. I remember reading an article only a couple of weeks ago about how he was taking vitamin D tablets daily to prolong his life.I agree, there's a river nearby here and from time to time, some poor soul ends up in it. There were people campaigning for a while to have the entirety of the river fenced off. The natural world is dangerous and people are fragile, but it's just not realistic to safety proof every eventuality.
This has been my overriding thought since he died. He didn't want to die relatively young like his father. He was determined to be as healthy as possible. It's all so desperately sad.What makes me so sad is how he was determined to outlive his male relatives by changing his diet and getting into fitness, only for this tragic accident to happen before he got to reach 70
Edit: BBC 1 will be airing a tribute programme for him on Friday 14th June at 8pm.
He hadn’t just got off a boat in Symi. He’d been on the beach.
He walked past the correct turning back to Symi town and then took a turning and path in completely the wrong direction. Maybe he thought that it led beyond Agia Marina round the coast. Given how quickly the coroner estimated that he died, he may have been confused by that stage.
I'm healthy and very careful with both heat and hydration, but I've unfortunately had heatstroke twice, the first time was by far the worst. On both occasions, I had been sick with some kind of stomach virus thing and recovered, but that was enough to cause it a few days later because it leaves your electrolytes outlet of whack and you don't notice because you feel better. Be aware of this, everyone! The second time it happened, I realised what was wrong much sooner and took action, so it wasn't as bad.
For me, I question how disoriented he would be 20 mins after the video of him striding pas the restaurant, and having to open the metal gate to the path. Also, not his first visit to the island. I am erring towards him making a poor choice to have a long walk, but then I don’t know how long after confusion/dehydration kicks in that you can keep going, another hour seems a lot.
I think the same. He wanted to challenge himself further and his wife’s statement that they took comfort in that he nearly made it and did an extraordinary climb or whatever it was she said!
. Anyone who knows Scarborough there is a steepish climb to the station and he collapsed. It was such a shock. Hot sun and age are a bad mix.Sadly, I think he would not have survived even if he'd been seen and helped at that time.
Yes I think he intended to go to Agia Marina and ended up on the wrong path high up. I’m just not sure we will ever know at what point he made that decision to go there but his wife clearly didn’t know.
I think he would have needed to be found at least half an hour before his death, in order to have a fighting chance. I think there’s a risk he might have still died, had a medical event even then.
Looking at those photos of the path to the monastery and the lovely view, I think I can understand now why he carried on walking, the view at the top of the hill looks beautiful. I feel terribly sad for him now and understand why he carried on, it’s so tragic and such a terrible loss of a good person who helped so many people with his advice.This google review has a really good description and photos of the walk from Pedi that is the route people should take, with pics of the red and blue marked rocks that were mentioned in the press. So people do take this route but it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Google review of Holy Monastery of Saint Marina by karen s
★★★★★ "Beautiful monastery on small island ~50 yards from Symi, which is only accessible by small boat or by hike & swim (only try this route if you are in good physical condition). To get there by hiking & swimming: start at Pedi Beach and follow the coastal road that heads North and then...maps.app.goo.gl
Rudyard Kipling wrote about it, as did Noel Coward. "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun."
I live in a very hot country too, and spend far more time in the shade than the sun this time of year! Next 3 months avoiding that burning thing above for me. Nocturnal innit.
I grew up in the Gulf in the 1960s and 1970s before central air conditioning was ubiquitous and my father worked 'summer' hours - to work in the cooler early morning, home to sleep during the heat of the day and back to work in the evening. It was common earlier to sleep on the flat roof of houses at night to get a breeze. We had a veranda with a solid roof and open on the garden sides with fly netting all around the open sides.
