Tues 11th
June - Final Day
I was in no
hurry getting up this morning. My host
Anthony Diver brought the children to school first and after breakfast brought
me to McClean’s shop and pub in the village of Malin. The previous day I had decided to leave a few
miles to complete along with Mary Ann so I wanted a convenient place to stay
while waiting for them. When I crossed
the bridge into Malin there were two men standing at the petrol pumps. I asked them if there was a hotel in Malin
where I could get a cup of coffee next day while waiting for Mary Ann to arrive
and pick me up. There is a hotel it
seems but it would not open till Thursday.
I’m not sure what that was about.
However he told me to come to his shop at the petrol pumps and the
shopkeeper would let me into the pub even though it would not be open and I
could wait there. When I arrived she
offered to make me a cup of tea.
Hospitality has been endless. The
posse arrived at about 11.00 in a delegation of six including my son Niall, my
grandchildren Oisin and Darragh, friends Eamon and Isabel Beattie and Frances
Fingleton who was born and reared in Malin Village. She has a house there now and insisted on
bringing us there for coffee before we set out.
Mary Ann
left me off at the place where I had finished yesterday with the three
children. The others drove on to Malin
Head to park the cars and walk back to meet me.
After about a mile a blue car passed us and waved, and a short distance
later the driver and his companions were waiting for me in their gateway. They congratulated me on the walk and gave me
a donation for the hospice. We arrived
at Malin Head a short time later.
This has
been a memorable experience for me.
There are some lasting things that will stay with me. The generosity and goodness of people day
after day, who stopped to talk, give me encouragement and donations, was
completely unforeseen and has been an especially heartening part of the
experience. The generosity and time that
so many of my friends and strangers have given to fundraising for Ndi Moyo in
support of my walk has been overwhelming.
To date you have contributed more than £14,000.00 to the dying in Malawi
and the young children they leave behind them and the money is still coming in.
currently Ndi Moyo Hospice cares for more than 350 patients and about 1,000
young children who have been orphaned by their parents who have died in the
care of the hospice. They do all this on
a budget of one hundred and ten thousand pounds for the whole year of 2013.
I have been
blessed by all the people who have been my hosts along the way. They could not do enough for me. And I have been enriched by getting to know
so many new interesting people and spending time with my nephews and their
families. They have given me transport,
fed me bountifully, given me comfortable beds to sleep in and shared their
homes and families with me.
I have been
able to see and experience this island as few people have. Walking the whole way from South to North is
certainly the best way to experience our land.
I have been exhilarated by the bounty of growing things and landscapes,
the proliferation of colours smells and shapes.
The walk for me has been a meditation.
I have enjoyed the rhythm of walking the roads day after day and the
beauty of the silence that is the music of nature. I have been content both in my own company
and in the company of others.
Finally I
want to say thank you to Mary Ann without whom this marvellous venture would
not have been possible. Thank you too to
those who have persevered with reading this blog. I have enjoyed writing it. John Conlon