Well you have done it again.

I originally set the target at £3,000, raised it to £5,000 and then to £6,200 thanks to an idea from Roger Phillips of Radio Merseyside. You helped me to reach that figure which seemed phenomenal, so, I raised the target to £7,000 and then to £7,500 and we have now passed even that total!! What can I say but a really sincere thank you to all you very generous people out there.

This time however I am not going to raise the target again but I am now going to leave it find its own level. You have all been so generous but it is a great cause and sadly more & more members of our armed forces are coming home with life changing injuries. Even if you have already donated, and if you are reading this you almost certainly will have done, have you told your friends and colleagues about what can be achieved if we all work together? If you haven't then there is still time to tell them and for them to donate too, read on...........

When David set up the Justgiving site and this Blog for me, - well you didn't really think I did the technical bit did you? - he set it to remain open until the 14th August. As things are going so well, I think that I will now leave the target figure where it is and see where we end up then.

I am sure you are all sick of photos of me, so here is something a little different.

Hero the H4H bear who came to Lancaster with me, but who opted for the dry in Peter's car because he said his fur went frizzy in the wet, has been to try out carriage driving with Formby RDA Carriage Driving Group. As you see from the picture he was properly kitted out with hard hat and Hi Viz but he did check to see that we had harnessed up correctly and luckily we passed muster. Not up to the Household Cavalry standard may be, but we do have chocolate biscuits in the carriage house!!!

This is just to update you all. As you know, the target figure was raised to £6,200 as suggested by Roger Phillips of Radio Merseyside but we passed that figure this morning, so the new target is now a massive £7,000 and I think with luck we might just reach it.

All the money raised to date was sent to Help for Heroes today, but it is not to late to donate as the Justgiving site will remain open until early August. The blisters are healing well and you will be glad to hear that I am back off to Aqua Aerobics again tomorrow - wouldn't like you to think I am getting lazy now the walk is over.

Judy's Journey Day 6 Forton - Alexandra Barracks Lancaster - Tuesday 19th May

Well I got there.
OK, I was four minutes late but I made it and when I have finished collecting all the money, I hope to have raised £6,200 which will have made it all very worthwhile - even the large blister I got yesterday and the soaking that I have had every day since Friday, sympathy please - Arghhhhh.

I was met outside Alexandra Barracks by Emma, and Jill and Karl who had travelled up together. They warned me that there was a reporter from Radio Lancashire waiting for me with a microphone inside the barracks gates - panic immediately set in. However, it all went well, at least I hope it did, and I got another great welcome from the soldiers waiting for me, including Capt. Steve Firth and WO2 Dene Hickling from the Staff in Lancaster and the soldiers from 4 Lancs. Thank you very much gentlemen, it was good of you all to be there for me.

Peter took some photos, once we managed to get the H4H flag the right way up, oops! and with the interview over, we all went inside. This time I got the promised cup of tea and cake as well - this was really good, since everyone knows that cake is good for blisters!!! At least that is my story.

To finish on a more serious note, I am really glad that I have done this walk and I hope that as well as raising the money, I will also have played some small part in making more people aware of Help for Heroes and how the money raised is being used to make a real difference to the lives of our wounded servicemen and women. None of the money donated is used to pay for H4H costs. The H4H Trading Co Ltd is making enough to cover all overheads and and provide donations to the charity.

In the same way, just in case anyone was wondering, every penny that I have raised will go to H4H. All the publicity material I have used and the B&B costs have all been paid for by an anonymous family member - haven't they Peter?

I hope to have collected all the money within the next week so please keep checking my justgiving web site which will remain open for a little while yet. There is still time to tell your friends about Judy's Journey and every single donation will really help. Go to the H4H website and read what is being done but how much more is still needed.

To all my friends and family, thanks for supporting me in this, now I am throwing down the gauntlet - it is your turn to show our armed forces that we think they are the best, and that the best is what they deserve.

Judys Journey Day 5 - Gt Eccleston to Forton Monday 18th May

No pain No gain!! Today was a really hard day.

Raining when we woke, heavy drizzle when I left Great Eccleston ( see photo above) and absolutely chucking it down before I had walked the first mile, what a surprise! At least the weather has been consistent!

Peter, being the star that he is, kept driving back to me to check I was okay. I had started the day in a Hi-Viz jacket but quickly had to change into pink gortex when the rain got too bad. Now bright pink gortex may not necessarily have been a good choice as no one could miss it and I was targeted with increasing accuracy by several extremely large lorries and totally drenched with spray. One of those days when I just hate having to wear glasses!

By the time I reached the A6 the sun came out at last but just before walking into Garstang, I felt the first ominous prickle of a blister - wet socks I'm afraid. Peter had arrived in Garstang first and met up with 2 friends from home, Paddy & Colin, who had driven up to meet me. When I arrived, looking very much like a drowned rat, I got a fantastic and noisy welcome from Paddy so that within thirty seconds everybody within a radius of five miles knew what I was doing!

I changed my socks, dressed the blister (in the ladies loo, not the public bar in case you are wondering - there are limits!) and eventually set off again in the direction of the B & B at Forton.

Earlier, I had decided to walk a little further than planned today, to shorten tomorrow's final walk into Lancaster. I did this, but it became increasingly hard as my foot was causing problems again. However, I had no intention of wimping out but to say that I was pleased to see Peter at the rendezvous point where the photo above was taken was an understatement!

A hot shower, a cup of tea, and having operated on my foot again I felt a lot better, and I'm now looking forward to Lancaster tomorrow!!!!

Judys Journey Day 4 - Broughton Crossroads to Gt Eccleston - 17th May

People of my age should not be subjected to sudden shocks. There I was in Barton, when all of a sudden a large hand landed on my shoulder from behind and a gruff military voice said, "Hello" and guess what, it was my brother with his new dog Maisy - all 6 foot 1 of him, the brother not the dog! What a lovely surprise!!

Making no allowances for my feet, the next 3 miles went very quickly, partly because we had to "march" instead of walk and partly because we were catching up on the news. Thanks T - Great surprise to see you and Helen, now I know why you sent me 5 text messages yesterday. We got to Barton Grange where sister in law Helen had met up with Peter and Jill, Jill having come to do the afternoon session with me.

After a bowl of soup T & H set off back for Yorkshire and Jill & Peter moved the cars to Great Eccleston and Peter brought Jill back to walk with me. My brother is a really lucky so and so... because as we left, the heavens opened as you will see when I post the photos. My brother hooted loudly as he passed me on the road, warm, safe and dry in his car!! There really is no justice where brothers are concerned.

The road to Great Eccleston is extremely busy and in several places there is no footpath, tricky ! Jill, resplendent in Hi-Viz, walked me through the next 3 miles talking non stop. We stopped briefly to meet Peter again and then surprise No 2, Peter's business partner Eric who met me on Thursday, pulled up along side us with my god daughter Clare. They had been to watch a sponsored run in Chorley and had taken a huge detour to catch up with me again, how kind was that!

Having chatted for a few minutes, Jill and I continued to our destination and did the final 2 miles in pretty short order. In total Jill walked 5 miles, talking non stop, puffing on fags intermittently and is obviously a lot fitter than I thought! Thanks for looking after me Jill, all in all, a day full of surprises, but they made getting soaked again well worthwhile.

More tomorrow, keep spreading the word folks and I'll post the pictures when I get back on Tuesday.

Judy's Journey Day 3 - Longton to Broughton Crossroads via Fulwood Barracks - Sat. 16th May

Woke to sunshine, but by the time breakfast was over it had started to rain again. Decided that it was only light so I would tough it out. Big mistake, so I had to hurriedly scramble into waterproofs within half a mile of leaving the B & B. Why do the pockets on trousers never line up with the pockets on waterproofs? Two miles down the road the rain eased and I decided to scramble out of them again. This time the sun stayed out and with Peter checking progress to see if I wanted anything, but actually checking that I hadn't gone into a shop for a sneaky bar of chocolate, I was soon in Preston.

We had planned the route so that there would be a spare 15 minutes in the schedule so I had a quick coffee to fill in some time and headed for Fulwood. Emma and David ( official photographer as well as son in law) were waiting for me with Peter about a mile and a half away from the barracks. Emma walked with me and Peter & David went ahead to recce.

Arrived at Fulwood one minute early - how is that for timing and was clapped in by Major Marshall and a reception committee, I even got a cup of tea, a biscuit and a cheque (see above) for which I was extremely grateful. David took some pictures and having thanked everyone concerned for giving up their time, I set off again in glorious sunshine.

Did you know that clouds have sat nav? Well they do. There I was walking along the A6 just over a mile from Fulwood feeling pleased because I had passed the halfway point when suddenly.....

yes, you guessed it an extremely black cloud suddenly appeared from nowhere and with pinpoint accuracy proceeded to drench me before I could scramble back into the waterproofs. I was not happy! By the time I met Peter, about forty minutes later, I was largely dried out, unfortunately the rain had got into my phone so I had missed a message from a concerned relative who wondered if I had finished yet. By the time the phone had dried out enough to let me know he had rung, I had finished and I was on the way back to base to prepare for Day 4 by drying out two very soggy pairs of shoes.

Judy's Journey Day 2 - Churchtown lights to Longton - Friday 15th May

Good weather for ducks this morning, but since I don't have oiled feathers Plan B went into operation! This involved going back to Altcar first to pick up the H4H flag as someone (no name) forgot to take it home after I left yesterday.

Plan B worked - By the time I got to Churchtown lights the rain was easing & although it didnt really stop it certainly wasn't as bad as it might have been - Cunning plan hey!

Emma has been in control of logistics today which involved making sure her mother didnt fall flat on her face whilst getting into waterproofs - its hard being a daughter!

Jill & Karl caught up with us at lunch and then both left their phones behind when we left Dunscar, and they think I'm geriatric!

Walk went well and I was ahead of schedule all day. Got to Willow Farm around 3.30pm and Emma dropped all the gear ahead of me and waved bye as I walked the final half mile. She then headed home to take this blog & post it for me.
More tomorrow!