We made it! 27 hours 50 minutes after leaving Petersfield at 7am Saturday morning we were grinning on the Podium at Brighton racecourse!

Thanks to Paul, Anwen and Claire for their much appreciated supporting efforts and to the massage team at CP 7 who managed to work their magic to keep our legs going for a further 10 hours!

If you'd like to see more photos of the trek ( including fantastic sunset and sunrise over the Downs) this is the link to Ian's photos:

Here are the web pictures. No captions I'm afraid. But the times are there. If you want to download any keep clicking on pictures until you get the full-size ones. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ig206/tw2008/

Several people have asked for Gill's Trail bar recipe- here it is

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=17833713-003d-4bfd-820b-a05fbaf7028f

And if you like Tommy Cooper jokes- what better way to celebrate Trailwalker 2008?

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=437091b4-b8c7-413c-877d-70f49b6d9987

We're off tomorrow

Many thanks everyone who sponsored us or who is planning to!

Tomorrow at 7am we'll start the walk. For your amusement here is the schedule Gill and Paul worked out for us.

Training on the South Downs Trail

As recommended,we hit the South Downs to get the feel for what the Trailwalker will be like and if the weather is as good as this we'll be happy! We hoped Elizabeth (Kevin's sister) would be able to be our fourth walker as she has been in training having done the Moonwalk in London- but she is not free on 19 July! Stil we enjoyed her company, while missing Ian, as we walked on circuits from Glynde and then from Lewes seeing calves,lambs and cygnets en route to keep up the aaah factor!
Sunday was a circuit from Amberley, which we will walk in the other direction on the day- and hopefully without repeating our navigation error across a cornfield!About 22 miles together.

Reward for braving a soaking

Last Thursday I walked to and from work. The weather was perfect in the morning but by 6pm the sky was overcast and there was heavy blue-grey cloud massed over towards the South, where I was heading. But I carried on all the same and seemed to skirt around the edge of it. By the time I got to where it had been it had moved off and this is all that was there in its place.

Long Walk

Yesterday I did a long walk. I left at 10am. The first hour or two it rained, but after that the weather was perfect. Blue sky and lots of clouds so it wasn't too hot. There was a stiff breeze all afternoon.

I walked along Fleam Dyke again. The summer flowers are all coming out, clustered bellflowers and trefoil and speedwell. Then at Fulbourn I turned north to another Saxon earthwork called Devil's Dyke. That is just as pretty, with more uncommon flowers. I looked for, but didn't find, a lizard orchid. Apparently the flowers look just like lizards, and it smells strongly of goats!

On Devils Dyke I got a good view of a green woodpecker. Usually one only hears their alarm call and perhaps sees a flash of green as the make their getaway, but this one was already in flight, away from me, as I rounded a bend, so I saw its red cap and green tail. It perched in perfect woodpecker fashion on the vertical trunk of a beech about 20 yards away and spent a few minutes examining the bark. Then it hopped up and around the trunk in a spiral, presumably eating insects it found.

Later, just after dusk I saw a white owl near Hildersham. Not particularly concerned it flew silently past within about 20 yards of me and I could even see its face as it passed. It was mainly white with a few light brown feathers on it's back and the tops of its wings.

I got home at 10.15pm and Google Maps says I walked 32 miles.

Team Member Wanted

We're looking for a team member to replace Anwen who can't do the walk with us (this year!)

If you're interested, call me on 01223 334420 or 07773 845793.

Another Walk!

This one was a around 20 miles and 7 1/2 hours or so. Beautiful weather. Doing around fifty miles a week now.