Christina has already walked from Brussels to Paris—and from Paris to Brussels, taking just four days each time.
She has also completed Belgian’s famous Dodentocht (‘Walk of the Dead’), a 100km trek which has to be done within 24 hours while in England, she walked the 100-mile length of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, being just one of three people from dozens of starters to finish the demanding trek—the other two were men.
Now, at the age of 61, Christina—who lives in Vale da Telha, outside Aljezur on the Algarve’s west coast—plans another marathon fundraising trek here in Portugal.
Next month she sets off to walk from Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St Vincent) to Fatima, a distance of 397km (240 miles) as the crow flies, or anything up to 450km (270 miles) depending on any variations or detours along the route she has mapped out.
She sets out on 18 April and calculates it will take her 15 or so days to complete the walk.
This is a double mission for Christina. Firstly, she is aiming to raise funds for needy children by donating money raised, to Conferência de Nossa Senhora D’Alva, Aljezur, a purely local division of the international St Vincent de Paul Society, set up to help local people in urgent need of support. Her second reason is more personal and all the more poignant for that.
In 1973 when Christina was just 19, her first child, a son named Lieven, died at the age of only 16 months. He would have been 43 this month.
With the heartbreaking memory of that tragedy still fresh in her mind when she became pregnant in 1977 with her daughter Veronique, she made a vow to the Virgin Mary that if her baby was born healthy and survived she would one day make a pilgrimage of thanks for the life of her child.
“I am a walker, always have been, and I promised Mary in my prayers that one day I would make a pilgrimage to Fatima or to Santiago de Compostela in Spain where there has been a pilgrimage since the 9th century,” she explained.
“I had been researching the Compostela walk while we were living in Belgium and it was very daunting, a distance of 2,500km from our home town, although, like many people I could have started from a prescribed point in Spain.
“But then Leo, my husband, bought a house in Aljezur and it seemed like a sign to me—that I should instead go to Fatima. It was a commitment I had made and one which I knew I had to undertake to keep my promise.”
Those keen to follow the walk to Fatima can see updates on the Facebook page “Fatima Charitywalk”, where further information about making donations and a daily digital diary from Cristina during the walk will be uploaded.