Day 995

Happy Mammy’s Day to all those Mammies I know and those I don’t. Special shout out to my own Mammy and my two amazing sisters for being such brilliant Mammies. Just the best.

Speaking of Mammies, here we see one building her nest, ready for her babies. Amazing.

As it was Mother’s Day and our last day of walking for Cancer Research, I really wanted to do something special and purposeful. Like, I didn’t just want to casually hit out target by walking around the kitchen, so I figured a Big Walk would be the best thing to do.

And also it was Mother’s Day, Daddy Daftie treated us to brekkie out as it is my favourite meal to go out for. I think there are two reasons for this. One, I used to run a cafe so would spend my days serving breakfast to the masses. Two, it seems like more of a treat as it happens much less than other treat meals. I am less likely to be up and ready for breakfast out than say having a cafe lunch or even a pub tea, for example.

A super dark photo from at start of our walk.

After brekkie, Daddy Daftie dropped us off at the Shore so that the Daft Girlies could get our walk on. Daddy would have come with us but as he is only just home (and potentially away again very soon) he had some admin to sort out. I brought caboo, just in case, but the idea was for her to walk as much as she wanted to, as much as she was able for.

Turned out, that was a lot.

We hadn’t even stopped for lunch at this point and she walked every step herself…apart from those she ran!

As the day was immaculate and we had no time restrictions, we took three stops along the way. One to chat to some swans and goosanders. Another to just lie back in some grass and watch the world go by. And a third for our snack picnic. We had a properly big nourishing breakfast so I wasn’t concerned about an unconventional lunch but we definitely needed fuel for our mammoth mission.

Stop number one. Gorgeous.

We also passed some folk playing baseball in some fields beside Warriston. I had no idea that there was even one team in Edinburgh let alone what looked like enough for 3 or 4 to practise at one time! Wee Daftie was pretty interested but less so when I started explaining my tenuous understanding of the game. I do feel sorry for her sometimes when she asks questions. I tend to do one of two things. I either overload her with all the information I have or I say, “I don’t know but we can find out!” So either she gets too much info or her question doesn’t get answered til I have done a full research project.

Enjoying the colours and bumblebees in the Botanic Gardens.

We had a good poke around the Gardens before we found the perfect bench for our pit stop. It was up a hill, beside a fabulous bush full of busy buzzy bees, bathed in sunshine and beside a path where we could do a bit of people watching.

We had a good bit of r&r before setting off again. It honestly was only about 20 minutes but it was well earned and just what we needed.

Taken moments after we hit our goal of 10,000 steps. And a minute before I checked our bus times home.

We left the Botanic Gardens for Inverleith Park for a final walk, run and chat with the birds and doggies we met. It was while we were running up and down hills that I realised we had done it. My Wee Daftie, my little superstar had walked the final 10,000 all by herself. She walked tonnes throughout the whole month but I never really recorded how far she walked without a carry (mainly because how?) but it was so special for our final jaunt how much she did by herself. And happily!

That is the really amazing bit. She really didn’t complain or moan or muck about (outside of our playing Chasing Monsters and Stop and Go) she just enjoyed the walking and watching. Amazing wee thing. I couldn’t be more proud. And what an incredibly special way to spend Mother’s Day? Hopefully we can help other Mammies and their Wee Dafties, even a little bit, with the money we raised.

Just two very grateful Dafties, enjoying the sunshine.

So, I am going to do a final tally of steps and average per day tomorrow as I know that our total steps for today will be a bit bigger by the end of it. But wow. I am so proud of us and our little achievement. I am so humbled and grateful for all the support. I am so overwhelmed that we are done and I am so honoured to have done it with my favourite little idiot.

Even when we fight, even when she is annoying, even when she helps with my makeup, I am never not thankful to be her Mammy.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer