Kate's long walk home in tribute

Kate Clark’s 146-mile trek will take her from Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank to the bard’s birthplace in Stratford.

Kate chose to step out on the Shakespeare Way 400 years since the playwright’s death because it seemed a timely way to commemorate her parents and support the charity that helped them.

She said: “Shakespeare died in April 1616 and my dad passed away in April 2016.

“Rennie Grove nurses helped us care for my mum, Mary, in 2009 and then my dad, Jerry, until he passed away. What they are able to provide to help families care for loved ones is so important and precious. My walk will be an extended meditation and celebration of what my parents mean to me.”

Kate started her walk after watching a performance of Macbeth at The Globe Theatre on July 20 and celebrated arriving in Stratford on October 11 with a performance of King Lear.

Kate said: “Shakespeare has been a massive figure in my life and going to plays at these theatres is an essential treat. On the 400th anniversary of his death, my walk will be a kind of thank you to the theatre too.”

Kate did parts of the walk, up to 17 miles at a time, and then returned home to Tring. Extracts from her online diary highlight the range of scenery she has seen as the route takes her through “the glorious beech woods of the Chilterns”, where she made “eye contact with a hare and walked to the accompaniment of red kites whistling and wheeling” – to “a sewage works and a medieval Nunnery at Godstow next to the Thames” and the “glorious gardens of Christchurch College, Oxford” where she ate her sandwich lunch on one leg of the walk.

Kate has raised £1,090.54 of her £1,616 target. Help her achieve her fundraising goals and go to her Just Giving page to donate today at www.justgiving.com/K-Clarke5