Shownotes
Three months after setting off from Land's End on an epic journey on foot, Harriet has made it to John O'Groats.
Her D Tour for Dementia Adventure has taken Harriet through England, parts of Wales and now the very tip of the North East of mainland Scotland.
This week she's reflecting on that journey, the people she met, the friends she's made and the recurring themes of the past 90 days.
If you like what we are doing and want to support the Dementia Adventure Support Fund please donate
Dementia Adventure has been at the forefront of providing fully supported, small group short breaks for people living with dementia and their carers for 15 years. Our supported breaks offer more than just respite; they provide meaningful, purpose-driven experiences that significantly enhance the quality of life for both people living with dementia and their caregivers.
The D Tour podcast is proudly sponsored by Macs Adventure
Macs Adventure specialise in self guided walking and cycling holidays for independent, active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules.
You can listen to Harriet's playlist on Spotify. Each week she's adding songs to match her mood on her epic walk!
Transcripts
Harriet Thomas
::We're down on the beach, Sinclair Bay. It's amazing. Massive white beach, nobody on it.
Incredible dunes, beautiful dunes, covered in this marum grass that's like green hair that's waving in the wind. There's so much wind, but it's behind us and we're just joking that it's. It's pushing us all the way to John O'Groats. But it's an amazing day.
Gosh, the sky is blue and the sea is amazing. And we have one more challenge, which is a river which we may have to ford. So that's our next challenge today.
But for the moment we're just enjoying being blown along by this wind. And all the sand is. It looks like we're in Lawrence of Arabia. All the sand is like blowing off in front of us. It's very dramatic.
Welcome to the D Tour, a special podcast series where I share my incredible journey, walking 900 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise funds for Dementia Adventure. I'm Harriet Thomas and you can follow my adventures by visiting Dtour.uk That's D T O U R dot UK.
to:Mac Adventure specialises in self guided walking and cycling holidays for independent, active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules. They encourage you to go at your own pace whilst they support you with all of the routes and logistics for a worry free adventure.
Oh my gosh, this is it. The moment I've been walking towards for so long. Finally reaching John O Groats. It's almost surreal. What a journey it's been.
I have come so far, not just in miles, but in all the connections that I've made and everything I've learned along the way since that very first step on August 1st. So this is day one of my Land's End to John O'Groats trip. And I'm so blessed to have the most gorgeous weather for walking in.
I'm walking along a beautiful path between Sennen and Saint Just and there are flowers everywhere, heather, dandelions, bracken. And so the air is kind of. It smells just faintly scented. It's so delicious scented with all of these beautiful wildflowers and with a tang of salt.
And that beautiful scent is being Brought to me on this lovely warm breeze. So I'm really making the most of this day because apparently we got some bad weather on the way.
But right now I'm walking along, breathing in deeply and taking in the scents, the sounds and the sights of this beautiful Cornish path.
And now in Scotland, it's just a few more steps until I reach the end. So it's day 87 of the 900 mile D Tour, which is actually a 1,200mile D Tour. Just saying.
And after two quite difficult days on the John O'Groats trail, when we were walking on really, really, really, really high cliff tops along skinny little grassy paths at the top, and it was pretty hard going, lots of barbed wire fences and lots of bog as well. And it took us, I think yesterday it took us four and a half hours or something to go 7km or 10km, 7km. So such slow going.
And now today on this section, which is from Wick to Keiss, the cliffs are much lower, the paths are better, and now we're down on the shore, so we're down walking down this beautiful beach and we just saw two seals sitting on a rock, sunbathing, just passing a little stream because of course there's streams everywhere in Scotland. Never go anywhere without having to cross a stream around here.
And it's a beautiful kind of rock pavement going out to sea, seagulls sitting on the rocks.
It's a beautiful sunny day, a bit windy, but this is so such a lovely kind of holiday after the two previous days, because this is kind of quite easy walking and really pleasurable. I'm not worrying that I'm going to fall off a cliff right now, which is a definite advantage.
And as I said, the sun is shining and there's loads of seaweed on the beach, so there's gorgeous smells of the seaweed and lots of sounds from the gulls.
And then there's cows in the fields on our left and some little birds which I should be able to tell you the name of because they were on a sort of nature board, but I can't remember. So lots of little birds and stuff, so. And of course the sound of the water, sound of the wind, it's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
So I made it and here there's a sign, 1,200 miles, Land's End to John O'Groats walked it. What a brilliant thing.
So on August 1st, I started my 900 mile D Tour for Dementia Adventure in honour of my lovely mum, who had dementia for nine years. And now I've made it to John O'Groats. And it's been the best, most fantastic adventure and a great way to honour my mum.
And I've met the most amazing people on the way.
This whole experience has been a celebration of love in all its forms.
Every step, every conversation and every beautiful landscape I've passed through has reminded me of the love that surrounds me.
As I near the end, I find myself reflecting on how love has been the constant thread holding everything together, from the love I have for my mum, to the kindness of strangers and the incredible support from everyone following this journey. So much of this walk has been about connecting with others, about feeling part of something larger than myself.
And now as I approach the finish line, I realise that all that's left is love. The love we have for each other, for the journey and for the memories that we carry forward. In the end, that is what truly remains, isn't it, love.
It seems so long ago, but early in the walk I was lucky enough to stay at Watergate Bay Hotel in Newquay. While I was there, I met Pix Ashworth, founder of Land and Water.
Their bath and body products capture that feeling of being out in nature or on holiday, the sense of being embraced by something bigger.
I can still smell that orange, grapefruit and mint shampoo. Pix reminded me of how deeply our senses are tied to memory and connection and how it's these small details, the scent of the sea, the warmth of a kind gesture, that keep those we care about close no matter what.
Pix Ashworth
::Yes, it's amazing how that sense is so natural, isn't it? How those senses occur to you and particularly smell, because smell is such of the five senses, it's the one, I think it bypasses the, you know, when you smell, it's the one sense that bypasses the thalamus. And it goes straight to your amygdala, which is the most reptile reptilian part of your brain. And of course is responsible for emotion rather than fact or logic. And so you get hit by this wave of emotion before you can process it.
You can't tag the aroma as such until, you know, until the other sort of processes have happened. And so it goes straight to the amygdala and it's the only sense that does that. And it can be quite disorientating sometimes, can't it?
Lovely often, but slightly disorientating that I can't tag that aroma, where was it? I know that smell.
And you get a sort of emotional feeling throughout you, yet you can't apply logic to it.
Harriet Thomas
::Have a listen to these lovely words that Pix sent over to celebrate the end of my journey and share why she felt so inspired to support both me and Dementia Adventure.
Pix Ashworth
::Harriet, you're over the line. I just want to take you back to summer 2023, which is when land and water first met Dementia Adventure.
We've been an advocate since then.
Since we first met the head of Adventures, we felt an instant connection, sharing the belief that spending time outdoors, immersed in nature is intrinsic to our physical, emotional and mental well being.
So when we heard about the detour with you, planning to walk and inspiring 900 miles to raise awareness and funds for the charity, we were super eager to support.
However, as much as we already admired you for your motivations and passion, we were not prepared for the incredible energy, both physically and mentally, that you have literally poured into the last three months.
We have stood in awe, cheering from the sidelines, and we are utterly thrilled for you and Dementia Adventure that all your amazing passion and endless warmth has been so well received. Harriet, we salute you.
Harriet Thomas
::This is starting to get emotional. Thank you Pix. This journey may have been a solo adventure, but I never felt alone.
I'm so grateful to have met incredible people along the way like Fons, who's been a true partner in these final, most challenging stretches.
Fons joined me after we crossed paths, and knowing the terrain ahead was steep and sometimes daunting, he offered to walk with me up to John O'Groats. His calm energy and steady presence became the exact support I needed to face the crumbling cliff edges and tricky paths.
In fact, I adjusted my walking days just so that we could tackle this section together. He's been an amazing foil to my moments of panic, helping me to stay grounded and confident. So it's day zero of normal life, so I'm in Thurso.
Got to John O Groats yesterday and I've just said goodbye to Fons. He's got on the bus to Inverness where he's gonna go and get his flight back to the Netherlands. And that was very emotional. We were both in tears.
You get very, very close when you're walking with people. You're kind of with each other for so long and it's a difficult walk John O'Groats trail. So there were lots of decisions we made together.
Lots of barbed wire fences we climbed together, lots of cliffs we teetered over. Yeah, it was such a shared experience. I was so lucky to have Fons with me as a companion and as a safety net and as a friend.
So, yeah, really, really sad to say goodbye to him, but so happy that we share these amazing days together. And now he's going back to his lovely family. So happy for him.
And I will shortly be going back to my family and my daughter has arranged a surprise dinner for me. But it's not a surprise because she told me about it by mistake. So normal life will start again for everybody.
But I feel like saying goodbye to Fons was the real end to my trip.
And it reminded me how the journey is not just about exploring the amazing landscapes and towns and people of the United Kingdom from Lands end to John O'Groats, but it's about the people that you meet on the trail. It's about the people you walk with, the people you share so much with when you're walking along and talking about every aspect of life.
It's a very, very special bond you can have on the road with a fellow traveler. So I guess when people say, won't you be lonely walking from Land's End to John O'Groats by yourself? I would say, well, I was by myself sometimes.
But I was also sometimes with friends, sometimes with family, sometimes with colleague and then sometimes with these amazing, amazing new friends who some of them, especially Fons and Miles, will be friends, I'm sure for life and I'm sure we'll keep in touch. And yeah, that's the magic of being on the road, that's the magic of hiking, that's the magic of through trekking.
And I'm really looking forward to my next one.
As we've heard throughout this series, making connections, having support and sharing experiences with friends are essential for our mental and physical well being. Especially when living with dementia or caring for somebody who is.
And if there's one thing that has brought a smile to my face and a spring to my step throughout this walk, it has been food, glorious food. From hearty breakfasts to unexpected treats, food became its own kind of support along the way.
Let's take a little detour through some of those delicious moments. About the first thing I saw was this little Italian delicatessen and I have just had the best latte and the best apricot croissant you could imagine.
And I am feeling very chipper. So I'm setting off today. Having had my coffee and a bacon and egg, I'm feeling very full of the joys of spring or summer.
I just left Heartland where I had a slap up breakfast with scrambled eggs and sausages and toast and strawberry jam and two lattes. Really lovely. This is why I'm always so late to start, I like to find a cafe where I can have a really nice breakfast.
I was a little bit tired and I didn't go into town to get some dinner, so I didn't really have any dinner last night. Woke up starving. Luckily there's a spa in pendeen and 6:30 I woke up and just. I've walked down there and I've now had my morning coffee.
I'm feeling pretty awake. I've got a bag full of goodies to eat and looking forward to an amazing walk.
This boy was selling flapjacks and I bought a flapjack, which I've just eaten and I think that will give me enough energy to get past this jungle and to reach St Ives. When I got finally my tent set up and I was lying in bed, I was like, oh, I never want to see the coastal path again.
I don't care if I ever see the sea again. But my main point is to say, even though I was, well, very tired and a bit despondent yesterday, now that a) I've had my coffee and I've started walking properly and I've seen the sea, I've got that wonderful feeling of inspiration and happiness again. And that's really what being outside always brings me.
It's amazing how food has such an impact on our mood and emotions and how certain meals and flavors stay tied to our memories. This is something I spoke to Dr. Raja about when he joined me back in August to celebrate my birthday as we walked into Wales. Dr.Raja is a consultant specialising in old age psychiatry and he's been part of my support crew throughout this journey, helping me understand dementia on a deeper level.
Dr. Raja
::So when we go through an experience, obviously we store the experience as an episode of our life, but we also store the memory as an emotional experience.
So sometimes when there are cues similar to which we might have experienced in the past, then that kind of emotion will come back, whether it's positive or negative.
And that's why a lot of people with, for example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder will suffer with intense anxiety, because there might be a tiny cue that would flood them with the kind of emotional trauma that they've had in the past. So the same applies to everyone.
There's a part of the brain called this limbic cortex, which is very essential for us to have basic biological activity, but incredibly linked to emotions. And when that goes on in overdrive, then it kind of almost cuts off the frontal part of the brain from working.
And that's why when we get Very emotional. It will be very hard for us to think as clear as the red mist. Yes, exactly.
Harriet Thomas
::But I think what's interesting is that we think about this, about the negative connotations of this, because you mentioned the, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how it can bypass maybe what you might call the more rational part of the brain that might stop you doing xyz. But what's interesting is that it seems it can also work in a positive way.
Dr. Raja
::Absolutely. I mean, we tend to take happy memories for granted and we don't tend to emphasise a lot on them. And I think we should do that.
I had an example where it was part of some kind of dinner party, I think, but we were all asked to choose things from a table to put into the bread that we were going to bake ourselves. And I kind of noticed cardamom.
And then I took it and then I inhaled it and it kind of gave me the rich experience of my paternal grandmother who used to use cardamom while making lot of sweet dishes. She's died a long, long time ago, but that was a thing that I could relate to.
The happy moments of my childhood, going along with my grandmother to buy things to cook, or she would be cooking, I'll be playing around and I could inhale the fragrance of cardamom coming out of her cooking. And that made me feel very happy.
So I think it's very important for us to focus on the kind of emotional aspects of positive nature as much as sometimes, yes, it's inevitable that we will be drawn into some of the difficult emotions that we've had through our lives.
Harriet Thomas
::Dr. Raja was also at Lord's Cricket Ground for a Dementia Inclusive day.
It's an initiative that Dementia Adventure and Middlesex County Cricket Club are working on, where people living with dementia and a companion can go along and enjoy a special day at Lord's Cricket Ground together. It's a brilliant way to bring people together across generations and cultures. And it's particularly appealing to men.
Dr. Raja
::I think sports makes people think about some of those very beautiful memories that they've had, whether it's about victory of their team that they support or that they've played in, or even the kind of laws that they kind of talk about until the cows come home.
So I think giving people that ability to reminisce about some of those very important life events that they have come across just makes it very pleasurable for us to hear, but also more importantly for them to feel that they are, they are here in the present. But being that kind of transitory point where they pass on the baton to us to continue having those very memorable conversations.
And that is very important because we need to bring out the person behind the dementia, and sports offers that. And cricket, because it's got this especially test match at a county level, it gives you the opportunity to dip and dip out.
Because people with dementia do struggle to keep their concentration going. It just offers them the idea that, oh, well, I'll be here for five minutes and then drift off and then come back again into it.
And I think that is the most enjoyable aspect that cricket brings, that we can actually utilise to make people with dementia much more stronger, much more resilient because they can have those conversations which are very meaningful, meaningful for the next generation.
Harriet Thomas
::I love this message from Dr. Raja. I agree. Let's keep fighting the good fight together.
Dr. Raja
::Well done, Harriet. It was such a pleasure meeting you and walking with you.
It was just one day of your mammoth task, but it still was entertaining to listen to you and understand a lot about how family members of someone with dementia deal with the impact of dementia as such.
But more importantly, I think you're leaving behind legacy for people to continue those very important conversations with the people with dementia, to support family members who look after people with dementia, and also for you to continue raising hope and champion the causes of people with dementia and their family members. So well done. Once again, phenomenal work, and we will strive and continue to take it forward. Thank you.
Harriet Thomas
::Hearing these words from Dr. Raja means so much. Meeting him on the walk was such a highlight. And he's right, this journey has been about sparking those crucial conversations around dementia, lifting up families and carers, and spreading hope.
It's incredible to think of the legacy that we're building here. One step, one story at a time.
With this journey as a foundation, we can keep championing the cause and supporting everyone affected by dementia. Thank you, Dr. Raja, for walking with me, for your wisdom and for your support every step of the way.
Listening to these moments from the past three months brings me so much joy. It's wonderful to reflect, to look back, and to remember everything that I've got up to.
It's easy to lose track of those little moments when you're in the thick of it all. Alongside this podcast capturing my journey, I've also been jotting down my thoughts in a journal.
Moments of reflection, snapshots of what I was feeling. Here's a little snippet from one of the last days of the D Tour.
I love how visions come.It's like thoughts and ideas and dreams get dropped into the pot of your mind and heart and soul.
Maybe they get dropped into the universe and they sit there and shuffle and swirl and then suddenly, out of the swirling patterns and light, a solid form takes place. Pictures, visions, and you know it's right when your heart and soul rises up in a big joyful bubble. So now I kind of have a plan.
xploring the world on Foot in:It was visiting Neil and Lucy that really helped this one materialise because Neil showed me the Walk Highland website with all the Scottish walking routes and I totally have loved being in Scotland since I arrived here. Buying a house in Shropshire, creating food and energy, self sufficiency. Volunteering for a dementia hub.
Having a wonderful network of friends, old and new. Creating a space where my friends and family can experience peace, love, joy and a life connected to nature.
What I love is how this vision has been inspired and guided by so many people I have met, by friends and by family. And then the hand of the universe guides me through to see how everything can fit together to form a wonderful creation.
Even this walk has been so influenced by friends.
If it wasn't for Jody, I would not have made the connection to Dementia Adventure and I wouldn't have discovered what has been a rich seam of exploration and joy on this walk. Everything is interconnected and we are all one.
Dear Universe, thank you for the peace and abundance you've granted me that have allowed me to make this journey and for the beautiful sunny days and for Fons, who, with his huge generosity of spirit and patient compassion, teaches me every step we walk together how to be a better person. He is a gift and a true trail angel.
Reflecting on my journal entries brings to mind Marianne Sciucco, who joined us in Episode five.
Marianne is a founder of Alz Authors, a global community of authors sharing personal experiences with Alzheimer's and dementia. Their work underscores the power of storytelling in navigating these challenging journeys.
Marianne Sciucco
::We started back in 2015, there were three of us and our goal at the time was to help to promote each other's works.
Two of the authors had written memoirs about caring for both parents with dementia at the same time, and I had written a novel called Blue Hydrangeas -An Alzheimer's Love Story. And at the time, now we're talking nine years ago, it was really hard marketing a book on the subject of Alzheimer's and dementia.
There is a lot of stigma attached to the diagnosis and finding the audience is a very small niche audience of people who were looking for that type of thing. So we just thought if we banded together, we could help each other.
And so what we discovered over time in that first year is that we became very good friends and we liked each other a lot and decided to open up what we were doing to a broader group of authors. And we started that first year just doing a four week campaign.
We wanted to get five books a week for the month of June, which is Alzheimer's and Brain awareness month. We were looking for 20 books and we would feature a new book each day on our blog. We started a blog and at the end of the month we had more books.
We ran out of time, so we just decided let's keep this going.
The simplest thing to do is to keep a journal and you don't have to share it or publish it with anyone, but to keep it for yourself.
Especially if you're like there on a daily basis with a witness, if you're bearing witness to the situation in its entirety, then you will have something that you can she share with other family members so that they know what happened to that person, you know, whoever it was.
And another thing you can do many times if you're caring for someone, especially if you have a large family, you're going to be getting a lot of people asking you questions about what's going on. And you find yourself spending a lot of time on the phone repeating the same information over and over again to different people.
Is you could keep like a private blog or a private Facebook page, or have Slack, a Slack channel or some place where you would go every day and just post like the latest update of what's happening so other people can follow along and follow the story. And then you're not exhausting yourself having to repeat the same thing all the time.
You don't have to publish that and you don't have to make it public so other people can read it, but you can have it. You know, same thing like text messages, like a text chain or Facebook chain or something like that.
So a lot of people would do that just to try to keep everyone involved.
And you could also do like audio stuff and just record and try to even record, you know, memories and voices with that person to try to keep them alive that way. And that can be really helpful. A lot of people like to do that. And then at the end, what you're going to have is the.
You are going to have the makings of a book or something like that, if you decide that you really want to do that. So we've been really fortunate because the books that we find are so well done and they're written by people.
They're not authors, they're just someone who decided they wanted to write this book and they actually pulled it off and did a really good job.
Harriet Thomas
::Marianne also kindly sent me a message of congratulations. I am certainly feeling the love.
Marianne Sciucco
::Hi, Harriet, it's Marianne Sciucco from Alz Authors congratulating you on a job well done. Congratulations on crossing the finish line. I am in awe and inspired by your achievement.
I can't imagine walking as long and as far as you have, all for the cause of Dementia Awareness and to help bring support to all of the caregivers and those living with dementia across the United Kingdom. This is a remarkable, remarkable achievement. Thank you so much for your dedication.
Harriet Thomas
::This journey has been an incredible adventure, full of learning, discovery and so many memorable moments. More than that, it's been a way to honour my mum and to raise funds for Dementia Adventure, a cause that means the world to me.
I'm thrilled to share that we've raised thousands of pounds with donations still coming in. If you've supported this journey, thank you so much.
Each step has given me a deeper understanding of the essential work Dementia Adventure does.
I've witnessed the joy that nature brings, the irreplaceable value of community support and the importance of finding ways to live well even in the face of dementia.
Just a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of spending time with the charity's husband and wife co founders, Neil Mapes and Lucy Harding, who now live in Scotland. They welcomed me with warmth, delicious food and even a kitchen hair dye session, courtesy of Lucy. I now have a pink streak in my hair.
As they shared the story behind Dementia Adventure, I was deeply inspired by their dedication and the heart behind this incredible organisation that they continue to support as volunteers.
Neil Mapes
::I think there's a lot of good things that are happening with organisations across the UK now that just weren't in place 15, 20 years ago. You know, there's a lot. I think that's the one thing that I'm proud about.
We're proud about a lot of things to do with Dementia Adventure, but, you know, we were. We emerged at a time when people were starting to discuss this concept of living well with dementia.
And there's a lot of organizations that now exist in the dementia sector that just didn't exist.
Harriet Thomas
::Yeah.
Neil Mapes
::Which is a healthy thing. Yeah.
And the big organizations are still doing great things in different ways. But I think the Scottish Dementia Working Group was ahead of its time. I think a lot of innovations
Harriet Thomas
::is that governmental group?
Neil Mapes
::No, no, they're a self led group. In order to be a member, you have to have dementia.
Lucy Harding
::Nothing about me without me.
Neil Mapes
::which is a neat way of making sure that all that professionals can't take...
Harriet Thomas
::nothing about me without me. That is so good.
Neil Mapes
::But the folks that set up and continue to run Scottish Dementia Working Group were really at the forefront of dementia activism and campaigning for themselves, rather than professionals and organisations doing that for them in a way that doesn't quite often doesn't quite get it right. And there's been, you know, a lot of examples of that in Scotland.
I know one lady in particular, Agnes Houston, she did a really brilliant research project around the senses and how dementia can affect sight and vision and hearing. And so she self led this with support obviously from academics, but she essentially drove and led this sensory perception research.
She went out and did interviews with people in the way that you are today and people were talking about the sensory perception of showers, for example, and she's on camera talking about this research and you can read it. But she found that there was a commonality amongst people with dementia that found the water from a shower really sharp on the skin.
And so it was like daggers on the skin she describes it. Which when I think back of the stories that folks would say, I can't get my mum in the shower, she's filthy, I can't manage, you know. And they would be into this huge conflict around personal care issues and hygiene and these sorts of things.
But Agnes uncovered a possible explanation for that.
If the water's feeling like daggers, if your skin is ultra sensitive and the way that the brain is interpreting those signals has changed, then quite clearly you're not going to be keen to get in the shower. So you'd be better off having a bath or a sink wash or a funnel wash or some other form of personal care.
So it's, you know, it's that sort of example with the folks they seem.
Scotland seems to have, as a culture has a lot of innovation, a lot of historical Victorian innovation, but I think there's been a lot of great things that have come out of the Scottish Dementia Working Group in particular and feels different from other countries. I'm not sure, I think there are equivalents now, but it's been going a very long time and it was certainly ahead of its time.
Harriet Thomas
::And what about the sort of governmental level in the uk? How does government or the government and, or the nhs. How does that all dovetail with what's happening in the charitable sector? Or the.
Lucy Harding
::Ask us an easy one.
Neil Mapes
::In a way it's an easy question, although it isn't. But the problem that we've got is that the charities that are doing the vast majority of the heavy lifting are completely underfunded.
Research is underfunded.
The carers that do the bulk of the actual caring activity, whether that being at home or in daycare in residential care, are completely undervalued and underpaid. The organisations that are supporting them have got financial models that just don't add up.
And it's partly because we don't really value older people, it's partly because we don't really want to acknowledge the scale of the problem because it's too scary for the governments to financially deal with.
Harriet Thomas
::They're sticking their head in the sand.
Lucy Harding
::I mean, there's this awful statistic, isn't it, that dementia costs the country more than, than education or whatever. Most expensive thing.
I mean, because you're adding up the cost of all the unpaid carers volunteers, they work for charities.
Neil Mapes
::If you look at care home providers particularly, you know, they, they've had sort of standstill funding for many years and that with the inflation and the cost of running the business going up, it just doesn't make sense.
So yeah, it's, it's something that's tried various different commissions and you know, policy things have tried to change things and have offered solutions as to what to do, but it takes a long term plan that doesn't suit short term government politics.
Harriet Thomas
::Yeah, that's, that's a huge issue. Yeah.
Neil Mapes
::And at the same time it is only a relatively small percentage of the people that are actually living with dementia.
Harriet Thomas
::Right.
Neil Mapes
::So that's the other consideration. You know, the conversation around dementia quite often and has just now gravitated towards care homes.
But they are still the minority, you know, the vast majority of people are still living in the community.
Harriet Thomas
::I don't know how people do it, I honestly don't know how people do it.
When you talk about resilience, but the kind of everything on top of each other, you know, the lack of sleep, the not knowing what every day is going to bring, the difficulty of, you know, organising, you know, getting washed, getting dressed, the basics, the emotional, the trauma of your loved ones changing. I mean, of course a lot of carers themselves will be elderly.
Neil Mapes
::I'm more hopeful for people with dementia than ever because of the developments in society. You know, Dementia Adventure. When we started, you know, people thought we were crazy offering people holidays, you know, certainly taking people on boats for whatever reason.
That was the most riskiest thing in the world, being on a boat with dementia and. Yeah. And things obviously moved on, you know, and things do improve and develop over time.
Harriet Thomas
::And I think also from something that you just said, because, you know, everyone is sort of, you know, there's this big sort of hoping and praying that there's going to be a cure, like, you know, pharmaceutical cure for dementia, you know, and maybe there will be, maybe they won't be. Who knows what's going to happen. But what I liked about what you just said then is that it's, it's almost like a social cure. There's a social answer.
It's not just a medical answer that we're, that we need to look for. It's a social answer.
Neil Mapes
::Well, yeah, I mean, you're basically preventing dementia through delay, I think.
I think that's the primary sort of focus of a lot of these social things, is that you're staying better for longer and so you're delaying the problems.
Harriet Thomas
::Yeah.
Neil Mapes
::Becoming severe or more severe.
I think they are going to start solving some types of dementia in the same way that cancers, if you look at cancer, a lot of cancers years ago, and when people think about cancer previously, they just thought about cancer, the big C. Yeah.
And actually what we, what we've now got is a much nuanced understanding of cancer and that some cancers are highly treatable and really high success rates of recovery and treatment and others less so. And I think different types of dementia are going to go through the same journey.
You know, you're going to start to see really effective treatments for different types of dementia and there's going to be time and energy put into those and then, you know, but that won't happen without, you know, research funding and, you know, a change in the landscape of research funding for dementia.
But in the same way that it has for cancer, you know, huge amounts of funding has gone into cancer and it's driven results and that will happen with dementia, but it does need a landscape scale change in terms of the funding that's going to dementia funding for research. But that's, that is where the hope comes from, is that you will start to see effective treatments for different types of dementia.
Yeah, but at the same time, you know, you've got all those lifestyle things that you can do to keep you well, you know, and to prevent things as best you can, to stay as well for as long as possible and I think the Dementia Adventure and the concept of outdoor activity generally, even if you're not on a holiday, has really good research evidence behind it. It does you good, you know, it does. It does you good to get out into the park or the beach or whatever.
It's just a matter of having that circle of support around you that enables you to do that.
Harriet Thomas
::I really learned a lot from Neil and Lucy. They have so much energy. Listen to this lovely message.
Neil Mapes
::Hi, Harriet. Hi, Dementia Adventure. It's Neil here
Lucy Harding
::and Lucy, Hello!
Neil Mapes
::Well done on your amazing walk and your amazing fundraising efforts for Dementia Adventure. Walking all the way from Land's End to John O'Groats.
Lucy Harding
::Harriet, you are amazing. Well done. Hats off to you.
Neil Mapes
::We had a brilliant time hosting you here in Nairn.
Sending all of our love and all of our greetings for you and congratulations in reaching your goal and an amazing job with everybody at Dementia Adventure, supporting the fundraising, which is just so desperately needed so that more folks can have adventure and holidays and all kinds of wonderful experiences in their lives. You've done a brilliant job. It's been a great team effort.
Lucy Harding
::Fantastic. Thank you and well done.
Neil Mapes
::On to the next thing. I wonder what your next challenge is. All right, thanks, guys.Bye
Harriet Thomas
::So it's two days after I finished the trail. It's the 30th today, and I finished Land's End to John O'Groats on the 28th.
I travelled back down from Thurso, which is the northernest tip of Scotland, down to London yesterday by train. And so last night I had dinner with my daughter, my son and my daughter's husband. So my son asked me, you know, what was the highlight of your trip?
And I thought a bit, and I just thought the highlight was really every single day. It was just being in nature, outside every single day.
Starting every single day by walking, feeling the fresh air on my face, being in places where the air is so clean, having a new adventure, seeing new sights, that was my highlight. And the highlight was every single day. I mean, that was what I really sort of carry from my. From my experience.
I'm not saying there weren't hard bits. There were, there were. Every single day my legs were tired. Every single day they were like, how am I going to walk the next few miles?
My legs are already tired. And every single day it was fine. So, yeah, there were challenges.
There was the two month mark when I was walking through West Lothian and it was just along the canals and it's. It's difficult because it's very much the same every day. And that was, I guess, my low point. But again, just walk through it. Just walk through it, just walk through it.
And yeah, really, my memory is just, what a golden time. So people talk to me as if this is or this was my adventure. Like I was doing it alone.
And I wasn't. There were so many people surrounding me.
There was the team from Dementia Adventure, people I met on the path, BB owners, Airbnb owners, cafe owners, people in restaurants, people I walked with, friends who came to walk with me, family who came to walk with me, people from Dementia Adventure, who came to walk with me, friends that I stayed with on my rest days. This was not an adventure I did on my own. I did the walking, yes. But this was definitely a team effort.
And that's a lesson that I will always remember, is that whatever plans I have, whatever, I'm always having plans, I'm always having dreams. I always have visions of what I want to create.
But to make those dreams come true, to really squeeze the juice out of those dreams, to really enact them to their fullest possibility, you need people around you. You need a team. And so I want to give a huge thank you to every single person that was a part of this walk with me.
And that includes people listening to this podcast.
It includes people who looked at my Instagram posts, who followed my journey through social media, as well as the people I talked to, as well as the people I Whatsapped, as well as the people I just waved to on a passing bus. Every contact has helped this adventure be more than I could possibly have imagined.
Do you remember Beth Britton sharing stories about her dad and the small moments they shared? Moments that still mean so much to her even years later. Their adventures changed over time, but each one was meaningful and important.
years, and after he passed in:Beth Britton
::Hi Harriet.
Huge congratulations on reaching the finish line in your epic trek. It's been fantastic to follow your walk on the Detour podcast and be part of the podcast on the Bucket List episode.
Wishing you a well deserved rest and again sending you my biggest congratulations and a big hug. Take care. All the best from Beth Britton.
Harriet Thomas
::And now it's time for my last two songs for the D Tour playlist.
Choosing these final tracks feels like a big moment. Each week I've picked music that connects me with my journey and the memories that I've made along the way.
You can find my full playlist on the detour website dtour.uk that's D T O U R.uk and also on Music for Dementia radio at www.m4radio.com I'm so grateful for Music for Dementia, for all the support that they've given throughout this journey.
So here it goes.
The final two tracks are Drumroll... Love, Love Love by The Beatles [note: Harriet means "All You Need Is Love by The Beatles]
Now I've known this song for so long and whenever I sing it now, it just really brings such a beautiful feeling to my heart and it reminds me of all the amazing people that I've met along my journey. And I think it's the simplicity of the lyrics of this song that I really, really love. It's just love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. It's easy, all you need is love.
And really that's what I've Learned from my 3 months journey from Land's End to John O'Groats. When I look back, every step has been such a pleasure.
The landscape was so beautiful and I was so inspired by everything that I saw and heard and smelled.
But at the end of the day, it's all the people I met that really made the difference and they have helped me look back on my trip and just remember this glorious golden feeling of love.
My second song for this final playlist is Joni Mitchell's song Hejira.
I partly have to choose this song because I can't believe that I haven't chosen any other Joni Mitchell songs for my playlist because she is one of my favorite artists of all time. And this album, Hejira is all about being on the road, so I really feel it fits my journey from Land's End to John O Groats.
And Hejira is the title track and it's a beautiful song and for me it expresses the nuances of travel. So it can be exciting, it can mean freedom, but also there can be sadness about leaving people behind either forever or for a short time.
And I love the way that this track encompasses all the nuance of travel. So I really hope you all enjoy Hejira by Joni Mitchell.
And it seems fitting that the final message comes from Fiona Pettit, CEO of Dementia Adventure, who I met on a rainy day in Essex way back in July.
Fiona shared with me the heart of Dementia Adventures ethos, that they are all about making things possible, focusing on what people can do instead of focusing on limitations. Fiona beautifully explained that it's all about seeing the front door as a gateway, both physically and metaphorically.
Fiona Petit
::It's believing what's possible and thinking the possible, not the impossible things you can do, as we say, and the organization, not the things that you can't do. And it's seeing the front door, if you like, both physically and metaphorically. That's not the end of it.
You know, you can step outside your front door, whether that is literally physically, and be able to step out in the garden or go out for a walk or try, you know, it's not possible for everybody we know, but, you know, just thinking about it, or thinking about what could be brought in from the outdoors into your front door and bringing nature inside, indoors and being able to appreciate that, and what does that do for the mind and the brain and your mindset as well, but also that sort of metaphorical thing of stepping over the boundary and the threshold of your front door.
Harriet Thomas
::And here's a final message from Fiona Pettit, CEO of Dementia Adventure to close out this journey.
Fiona Petit
::One of the most important things I want to say is just a huge well down and a massive, massive, heartfelt thank you to Harriet. I mean, you've been incredible.
Who knew what this, how it was going to transpire these last three months and all the different people you were going to talk to, let alone the challenge of the mileage and the hikes that you've done. And yeah, how physically challenging this is. This has been mentally challenging, I'm sure.
But my goodness, we've got so much to thank you for, Harriet. The D Tour has raised awareness wonderfully, but it has also raised some much, much needed funds.
And I can only say huge thank you to all those individuals who've done that, texted to donate or however they have chosen to give to us. Some have been people along the way, fishing money out of their pockets, I think to Harriet, we've heard about it all. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Harriet Thomas
::And it's a wrap. Thank you for listening to the D Tour, my journey of more than 900 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats. Although I've reached John O'Groats, my fundraising journey isn't over. If you'd like to support Dementia adventure with a five pound donation, simply text DA5 to 70711. Again, that's DA5 to 70711 to donate five pounds. You can also visit the website at dtour.uk that's dtour.uk where you can explore more of my adventures from the past three months and learn more about the wonderful work of Dementia Adventure.
The D Tour podcast is proudly sponsored by Macs Adventure. Macs Adventure specialise in self guided walking and cycling holidays for independent, active people who don't want to be part of the crowd or restricted by set dates and schedules. They encourage you to go at your own pace whilst they support you with all of the routes and logistics for a worry free adventure.
