Mont Blanc for Downderry

Gaëlle moved to Downderry with her son Etienne a little over a year ago, and hasn’t looked back since! She loves living by the sea and enjoys the friendly atmosphere of a small community like Downderry.

During the day Gaëlle works as a PA in Liskeard in the same company as myself and in her free time is a member of the school PTA. She has always enjoyed a challenge and was looking for a motivating goal in life - at just the same time Downderry school was looking for ways to raise sponsorship for a new school hall.

In October 2006, Gaëlle and Etienne spent a week in the Black Mountains of Wales on an adventurous activities holiday. They tried climbing, orienteering, gorge-walking and kayaking (Etienne being the only person to earn his first star in kayaking!) amongst other things. Both really enjoyed the activities, and Gaëlle in particular was eager to pursue them. She knew that I was a keen climber and hiker and so I agreed to dangle her from a rope to test her mettle! After a few heart-stopping moments and some tears, Gaëlle eventually decided she enjoyed climbing and wanted to take it a step further. She also really enjoyed hiking across Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and the north coast of Cornwall; discovering some of the most beautiful parts of her newly adopted county. An idea was beginning to crystalise in Gaëlle’s mind - an idea of a goal for herself that could also be used to raise money for Downderry’s new school hall. She put the idea to me, to see if I would be interested in helping her accomplish the goal, and to see if I had any concrete ideas as to what that goal could be…

I had just spent a couple of weeks of the summer in the Swiss and French alps, climbing and mountaineering. Most of that time was spent on the Mont Blanc Massif, where I had seen many people tackling the Tour of Mont Blanc. I was attracted to the idea of coming back in the future to have a go at it myself, so when Gaëlle asked if I had a goal in mind the idea of walking the Tour of Mont Blanc was born.