29th August 09
My Journey
I have been asked to write a piece for the Lands End 2 John O'Groats Association magazine and this is what i wrote. I hope you all find it a good read.
Lands End to John o Groats in an Alex power chair
By
Mary Laver
Taken from the synopsis of a book I hope to have written
Quote “With a gentle nudge of her joystick, Mary Laver crossed the finish line. It wasn’t the most salubrious spot – in the shadow of a boarded-up hotel on Scotland’s northern coast – but she’d done it: she’d traveled from one end of Great Britain to the other in a power chair. At nearly 1,000 miles, it was a record.” Unquote
The end of a journey is always a great place to start to write about a journey. In this case my journey from Lands End to John o Groats a distance of 965 miles.
A journey that was not without its problems. Some very big some not so big.
My E2E journey really stated way back in June 2008 when I tried and failed my first attempt. You can read about it by visiting my blog at http://powerwheelchaire2e.blogspot.com/ both Donn and Jack were there when I decide to do the E2E in a power chair and have been there for me, and us all, ever since. You can all verify to that.
The one thing that I have learned is, the good thing about failure is that you get another chance to try again and this is what I did in 2009. I put another team together, got the funding and a different power chair, and at 2.00 pm on Saturday 18th July 2009 I left Lands End on my epic journey with Philip my cyclist at my helm.
You have all done the journey; you all know what a difference it has made to you as people. You all know what a wonderful country we have; as we have seen a good slice of it. So what makes this journey different?
Quite and simple my team. Taken from my synopsis “was divided into a support team, which went ahead of Mary to prepare campsites etc., and a road team that actually shadowed her mile-by-mile. The team leader was Graham, a “100% prime beef” Territorial Army sergeant and a natural commander. Philip patiently rode his bike behind Mary’s chair for the entire 965 miles and often acted as her “other eye”. Alan was the “quiet man” who drove one of the team’s two vans. Jason was the “dog’s body” who would lead sing-alongs on his guitar by night. Emmanuelle, Adie and Margaret have been part of Mary’s home care team for years. Emmanuelle, from France, was the E2E team’s housekeeper and very involved in the trip’s planning. Adie proved herself an excellent and proud cook – even in tents in the pouring rain. Margaret – who’d never even camped before – bravely came out of her comfort zone (and still put on make-up every morning!) Yasmine and Jenny, both students, were strangers before the journey and fast friends afterwards – exceptional young ladies who seldom stopped laughing.” Unquote
Been part of my team, I told all who wanted to join me, would be hard but I hope fun. I told them that they would be come end to ender in their own right, so what did my team have to do on to top of putting up tents, cooking, driving load and unloading vans? Again, quote “Mary has to overcome incredible physical challenges just to navigate everyday life. This only makes her End to End (E2E) trek all the more remarkable. “First and foremost, I cannot wash, clean my teeth, dress myself, feed, or generally use my hands and arms to any extent except to drive my power chair and use my computer,” Mary explains. On her E2E trip she had to be put to bed (which took around half an hour), got up in the morning (which could take up to 3 hours), washed, fed, watered and toileted at public campsites and in Youth Hostels.” Unquote. This I hasten to add, the ladies did for me.
We had a motto which you would here us say every day and during the day “You’ve got to do the miles” and miles we did. Between 40/55 per day, sometimes riding into the night. I loved every moment of it. The number of times I was asked how I felt and I replied, “I am so just so happy”.
You all know what it is like to see the sign you are leaving x county. The best one being “Welcome to Scotland”. The best but saddest sigh says X miles to John o Groats. The first time I saw this sign it said 47 miles. You like me may have had mixed feeling. Joy at knowing you had made it and sorrow because your journey is almost at an end.
That last ¼ mile leading down to John o Groats was very moving to me as thanks to the mobile phone I had a friend who has walked my disability walk with me, if you understand what I mean, and was too poorly to be with me, was there, in my ear, and I was able to described what was happening; she could also hear what was happening. “Bagpipes,” I shouted, “They have got bagpipes, and I don’t like bagpipes.” I also saw friends whom I had spoken to on my mobile that day, and whom I thought were in Newcastle, were there with a bottle of pink Champagne. You know the picture.
We took all the photographs and then I slipped away to find the official finishing line, you all know where it is. I went up to it, in a away I did not want to cross it because it symbled the journey had ended. Christ on the cross came into my head when he said, “it is now finished” and died. I crossed that line, as it says at the start of this piece, knowing that my journey was finished.
I raise my glass to all End to Enders. Cheers.
