Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2009 | Page 34

life OUT & ABOUT Walk the Wet NO less than 11,500 walkers turned out to Walk the Wight, and the Earl Mountbatten Hospice is delighted with our Dunkirk spirit. “There was a tremendous sense of camaraderie,” says Karen Eels, chief fundraiser at the hospice. “Because of the weather people tended to do half the walk, not all of it – which made an extra complication when it came to giving out the medals.” But whether they started at Bembridge or Carisbrooke, or did the Flat Walk for the less able, the spirit was undaunted. “The biggest challenge was getting over Tennyson Downs, because it’s so exposed. Luckily the school children who walked the last four miles on that stretch started later, when the weather had eased a bit.” It is hoped at least £300,000 will be raised. (And put May 16th in your diary for next year.) 34 The Island's most loved magazine