Last year my son and I got into watching Race Across the World. We were amazed by how, in pairs, a group of people navigated their way across huge distances. They learned to communicate, overcome challenges and keep each other going. Odori (my son) and I (Shamylea) made a deal that one day we’d apply to go on the show. But! We’d have to wait for him to be 18 or over. So, with both our impulsive tendencies and excitement we thought — why not try it out now. We had already started enjoying long walks together (including a walk from Camden to Greenwich) so we got the bright idea to walk to another country. I can’t remember which of us said it first but we decided on Edinburgh.

For the next few months we spoke about it, got excited and I started planning the route. We decided that Summer 2025 would be the year. However, through the winter months we lost motivation to walk and spoke about it less. But, for both of us it continued to be parked in the back of our minds.

It just so happened that this year I decided to leave my career in teaching after months of burn out and realising that I needed to spend more time with my family. So much happened this year that has taught me the importance of family and how short life on earth can be. Therefore, when someone asked, “Are you guys still doing that walk to Scotland?”… I began to think that maybe this walk is more than just a crazy, impulsive idea. I asked Odori if he was still up for it and in true teenager style he looked up from his phone for a split second and just nodded his head. In case you’re not fluent in ‘teenager’ the pause from looking at his phone and nodding translates to, “Yes of course, let’s start planning. I’m really excited”

Why are we doing this?

Odori’s answer — “fun”

My answer — “First of all, quality time with my boy! Also, I want this walk to be a teaching moment for Odori to live by faith and strive towards finishing things that he sets out to do. This walk will be proof that he can do ALL

things through Christ who gives him strength!”

Hopefully, this walk opens doors for other things. I love to encourage people with truths about Jesus and praying for others. So maybe I’ll have opportunities to do that. I also love raising awareness about neurodivergence. Odori and I both have neurodivergent conditions (Autism and ADHD). So maybe there’ll be chances for that too!

Odori’s special interest is Yu-Gi-Oh and science (physics specifically). He said that his Yu-Gi-Oh cards will be his one ‘unnecessary’ item in his bag. Maybe they’ll be moments for him to teach someone how to play Yu-Gi-Oh or share some science facts.

I don’t know exactly what will happen but our goal is to finish and have fun along the way.

What are we doing?

Throughout August, we will be walking from Wrotham Park, Barnet (we ended up starting from Monken Hadley, Barnet) for more than 300miles over the course of 30 days to Edinburgh, Scotland. We’ll be walking via the Yorkshire Dales which is the part I’m looking forward to most.

We are raising funds to help support our accommodation, food & supplies and walking equipment.

All donations are massively appreciated.

Whether you’re able to give or not, we’d love to receive encouraging messages and prayers.

To keep up to date with our walk, you can follow us on Tik Tok or Instagram @walkingwiththemillers

PS. Any funds that are not used towards this trip will be donated towards causes that Odori and I hold dear.

Olena Bondarchuk

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