Thursday 1 April 2010

With just to weeks to go, training has been reduced, however, I still fancy a long walk over the Easter break, will decide on a location and day tomorrow. This week saw me reach my weight target set 15 months ago, not a major lose but just a steady drop. They reckon your lose on average 14-20 lbs during the walk, we'll see, I probably end up back were I was 15 months ago with all the English breakfasts and pub dinners.
The picture shown is the Vine Pub (Kinver), which I recently passed on a walk and is pick up point for my rest day at home at the end of the second week. The next time I set off from there my end destination won't be Stourbridge, like last time, but John O'Groats.
Yesterday saw panic stations as I happened to phone on the B&B's up to ask a question, only to find out there didn't have me booked in, this was simply corrected as they had space. I then proceeded to phone all up, which I had not sent deposits or paid in full, only to find another didn't have any record of me and was full up. I have since found alternative accommodation (not the bus shelter as I feared) but further back on the trial. So the two days which were evenly split are now 18 and 23 mile long. The final insult was the B&B owner saw it as my fault for booking to early (last September), not hers for losing my booking.
Over the last week I have transfer my entire walk onto google maps, split into daily sections. There are a lot of road sections which are on google, however, I have alternatives for most days (such as the Severn Way in lieu of the A38 up to Worcester) to get me off the roads, subject to tiredness and weather. Google Maps is great as it lets you drag the "yellow man " down to street level and see whether paths exist etc. My route has been modified in a couple of locations with this info. The majority of the country has recently been updated to this street level view, just in time for me. Google Maps gets a definite thumbs up.
The maps have now been loaded by Ade onto the website (www.russwalk.co.uk), so my Mum and other can see the route.

3 comments:

  1. Nice one mate, keep up the good work! - Adrian

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the best with this tremendous effort for charity.

    Peter
    www.distanthills.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Russ its Shane Dennis from Redditch Special Olympics. I hope everything so far has gone well for you and that the experience has been worth while. You have done Redditch proud and both of your chosen charitities for getting this far. Keep up the good work on your blog and on your walk and I hope you reach Jon'O'Groats as planned.

    ReplyDelete