A picturesque lakeside walk brought back memories of happier times for Kevin Simmons.
The retired accountant retraced the steps taken with late partner Karen Di Felice just over a year earlier.
The couple had completed a circuit of Ullswater Way in the Lake District with Kevin’s sister Elaine in May 2024.
Seven months later Karen, a social media manager, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and died in April, aged 62.
Kevin was determined to return and raised almost £3,500 for East Cheshire Hospice as a thank you to the charity for caring for his partner.
Kevin said: “It took us two days to complete a 23-mile walk from the cottage we rented in Ullswater.
“After Karen died, I thought what can I do as the Hospice had been so fantastic?
“It was in my head that I was going to do the walk anyway. It’s a hilly route with magnificent views over the lake.
“When I told Karen I could do the walk in a day and she laughed, thinking I’d struggle. She felt it was too much for me.”
However, Kevin and nine of their friends duly completed a poignant walk in 12 hours.
They toasted Karen with her favourite Negroni cocktail, made of gin, vermouth and Campari.
Kevin said: “Karen would be glad we did the walk in her honour.
“Karen was the life and soul of the party. She was bubbly, fun, outgoing, caring and loved dancing.
“She was fine when we were in France in November, outwalking me as she always did.
“She fell ill in December. A scan confirmed a brain tumour and she was given months to live. It was a very short and brutal thing.
“Karen received complementary therapy from the Hospice. She planned to go in there but stayed at home where she was comfortable.
“The charity’s Hospice @Home nurses came out two of three times a day.
“The whole place is just wonderful and it’s a complete scandal the Hospice doesn’t get more funding from the NHS.
“It receives only 21 per cent of its income from government and the general public has no idea about that.”
* To donate visit justgiving.com/page/kevin-simmons-1
The Ullswater Way opened as a designated walking route in 2016.
Ullswater and its shore, which is covered in daffodils, inspired the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordworth.
