Romy's farmhouse outside Carno, Wales

I am sitting in the study of an old stone farmhouse in Wales, looking out at blue skies and a snow-covered hillside. Yesterday I drove here (thank you Alun, who lent me his family’s aged BMW for the journey) from the flat in London where I had been staying for a few days of self-imposed retreat to reflect on 2009, and plan for 2010. Thanks to the kind woman who found my journal dumped near her house in Copenhagen and returned it to me, I was able to read back over my thoughts and dreams of the last 12 months, and look at what worked and what left room for improvement. Themes and patterns emerged. I was able to put things in perspective.

And now I’ve started to figure out how to build on the progress I made in 2009, and to synthesise my direction for next year. Lots of influences are playing into my plans – my experiences on the ocean and in Kiribati, the Climate Ride, publication of my book, the walk from Big Ben to Brussels, and of course the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. Books I’ve read and conversations I’ve had have also been highly formative. I am gleaning jewels of wisdom and pearls of insight from all kinds of sources. Assimilating, thinking, and listening to my heart.

It has been a blessing in disguise to be mostly offline. Undistracted by the thousands of emails awaiting attention, I was able to take quiet time out between Christmas and New Year to breathe and be. A very special time.

So the timing of the delivery of my lovely new MacBook Pro was just perfect. It arrived yesterday, just before I left for Wales. Now that I’ve got my head and heart sorted, it’s time for the hands to get busy again to start making it all happen.

This feels like a more than usually significant New Year. Tonight it is a full moon – a blue moon, in fact, the second full moon within one calendar month. And 2009 was a mega-year for me. 2010 promises to be even more so. I’m eager to see where it will take me – and in fact, the world. 12 months from now, how will the world have changed? Because, for sure, it will have.

Raising our glasses to wish you all the best for 2010 (that's me on the left)

Before we leave 2009, I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody for making 2009 so special. Those who supported me with their comments while I was on the Pacific. Those who contributed to the walk from Big Ben to Brussels – the supporters and the wonderful women of Team BB2B. Those who chipped in and helped me replace the cherished possessions stolen in Copenhagen. Those who bought my book and wrote to tell me how it had touched their lives. You have constantly impressed me, entertained me, informed me, and encouraged me.

Thank you so much. I love you all, and wish you health, wealth (in the spiritual sense) and happiness in 2010.

The Hotel in Goedereede

Holland is flat, flat and low. Most of the land we were walking on today is below sea level, the water kept at bay by dykes and ditches. But today the element most on our minds was not water, but wind. We had to jag southwestwards in order to end up somewhere with accommodation, which took us straight into a headwind across some of the flattest, most exposed terrain that Holland can offer.

This morning we trekked across grey, wintry landscapes, huge vistas of grey clouds sweeping across the skies above us, while we passed humble, unadorned houses and smallholdings of goats, sheep, horses and hens – and even a few deer and rabbits. The terrain was bleak, and we just had to be grateful that it wasn’t raining, as the wind would have hurled the raindrops painfully into our faces. Settlements were few, and lunch was eaten quickly as we hunkered down in the one sheltered spot for miles around, in the lee of a park café closed for the winter.

This afternoon we had to cross a bridge across a dam, a huge feat of hydraulic engineering that left me feeling faintly scared of the gargantuan machinery, and the bridge seemed to go on forever – well, half an hour at least.

After a final stretch alongside a canal lined by leafless poplars we arrived at Goedereede, by far the prettiest place we had been since leaving Breille this morning. Narrow streets lined with old houses led us to our accommodation for the night – the Hotel de Gouden Leeuw, which we recognized by the eponymous golden lion projecting from its front wall.

With relief we dived out of the wind and into its main hall, a double-height room with a minstrels’ gallery, beamed wooden ceiling, iron chandelier, black and white tiled floor, and wooden wainscoting topped by a shelf along which are arranged assorted antique bric-a-brac – paintings of local scenes, a model boat, old-fashioned hotirons, woodcarvings, and a few traditional Dutch tiles. A huge ceramic beer pump dominates the bar. Up the narrow tiled staircase my spartan but clean little room on the top floor has a glorious view across the red roofs of the old town, and I can hear the church clock chiming the quarter hours. I feel like I have walked straight out of the 21st century and into a Vermeer painting.

Other Stuff:

It’s not easy being green….

One of the challenges of this venture from Big Ben to Brussels has been how to reconcile priorities that occasionally conflict. This morning was a good example.

A few days ago the team was falling apart – physically, not figuratively, I mean. Between us we had a list of injuries including blisters, swollen knees, potential stress fractures of the foot, and a couple of dodgy Achilles tendons. As the instigator of this whole crazy enterprise I had to think hard about how best to keep the show on the road.

High spirits on the walk today-Laura in ebullient mood in the sunshine.

Sailing tonight from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, so abbreviated blog.

Just a swift update: Lovely day’s walking from picturesque Dedham to Harwich after fab breakfast at the Sun Inn. Have decided that humungous breakfast + sunshine = happy walkers.

Fun evening at The Ha’penny Pier bistro in Harwich. Long term blog reader Karen came to join us for dinner. Will be forever grateful to her for her incomparable text messages during Atlantic crossing in 2005. E.g., during especially low moment, “Chin up, tits out!”

Now on board ferry. Comfy bunks, en suite bathroom, all mod cons. Bit more luxurious than my rowboat!

Girls well supplied with ginger, hoping to avoid seasickness. Tomorrow we awake in Holland.

One country down, two to go!

The 16ft ball is definitely TOO big

Thank you to all who have pledged support. We are now over 60% of the way to our target – and the nailbiting is getting worse! It’s all or nothing, so if we don’t get at least 100% of target, we get a big round $000 – which would be a bummer! Thanks also to those of you who have passed the link to our project on to your networks of friends – it really helps to spread the word.

If it helps inspire you, here is what Joan in Atlanta posted to her Facebook page: “Do you feel like your karma needs a boost? Kickstarter is an awesome way to do it, and do a good deed for the day. C’mon. A ten-spot. It’s way better than spending it on lottery scratch-offs. Of course, I want you to choose my pet cause (Roz! Roz!), but you might find another endeavor that really speaks to you, and that’s cool, too. Take your first step into meaningful philanthropy.”

I had a meeting with teammate Jane yesterday – she is in charge of route planning and logistics. It hasn’t been easy to find safe walking routes out of London – amazing how many roads and bridges don’t have paths for pedestrians. So Jane has had her work cut out! Google Earth has come in very handy for zooming right in and seeing if there is a footpath or not.

We sat there in the coffee shop with maps everywhere, and Jane’s trails of little multicolored stickers traipsing across them to show our route. Hopefully by the end of today we’ll be able to post details of our route online, with rendezvous points, so that people can come and join us for a day to show solidarity with the cause.

Even just the planning process has been an education. With such restricted facilities for walkers and cyclists, how can we expect to coax people out of their cars?

Now on to the next stage of the planning process – sorting out our kit, including our Earths. What size to get….?