Brothers repay mother’s carers with charity walk

TWO brothers walked 115 miles to raise money for the charity that supports their mother in Henley.

Alasdair and Robert Romanes trekked from Christ Church in Oxford to Christchurch in Dorset in nine days, finishing on Sunday.

Alasdair, 64, from East Hendred, and Robert, 60, from Aldworth, completed 13 miles a day and raised more than £5,000 for Sue Ryder.

The charity has been providing palliative care for their 94-year-old mother, Mary, for the last eight months at her home in Market Place.

Alasdair, who grew up in Crazies Hill, said: “I’ve known of Sue Ryder my whole life, having grown up in Henley and my mother is a long-time supporter.”

Robert said: “She has just celebrated her birthday and recently her health has been declining and she needed more support.

“We have been using private nursing and also got in touch with Sue Ryder’s South Oxfordshire palliative care hub and the difference they have made is incredible. They are experts when it comes to dying ‘well’ and it was from this positive experience that my brother and I decided to give something back.

“We are both quite fit from playing golf and Al is an avid walker and has always wanted to do a walk from Oxford to the sea.”

The brothers’ route was along mixed terrain following the Thames Path, the Ridgeway near Wayland’s Smithy then on to Marlborough, Salisbury and the New Forest before finishing at Highcliffe Castle.

They stayed at hotels and bed and breakfasts at night, which they had booked in advance, and were joined by 10 of their friends at different stages of the walk.

Alasdair, who attended Rupert House School, said: “The easiest bit was the Thames Path, which was lovely and flat.

“As you get past the Trout Inn in Wolvercote there’s about 10 miles where it’s really peaceful and beyond that it’s all floodplain so there are no houses and it is beautiful.

“We were unbelievably lucky with the weather. We had one day of heavy rain as we arrived at Salisbury.

“As we walked over Salisbury Plain, you could hear a percussive explosion. We were thinking, “Where are all the soldiers? Then we came to this little copse and there were three or four trucks and at the far end about 20 soldiers being lectured by an officer.”

Alasdair said he had pain in a knee for the first few days and suffered multiple horse-fly bites over the duration of the walk.

He said: “My brother walked with walking poles and he started getting blisters on his thumb. I had packed a huge first aid kit. The walk was relatively easy. My knees were the thing that worried me.

“My brother did a lot of extra walking beforehand to get fitter.

“Some of the more difficult things were going nine days in a row without a day’s rest and not being in your own home in the evenings.”

At the finish the men celebrated with a paddle in the sea at Highcliffe Beach.

Alasdair said: “I was pretty tired but really pleased. My brother gave me a hug, which was extraordinary.”

Robert said: “I was worried that I would hold Alasdair back because he goes on walking
holidays.

“He came up with the idea and I had just retired from teaching after 25 years so it was a lovely thing to do after three weeks of retirement. It distracted one enormously.

“I had bought some walking boots in France last year for 50 euros and they were great and lasted me the whole journey.”

To make a donation, visit
tinyurl.com/555ccdmk