Well, I’m now all packed and ready to go; this will be my last post before the off (I bet you thought they’d never end!), so I thought I’d add a few final thoughts.

If the upside to blogging was providing extra motivation for proper preparation, the main flipside is very definitely the fear of a more public humiliation should I fail again. And clearly, given those previous failures, it also means an awful lot to me personally that I ‘do it right’ this time. Wondering how I might deal with any negative outcome has thus occasionally kept me awake at night (as well as fuelling the odd nightmare). So if one day this blog goes missing in its entirety, you’ll know why, although hopefully I’d find the nerve to be more honest than that!

I do also keep pondering exactly how much I’m going to enjoy this walk, versus it potentially degenerating into a physical slog. There have definitely been times in the training walks where the latter has predominated. As well as the better scenery, I guess the weather (looking ok to start with!) and hoped for encounters with other walkers will be main factors.  It’s been a bit quiet on the various forums, though, in terms of anyone else saying they’re going at the same time; hopefully I’m not too early in the year.  And I increasingly have the feeling that I should have allowed one or two extra days, those three consecutive long days still look like potential killers.

Overall, therefore, as I begin my final night at home, I’m experiencing very mixed emotions – yes, of course, I’m still looking forward to the challenge ahead, but perhaps not quite as much as I’d originally anticipated.

The journey begins at 07:00 tomorrow with the short walk to the train station, and I should be dipping my boots in the Irish Sea just before midday (after all, what could possibly go wrong over the 3 train changes, most with <15 min connections!). Between then and now there’s just time to take the family out for a final meal, and for maybe one last dip into the Julia Bradbury CD.