Corona Update

In the UK we are now one and half weeks into a 3 week 'lockdown' with lots of unknowns. It is not clear at this stage if the lockdown will be extended or bought to an end come 13th April. We were due to fly to the US on the 17th April, however we know that this is not going to happen with all of the restrictions in place. Some states in the US are also in lockdown with travel restrictions in place until the end of April. 

The PCTA have advised all 2020 PCT hikers to cancel or postpone their hike until it's safe to return. We have however seen from social media sites that there are many hikers still on the PCT and continue to hike regardless. This is their decision to do so, rightly or wrongly, we do not wish to comment on other peoples actions. 

We were both very fortunate to have been granted a 6 month career break from our employers. At present there is pressure for us both to retract these career breaks with the hope that we can postpone to next year. 

Everyday Kevin and I go for a walk and we talk about our options, which is very difficult to do considering we don't know what the world will look like in 1 month, 2 months or 6 months time. There is no right or wrong answer. However the way things are going it is highly unlikely things will recover in the next 3-4 weeks. 

It is a very difficult decision for us to make however one that is being decided for us. We understand that many people just won't understand the heartbreak and disappointment this will be for us both. We have made lots of sacrifices to be able to take a 6 month break and something we have been planning for several years. 

Ultimately we hope to postpone our travel plans to 2021. However we are also starkly aware that we may not get the opportunity again, we may also not get a PCT permit baring in mind there may be double the number of people applying come permit day. This year everything fell into place nicely, we have no guarantees next year will be the same. This may be a pessimistic view however we need to prepare ourselves for future disappointment and have other options available. 

We understand that there are many people who are in a much worse position than ourselves and our hearts and thoughts go out to those individuals and families. We appreciate how lucky we are under the circumstances. 

There have been lots of tears and a general feeling of sadness and disappointment as we have to confront the fact that pursuing our PCT dreams will not be possible in 2020. We are both finding it extremely difficult to come to terms with having to postpone our travel plans. So if we don't seem ourselves you know why!