two full-on days of walking and pushing ourselves we know we are physically fit for this. As told yesterday a silly mistake has lead to a couple of injuries so having a slow day today. Whilst visiting the cathedral of Santa Maria in Pamplona, I stroll into the beautiful courtyard full of olive trees and quickly see my hubby due to his contorted face, as he realises the olives are not ready to eat straight from the trees… he really is one in a million x

The word of the day is giddy, the first three hours of the day I can only describe myself as giddy. We even ran along the road in the very few down bits. The clean air, the quiet, the views and the odd chat with other pilgrims with no day to day responsibility just left us giddy. Although whilst I was taking scenic pictures Greg insisted on taking photos of the goats Crown Jewels which were impressive. 

We managed to avoid any train strikes or flight cancellations and have arrived in the very beautiful Pyrenees and the start point of St Jean PP. We have our first stamp and ready to go. Had some amazing food, everyone has told me, I will loose weight on this trip however if you have eaten with us you will know Greg always over orders and I eat everything in I can get my hands on. Will no doubt regret my one larger as we start the very long and high mountain range tomorrow. The whole day seems so surreal and almost to good to be true. PS the lady who took this picture could not use the camera so have gone with the no eyes one. 

What is a sensible thing to do the day before you go on a five week life changing trip... get your hair cut short. More freedom,love having short hair. Clearly I am not one for a face full of make up and filters😂. 

So any romantic notions I had of walking over the Pyrenees on day one in the sunshine in a lovely relaxed manner are clearly out of the window.... lots of rain and thunder. 

I am sooo excited this morning as our Pilgrim record arrived. This booklet is now empty but on day one we are stamped in to the walk and every day we arrive in a new town to sleep we will have our record/credential stamped. This will be full by the end and it will be an amazing visualisation of our journey and a booklet I will cherish. I am sure there will be lots of tears and hopefully laughter on this journey x 

With less than one week to go I am regularly walking up at 2 am thinking about all the stuff and issues I need to sort out before we go. So I write down a list to make sure I can relax and go back to sleep. Some useful info does come out of my brain at 2 am... last night it was a selfie stick... why had we not thought of this before? It will be extra weight to carry but hopefully it comes with a built in makeover and glossing process 😂😂 

Wow, so hubby and I were on a practice walk for next week when I saw a person with the most amazing hair doing some filming by the river... we assumed students and were considering doing the David Brent dance but thought better of it. Realised it was Joe Wicks so waited a distance away until he finished filming and shouted out that I think his work is amazing. He then had a full on chat with me about my charity walk and the menopause. A truly lovely and very kind person. This really cheered me up. Keep up the great work Joe x 🥰

Wow, just wow and thank you to everyone who has sponsored us. 5 more sleeps until we go and already you have smashed the goals. I initially started with an £800 for 800 km, then moved to 1000. We have not even left yet so the pressure is in to deliver. Greg is keen to push out the extra Km/miles to keep the money coming in. We have just put the fundraiser up to 1500 so when people see us carrying the rucksacks and walking in 34 degree heat we will bring the focus to why we are doing this. Awareness and prevention/minimise the impact of all the high end stuff we deal with on a day to day basis. To support the amazing CPP (all volunteer staff)  Thank you again and lots of love x 

Managed a cheeky walking trip to Henley with the spaniel. Packed and ready as if we were on the Camino. All good, a quick shorten of the rucksack, a small discussion over power leads for the phones and EarPods. We are ready 👍🤩🧘‍♀️💪

Julia Roberts plays Vivian in the movie Pretty Woman, she says to Richard Gere's character Edward,  just before being taken out for the night "In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight". I have recently been saying this to Greg before going out to concerts etc and it just makes me cry (just an old romantic at heart) I have said it about the Camino as I just know this will be awesome. That does not mean and does not stop my anxiety rapidly rising over the last week... this sh#t just got real. The last time I felt like this was just before I got married. The train is moving and nothing can stop this now (well apart from train strikes, flight cancellations and any injuries). 

I am fortunate to have set up a gym at home just before Covid, I use Les Mills on line which is a great price and has hundreds of workouts. It is so easy to just walk into the garden and squeeze in a workout. So since Jan i have been working out with this trip as my focus "train hard and fight easy" mantra going around my mind.🧘‍♀️

Thank you to Sarah for sharing my blog in the Narpo news. Welcome any new followers and those from Narpo. I thought my picture of my first Reading festival arrest in August 1993 would make you all smile ( it was about 2 am and the picture is on a Polaroid). Please leave comments the blog page or via the message page and I can shape what I put on here from your feedback. Take care 🥰

So my best mate persuaded me to have a "leaving the police party", ( I am trying hard not to say retirement as I have just turned 52 and this is not real retirement, more well done you survived 30 years in the police). I have missed many Christmases, birthdays, funerals, family gatherings and life by working 24 hrs shifts and the long hours. I have for many years been too exhausted to socialise and thought I had no friends to invite...it is easy to feel isolated and a bit of an outsider after working in the police for so long.

Wow congratulations to the Lionesses, the British womens football team, they won the Euro football finals. Amazing work for football and women. 

So we are still packing and re packing. Thank you to Penny for my new headband. I can't remember the last time I used a needle and thread but the CPP badge is now on the rucksack 🎒. Greg is spending hours researching the route whilst I am going for surprise approach. I don't want to know to much before I get there, as long as I have access to food I am happy 😃 

After months of talking about it, it all happened all very quickly. I returned all of my equipment and uniform back to Reading police station this week.  I have lived and worked in Reading police station for 30 years. So many happy and sad memories. I had forgotten how on nights I would literally walk down these corridors and walk into them due to tiredness, I would misjudge doorways and hit my shoulders on them.... I knew I had to to leave 24hr shifts when for many months I had been hallucinating, it started with me jumping out of patrol cars to chase burglars hiding behind letter boxes but then (younger people may need to look this),  I saw the very large marshamellow man from Ghostbusters walking down Kings street towards my car. It all seems normal at the time...... and this was before energy drinks when we used to have coffee and caffeine  tablets to keep us going.

Preparation so far 

Lucky hubby retired (for 2nd time) in December so is in full-on training mode already. This week he covered 70km on the Kennet and Avon canal over two days with two mates Mike and Damian. Damian (in the pic) is also walking the Camino later in the year. Full weight rucksacks but no blisters or injuries.