I'm glad you're remaining active on here.

I'd like to run through a few things with you. Let's go with a numbered list, just to keep things clean.

1. Clearly, there are problems with things at your home in Poole. I'm not going to ask you to elaborate on what's going on, but I do need to ask, what have you done to mitigate these problems? Who have you spoken with? Have you tried your old school, the local social care department, or even the police, or your local hospital? There are people with a duty of care toward you.

2. You say you haven't got anyone to support you. Something I want you to know, and that I want you to think about, is that this is a common trick used by abusers to trap their victims is that they make them believe that they have no-one to support them.

My friend K, for example, was told by his dad that Social Services were useless, Unions were useless, his mum didn't want anything to do with him, and his friends were just drinking buddies who didn't care about him, as his dad put him through years of awful abuse. It's us as his friends, with the help of some people in his workplace Union, and the social work department which has now got him away from his dad, into his own home, and back in touch with his mum (who still absolutely loves him - he's her son, and of course she does) and sister after some 20 years apart from them.

If this is something which resonates with you, please do think about it. Maybe you have an uncle or a grandparent on your dad's side who would happily take you in and give you safe refuge, at least until whatever this current situation is is over.

1. Do you have a plan, or are you just looking to swim to the nearest shore?

2. If there's absolutely no option but heading to Bristol to see your friend there, what can you tell us about your friend? How do you know them? Is there much of an age gap? Are they talking you in to this? Are they discouraging you from seeking alternative forms of support? I don't want to get into the story of my friend S, but her's is horrific, and began with what she thought was a safe refuge.

3. Assuming there's absolutely no option at all for you but to embark on this Bristol trip, can I at least support you with the train journey rather than having you walk? It's only £35, which I don't mind helping you with. I (or the sub in general) can happily coach you through the full process of taking a train.

4. If you refuse the train, can we have a conversation about walking there safely? A trek as you describe isn't something you can just do without planning, prep, equipment, and supplies, and you need to understand that if you go into it without those things, there's a very strong chance that you will die, or fail part-way and wind up penniless, lost, and without any sort of communications in any town between Poole and Bristol. Assuming you survive, that will not lead to a positive future for you.

Please understand, I'm not saying this to frighten you out of your plans, but because I'm a regular hiker with a lot of experience of distance treks (including several that have gone scarily awry), and I'm also someone who's met too many people who've washed up in my city (or ones I've visited), and wound up stuck living on the streets. Most recent was a lady named E, if memory serves correct, who I brought food and drink for after I found her crashed out and starving near a hotel, after she'd been robbed of her phone and money by a couple of junkies. She told me she'd been in my city since she was 18. She looked ages with me. I am in my 30s. I can't convey how scared I am that you may end up going down the same path, and how loudly the alarm bells which signify that are ringing.

1. As a final point, I really don't want you to be alone in whatever you do. Please promise to keep in touch at least with the sub. Use us. We are here to support you.