A GRANDMOTHER was so impressed after seeing the remarkable impact of an assistance dog, it inspired her to embark on a four-month long, 700-mile coastal walk.
Janet Baldock is past the half-way point of a trek around the Wales Coast Path, having set out from Chester on April 19.
Missing out the Anglesey part, she aims to finish the mammoth mainland challenge in Chepstow on August 29 – her 68th birthday.
The retired psychotherapist, who also worked as a British Airways cabin crew member for a year from the age of 58, has been racking up 15 miles a day, with her husband Nigel dropping her off on the path at around 7.30am and picking her up at about 3pm.
Janet, who lives in Shalbourne in Wiltshire but wanted to get back in touch with her roots, having been born in Port Talbot, said: “15 miles at a time is a long way – I didn’t realise I was so fit!”
She will even pass the house she was born in.
Armed with nothing but a backpack containing a flask of tea, sandwiches, chocolate, a first aid kit, her phone and a tracker, Janet is walking to raise money for Yorkshire-based Support Dogs, which trains and provides assistance dogs to help autistic children and adults affected by epilepsy or physical disability.
The grandmother-of-four, whose sons Peter and Christopher and grandson Lucas will be joining her later on in the walk, described what inspired her to fundraise for the charity.
She said: “There was a family on This Morning with an autistic boy.
“They were saying how difficult it was for him whenever they were out as he used to get overwhelmed by all the sensory stuff going on; with the people and the noise and the lights.
“They never used to go anywhere and their other children also had to stay at home.
“But their support dog changed their lives completely – they could go everywhere and do everything a ‘normal’ family could. I was so struck by it because it didn’t just change the child’s life, it changed the whole family’s lives too. It really touched my heart.”
Janet said she was “loving” being on the epic walk, having completed 27 out of 58 stages, adding: “It’s all been fantastic. The highlight for me so far was getting to the end of Llŷn Peninsula.”
But Janet added that a low point was ending up in a field full of cows, where the path signs had disappeared and she got lost in “biblical” rain. She headed for the main road and had no choice but to climb over barbed wire fences.
Thankfully, she soon found the coastal signs and was back on her way.
Janet has just left Pwll Deri, near Strumble Head and she and her husband will next be staying in St David’s, followed by Kidwelly and then Mumbles.
She said the walk, which featured “very perilous, sheer cliffs” had been quite isolated so far, and she’d only met a Dutchman in Llandudno and an Irish girl going the opposite way, to Anglesey.
However, she hopes to meet a lot more people as she heads into Pembroke.
Janet has so far raised £910 for Support Dogs. To sponsor her, please visit JustGiving and search for Janet Baldock.
To find out more, please visit the Support Dogs website or call 0114 2617800.
