Mum sets off on charity walk ...and won’t be home for FOUR years
A DETERMINED mother is taking on one of the biggest walking challenges of all time – a four-year, 20,000-mile trek around the coast of Britain and Ireland.
Karen Penny, 53, is aiming to raise £100,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK – and says she will not come home until she has completed the walk.
The mother of one is hoping to become the first woman to complete the British and Irish coastal challenge in one go.
Her plan is to walk for seven days at a time and then take a rest day, staying in campsites occasionally and camping wild for the rest of the time.
She has set a walking target of 15 miles a day.
Karen decided to attempt the trek to raise money for the charity after her mother-in-law Alma and father-in-law Kingsley died of dementia-related illnesses.
Alma was diagnosed with vascular dementia and was 77 when she died in 2008, while Kingsley was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and died at the age of 87 two years ago.
Karen has already raised more than £6,000 by running a
‘Both my husband’s parents died from dementia. It touches nearly every family’
marathon and walking from John o’ Groats to Land’s End – but she wanted to do more.
The John o’ Groats to Land’s End walk took her 66 days and left her reeling from “a lot of blisters”.
However, looking ahead to her latest challenge, she said: “I know I can take it in my stride.
“Both of my husband’s parents died from dementia-related illnesses and it had a massive effect on me.
“Alzheimer’s is something that touches nearly every family.”
She said her mother-in-law’s health deteriorated quickly, while her father-in-law’s disease progressed more gradually.
She added: “It got to a point where he could not remember my husband’s name. It was absolutely devastating.”
She described her father-in-law as a “very intelligent” person, who went to university twice, spoke fluent Hebrew and was a church minister.
Karen, from Gower, near Swansea, has been sleeping in her garden and walking daily to prepare for the mammoth challenge.
Despite taking a lightweight tent, her backpack will weigh a hefty 30lb as she carries essentials, including her sleeping bag and water.
Husband Mark Faulkner, a retired police officer, will drive a camper van to meet her every six weeks, giving her somewhere to sleep and temporary relief from her heavy baggage.
Mark, her partner of 20 years and husband of 10, said: “I think it’s awesome – I know she can do it.”
Karen’s journey will start on January 14 at Pennard Primary School, in Southgate, near Swansea.
She will follow the coastal path to Fishguard, a journey she Karen decided to take on the epic walking challenge to raise money for dementia research after her mother-inlaw Alma and father-inlaw Kingsley, left, both died of dementiarelated illnesses, aged 77 and 87
expects weeks.
From there, she will cross to Rosslare, Ireland, and spend six to eight months walking around Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Then she will return to Wales before making her way north to Scotland.
● For more information or to make a donation visit her JustGiving page at justgiving.com/ thepennyrollson will take
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