Proud Mum

Today my son Marc and his colleague Steve received an award from Suffolk Police, after the Father of the young girl they rescued (full story here) took the time and trouble to write in.. He didn't know their names and all he had to go on was they were Police Officers in Suffolk just goes to show some people do care.

So today I am a very proud Mum, both boys are highly embarrassed and would you believe it no photo's were taken! I shall have to take a photo of the award myself to scrap, don't suppose there's any chance of getting him to put his full dress uniform on as well LOL.

Poor old Jim is off to see Mr Vet tomorrow, two wheels on his wagon isn't good, wish we knew what the heck was going on with his 3rd leg.

The boys made the newspaper!

Following on from this article in the local paper in April. (page 6). Marc was contacted yesterday from the Police press department who were keen for their achievements to be highlighted in the local paper again, so hot off the press is this follow up article here,( back page).

With gift aid added to just giving and a few more pennies the total is edging up to £2,500! boys are pretty much recovered just a few blisters left LOL.

The end!

The boys finished the walk at 19.11 last night in glorious sunshine

and in true Wainwright tradition walked out to the sea to dip there toes and take a few minutes to reflect on the last 9 days. Marc said it was a mixture of exhaustion, surrealism and total euphoria!

and then it was time to meet up with the family

have a pint and fish and chips and then start the long ride home!

This morning the just giving and gift aid come to just under £2,400 which will go the he kennel fund for Greyhound Gap.

Marc. Steve, Greyhound Gap and myself would like to thank everyone who has supported the walk and given so generously! we're hoping there will be a few more pennies at the end of the month to add to the total.


So for now walk co-ordinator (that's me LOl) is signing off and putting her crafting hat back on LOL.....

THE FINAL DAY

3rd July    - Day 9 Blakey Ridge to Robin Hoods Bay

THE FINAL DAY

The boys started out before 7am and as they left before brekkie the landlord left them out packed lunches. So off they set in high spirits. They had decided to split the day into three 9 and a half mile stretches .

9 and a half done and first pit stop!

Pushing on and another 9 and a half done!

 The North Sea views are fabulous and just a few miles left to finish the walk.

Spirits are high as the news reaches the boys that the 2k target has been reached.

Marc's wife will be waiting for them at the finishing point armed with camera, so come back tomorrow for the

final chapter!

Day 8

2nd July   - Day 8 Ingleby Cross to Blakey Ridge

Both boys stayed off their feet quite literally for 12 hours after completing yesterdays 33 miles and by morning had recovered, so after a hearty breakfast set off in high spirits for the penultimate day!

They managed to average 2 and a half mph over the Cleveland Hills 

and 5 miles in came across a drink station that was for a long distance 33-mile race. They tried to make out they were part of it but the t-shirts or the backpacks gave it away, they still got drinks and encouragement and were very grateful! 

First view of the North Sea

So tomorrow is the final day !!!!! and it's going to be a long long day but hopefully the thought of it being the last part will make a bit easier, that and the ride home that will be waiting at the end for them!

Day 7

1st July    - Day 7 Grinton to Ingleby Cross

Not a good day for Marc and Steve. The walk was a long (33 miles) boring one through field after field with lots of pain due to Marc’s blisters and Steve’s sore ankle. Each step felt like their feet were on fire and they said it’s not fun anymore!

Seasoned walkers have told them that 9 days is impossible and even 10 would be hard going but the plan is still to try and finish on day 9, as they need to be on duty Monday!

21 and a half miles tomorrow climbing the Cleveland Hills and Sunday the final day looks set to be at least 16 hours of walking/crawling the final 28.

Time to grit teeth and get heads down and push through!

All messages of support are being gratefully received. I have to admit to feeling quite low on their behalf, it's a rotten feeling being so far away and not being able to help! I quite literally had to talk to Marc tonight as he and Steve struggled through the last mile and waffled on about anything just to keep them moving. Hope tomorrow is a better day for them.

On a lighter note Just giving page has reached 84%.

Day 6

 

30th June - Day 6 Kirkby Stephen to Grinton

An early start for the boys today setting out at  6.50am temperature a chilly 4 degrees.

The road was steep to the top of Hartley Quarries with good views of Kirkby Stephen. And then on to Nine Standards as this was the first objective of the day at 2,170 ft this was the last time they will be over 2,000ft on the walk. The Cairns are massive! 

The boys were lucky to see the views as shortly after low level clouds descended and they only just found the path down in time.

 They then travelled through the peat bogs, the bogs entailed them wading shin deep for 2 miles descending…. Energy sapping!

They then headed past some of the waterfalls Keld is famous for, Keld village is officially the half way stage of the walk! From there they then enjoyed walking alongside the River Swale and into Reeth Village and then onto the hostel at Grinton.

 

Feet starting to feel the effects now

115 miles now completed

Tomorrow will be 33 miles but is the flattest part of the walk.

Day 5

29th June - Day 5 Sharp to Kirkby Stephen

Short update today no mobile signal, had to make do with a very short email LOL......

I'm told the hat is the wrong way not for posing but to prevent sunburn LOL.

Photo take on Marc as they departed Smardale.

92 miles completed

Thursday is a 7am start and 25 miles
Now we will find out how their feet can cope with the longer miles each day

Days 3 and 4

27th June - Day 3 Grasmere to Patterdale

Should have been the shortest day but actually turned out to be a long difficult day after they came across a group of girls doing their Duke of Edinburgh award. One of their party had collapsed and neither they nor the boys had any signal on the mobiles. As police officers they have basic first aid skills and were able to put the young girl into recovery and decided it was a severe case of heat stroke and de-hydration along with massive panic attacks. After calming her down and re hydrating her they then had to set about bringing her off the mountain. Eventually once the signal on their mobiles came back they rang her support vehicle and found a place that the van could reach but it was some 3 miles away and took another 3 and a half hours to get her there. Once they had safely handed her over she was rushed to hospital! Once they had actually finished the walk they headed to the nearest pub and were met by a round of applause from people also walking the route who had seen what they had done. So far from the shortest day it ended up with two exhausted hero’s, well that’s what a group of Americans said LOL.

Photo taken at Grisedale Tairn

28th June - Day 4 Patterdale to Sharp

 

The official route was 16 miles today but they added in the extra 3 taking the walk from its 197 miles to the 200 they wanted. Not counting the 1 and a half-mile they took a detour on due to bad navigating Lol.

Today they climbed to he highest point of the walk Kidsty Pike at 2,650feet!

Resting stop for the night was rather aptly The Greyhound Inn, where hopefully there was a bath for them to soak their tired feet in. 5 days to go and both boys are shattered! from now on in they will be stepping up the daily miles to an average of 22 per day but the terrain does now start to flatten out which should make it a bit easier.

68 Miles done!

Day 1 and 2 of the walk

25th June - Day 1 St Bees to Ennerdale


A nice easy start to the walk with a short romp of 14.75 miles!  A good chance to get used to walking with the backpacks and trying out the navigating skills LOL.Weather forecast is cloudy/drizzle and 15 degrees

A time tested tradition marks the start of the walk with a paddle in the sea at St Bees before setting off.

and a photo pointing to the start of the coast to coast walk...


26th June - Ennerdale to Grasmere 24 miles!

From Ennerdale the walk starts to get serious with very difficult terrain and steep declines! Greenup Edge took them up as high as 2,000 where the visibility rapidly deteriorated and the path down couldn’t be found! Eventually they got back on course with another steep climb up to 1,600 ft at High Crag followed by another steep decline down to Grasmere their stopping point for the night!

38 miles completed! 

and not without pain! 

 

Marc's boots despite being broken in are giving him severe discomfort over his ankle he broke a few years ago, luckily they've found a shop and bought him a pair that will sit lower and hopefully make the walk more comfortable as the reality of doing it in 9 days and not the normal 12-14 days is just starting to sink in LOL.

 

and they're off

So Marc and Steve are now on the way to Carisle ready to start the walk tomorrow. A big thank you to Virgin for the complimentary tickets! weather forecast is rain, rain and more rain for the first 3 days! 200 miles in 9 days is going to be hard going.

The launch of a new blog - Marc & Steve's coast to coast walk

 Plus a re design of this one LOL!

Ok as many of you know my son and his colleague are doing the coast to coast walk to raise funds for Greyhound Gap, Eric and I have been involved with gap for over 7 years now and fostered several hounds for them (and kept most of them hehehe) currently 4 out of the 6 hounds here are gap dogs. Whilst discussing it all with Lisa the founder of gap she asked if I would do a blog so gappers could follow the walk and fundraising etc. Marc does have a FB page but of course I don't have access to that so agreed it was a good idea and have duly created said blog LOL.

So  here it is, if you would like to become a follow that would be great and if you fancied putting it on your blog and passing it about that would be fantastic. To those of you who have already given me donations thank you so much!

So Mr T went to Norwich hospital today and had ecg and xrays etc, and was given the all clear re heart virus, has to go back again next month for respiratory check up, he's much better and gets stronger each week.

Still waiting for Lucky's results!!!!!!!

Just giving

Marc and Steve who are doing the coast to coast walk in June would like to announce their just giving page has now gone live and is ready for donations LOL. I have placed a widget on my blog if anyone fancies sending a few pennies. Lots and lots od fund raising activities will take place over the next two months, so paws crossed they can raise lots of money.

Muggins here now has over 100 letters to send out on their behalf LOl...


Many thanks Sue x

Photo shoot

What do you call a group of 11 hounds............. HEAVEN and CHAOS LOL

So finally last night we got the photo's taken for Marc and Steve to launch the publicity for their Coast to Coast walk in June. They're hoping to raise £2,000 for greyhoundgap, more details to follow when FB page and Just giving pages go live.

So a few photo's of the shoot.

First up son Marc and colleague Steve wearing their specially designed t shirts.

and 11 hounds, not one single grump or growl from any of them. 7 of these gorgeous hounds owe their lives to greyhoundgap!