DONE: No.7- 50 Miles Of Weatherman Walks - Walked WITH the Weatherman

Shwmae!!! Finally - we ended a year long walking challenge of completing at least 50 miles worth of Weatherman Walks.  For those not from Wales - most of you probably, Weatherman Walks was a TV series filmed by Derek Brockway, a BBC Wales weatherman of many years standing and as far I'm concerned, a Welsh 'national treasure'!  Derek filmed quite a few series of his hikes throughout the whole of Wales, and published some books about his walks. The routes are also available as PDFs which are what we have used over the last year.   Today's final walk, up Pen Y Fan, highest point in south Wales was our 8th weatherman walk completed.

To know that the final walk I would be doing would actually be with Derek was something pretty cool.  It was also a charity walk, for Velindre - the Welsh Cancer Hospital.  Velindre is the hospital where my Welsh Dad, Lawrence, was treated for testicular cancer many years ago - before I had even met Stewart in fact. So, it was serendipitous that something I really wanted to do was so close to my husband's heart as well.

I haven't actually been feeling too well these last few days and wasn't sure I'd actually be well enough to do this - walking in the Brecon Becons is something you never undertake lightly.  But, I walked up Pen Y Fan last year - one of my first ever complete challenges - so thought I'd give it a go.  Stewart was by my side as usual - well, nearly by my side, he stayed close enough to give me drinks and haribos, but kept his distance in case I puked my guts up!

There were around 40 walkers in total doing this with Derek the Weather and we all gathered beforehand to get a group photo - also got the chance to get the ultimate selfie with Derek, my new celeb crush!

After a group photo by the bridge, we set off.  Thankfully we knew it wasn't a race, it was a charity walk, we were to support each other, take our time and go at our own pace.  Thank god, because I wasn't capable today of doing much else but putting one foot in front of the other.  Tried my best to not look up and just concentrate in putting one foot in front of the other.  Slightly difficult as the views around Pen Y Fan can be bloody gorgeous.

Not too much else to say about this walk, it's not as if we were passing by particular points of interest or anything, the goal was basically to get to the top.  And my goal was to get to the top without losing any bodily fluids!!!!  But with the help of nicely timed Haribos and small sips of juice I managed, and we neared the summit.

Finally you begin the last steep, but short, rocky ascent up to the peak where the absolute gold medal winning feeling - reaching the trig point - is.  Because I'd felt so rough the last few days when I reached the trig point and had the obligatory photo taken, I actually felt really emotional.  Didn't feel this way last year when I reached the summit, but this year....

Even though we had reached the top, we all waited till we knew that all supporters of Velindre had arrived and we had the group photo - with Derek at the centre.  It's difficult to tell, but me and Stewart are kneeling down just to the right of Derek.

So, job done.  50 miles of Weatherman Walks completed. This was absolutely the ultimate way for us to finish - it was also probably the only one of his walks where we couldn't get lost!  Derek proved to be the affable, lovely man I'd thought he would be.  He was charming to all, very generous, even though his weather prediction at the bottom turned out to be completely wrong - not a surprise there! Over the last year and the eight of his walks we've done I've visited parts of Wales I really wouldn't otherwise have seen, we've had thrills and near escapes, and plenty of occasions I thought 'shit, we're really lost', but we also saw lots of splendid scenery and it has gotten us out and about in fresh air - particularly these last few months when I have needed that most.  To finish, my attempt at a final sneaky wee selfie with my new found hero, Derek, in the background.