Together We Walk: Trekking Through Grief, Love, and the Power of Support

April 22, 2025

You’ll meet all kinds of hikers on a Different Travel trip. Some will move at pace with ease while others will move more slowly. Some will pause often, catching their breath not just from the distance or ascent they have just climbed, but from the weight of something heavier. It’s easy to overlook the slower trekkers or assume they’re simply not fit. But often, the people walking at their own pace are carrying stories that go far deeper than the trail ahead. 

Many of our trekkers aren’t just hiking for the view or the challenge. They’re walking in memory of someone they loved. A parent, a sibling, a close friend, someone they’ve lost. Grief can be overwhelming, and for some, taking on a fundraising trek for a hospice or another charity is a way of doing something powerful with that grief. 

Maybe this trip is the place where they come to remember. Or maybe it’s where they come to heal. 

What makes these journeys even more meaningful is the support that surrounds them. Many of our trekkers will meet long before their adventure begins. They train together, share stories, and offer encouragement on early morning walks or rainy hill climbs. Bonds are built through shared experiences, shared losses, and a shared drive to make a difference. 

On the trip, that support becomes something truly special. It’s in the gentle check-ins. The unspoken understanding when someone falls silent. It’s in the laughter that breaks through the tears. The strength that is found when walking side by side. 

You don’t always see the reasons why someone signs up for a challenge like this. Perhaps they spent months by a loved one’s side, watching hospice staff care with compassion and dignity. Perhaps they felt helpless in those final days with someone they loved, and this is their way of turning pain into purpose. With one foot in front of the other, one donation at a time, now they walk to give something back to those who supported them on their darkest days.  

Some of them are not natural trekkers. They’ve never walked a long distance, climbed a mountain, wore a backpack and never laced up trekking boots before. But they’re here anyway, because their love was, and still is, that strong. Every mile is a tribute. Every step, a whisper of “I remember you”. 

So if you pass someone on the trail who’s moving a little slower, who’s breathing hard or wiping away quiet tears, please don’t judge. Smile. Offer them some kind words. A simple “You’ve got this.” Because that kind of kindness might be exactly what they need to keep going, not just on this trek, but on their journey through grief. 

Different Travel trips aren’t only for the fast, the fearless, or the fit. 

They’re also for the quiet fighters and the friends who walk beside them. The ones whose strength doesn’t come from speed or endurance, but from love. From loss. From the courage to show up and support others. The ones who keep going together. 

Whatever your reason for signing up to one of our challenges, we have many trips that you can sign up to for a charity of your choice. Take a look at what we have coming up.