Last post

I want to thank those who supported me. I could not have done it without you, so it was your journey too. I hope that what I did on the journey, and what I am going to do with what I discovered or experienced on that journey is what you would do, if you were me. At the very least I hope I haven`t done/won`t do anything that makes you sorry you supported me.

Particular thanks go to:

Niko and Lily who have kept George for me all these years. Without you I couldn`t have kept George. Without George I couldn`t have done any of this stuff.

Shuna.. who put the backbone into me when it was lacking just before I started off from her house near Pylos.

Vasso and Christos Nikolopoulos who very kindly invited me to stay at their house in Keramidia and also allowed George to stay in their paddock (see photo)

Jiannis Baltis who met me near Stymfalia with the intention of filming our docu.. but actually caused me to have a day`s holiday and to get calm after the loss of Bling

Eva and Babis Bakas who comforted me greatly after I lost Bling.

Vassili Thanos and fellow villagers at Nereida (AKA Spinaza) who were so hospitable and kind

Foteini at Prosillio who was so kind and gave me coffee when I needed it most..

Aegistos who became webmaster for the blog and made it a lot of fun

Katie who was my only CASH sponsor.. thanks to her I could have a marsbar whenever things got bad, and it didn`t have to be a marsbar.. she agreed that a kitkat or a twix were valid under the terms of our agreement.. Anyway thankyou Katie.

I would also like to thank Griffin Nuumed for sponsoring me with a brandnew numnah.. this is almost as good as new after 3 months of extreme use... there are no better products for under a saddle than these. I`m absolutely sure of that.

Everyone who followed the blog and who sent me encouraging emails and posted comments thankyou very very much for your support.

George.. without whom etc etc

Also in memory of an innocent,naughty little dog who brought such energy and enthusiasm to the project, and whose absence was mourned by both George and me for the remainder of the ride. She was so proud when I could say "Good dog, Bling" to her. Because she really tried to be a good little dog. It is so sad that she didn`t have time to hear those words very often. But I`ll say them now - in case her spirit is listening:

"Good dog, Bling. Very good dog"

I hope her sad fate has alerted many many people to the dangers in the hills.. not just to our beloved companion animals, but also to those iconic and necessary wild creatures..bears, wolves, jackals whose very existence is threatened by the insane uncontrolled use of poison by people who really "know not what they do"

I wrote the blog to let as many people as I could know what was happening to the Greek wilderness- I was trying to protect it. But even so, me myself, I harmed it while I travelled through, even though I really tried not to. This, I suppose, is just a metaphor for all our journeys. And for the harm we do, unintentionally, to the world as we travel though our lives.

Sorry to sound pretentious, but I don`t really know how else to explain my feelings.

OK. So on my journey my carbon footprint, and my water footprint should have been extremely small.. after all I wasn`t using any electricity, I wasn`t using much water, and I was always using water from renewable sources (like puddles) I didn`t use any petrol.. and yet.. and yet

This is the what I left on the mountains (accidentally.. but they are, at this moment disfiguring the mountains and will continue to do so for a good many years.)

I lost one new extending doglead.(lost near Xristiani)

1 dead dog wearing 2 collars which are designed to kill all insect life. (lost near Krana)

Pets, of course are very environmentally unfriendly, and keeping Bling for 2 1/2 years can`t have been good for my carbon footprint. She had a new basket, a new blanket, several new leads because she chewed them up at a prodigious rate, constant food and medical care. And I fully intend to get another pet when I have got over the grief of losing her. George is also a big polluter.. his trip to the South was made in a small lorry and I travelled in it too.. but moving horses about isn`t good for the world...And George`s kit is very specialised and has big airmile quota.

1 swiss army knife.

1 tent peg specially made of a rare non degradable metal, but which is never going to disappear.. though it disappeared when I was pitching my tent.. never to be seen again.. grr.

I pair of reading glasses (readers of "Lord of the Flies " will know how glasses start fires) My nightmare scenario is that a fire will start near where I lost the glasses, and I will never know if I was responsible. Don`t think I didn`t search for the glasses.. I had a spare pair, but HOW can glasses get lost in an area of about 10sq metres?

My kit was mostly expensive foreign stuff with a large airmile sum.

I stayed in hotels 3 times and staying in non environmentally friendly hotels leaves a HUGE footprint.. probably those 9 nights accounted for as much carbon as I would have used in a month at home...and where are the environmentally friendly hotels in Greece? Not where I went..

I got a new small computer for the journey... its all adding up horribly.. my camera.. my mobile..my torch was windup.. but buying a new windup torch means a big investment in non renewable resources... waaaagh.

Apparently telling people this kind of thing makes them feel that they CAN¬T live sustainably, and this makes them lose hope and just buy more throwaway clothes and electronics.

Certainly that`s what I`ve been doing since I got back. No, not really, but I did leave the hot water heater on for 2 days just for the luxury of turning on the tap and getting hot water. I did boil the kettle without measuring the water carefully. Mea culpa.

But actually I think that I am more determined not to do so much harm, now that I have realised how much I do. I don`t think it has made me just give up hope, buy a helicopter for everyday trips to town, and hope I`ll be dead before the very worst happens.

Realising I wasn`t doing too well has made me determined to do better. Maybe other people may react in the same way.

Maybe each one of us has to make their own decisions based on their own experience and information. Maybe its wrong to think I might encourage or discourage people by finding out and reporting sad things. Maybe its wrong to think I can or indeed SHOULD influence people.

Maybe telling it like it is will let people make informed choices about their actions. Which is what I think a reporter should do.

Joanna..remember her? (if you don`t re read the Denial Denial pages) chooses denial. Others don`t care about mountains, they just want a nice lawn, so they won`t care what I write.

But most people - I want to believe that most people know that they need a beautiful healthy world to live in, and so do their children .

Too often we don`t realise that our actions ARE a choice. But if we know we can choose life or death for the mountains ..won`t we choose life?

I found out on this trip that we are indeed destroying everything that is most precious in the Greek environment. Much has been lost. Much is being lost. But there is still a great deal left.(Everyone has commented on the beautiful photos - couldn`t take beautiful photos if my journey wasn`t through areas of astounding beauty and if those beautiful places weren`t brim full of amazing wildlife-

I am telling you about it - how beautiful it is and how fragile and how ephemeral because I believe you want to know the truth , because then you can decide what to do

It used to be taken for granted that some things are eternal. We can no longer believe this.

Much that belongs to all of us is being destroyed without our knowledge or consent.

Remember the disappearing nightingales and what they stand for.

Don`t let those heartless, thieving bastards get the rest of them.