Progress Towards our Target

By Juli

I have spent most of today talking about maths in the schools I have been visiting and so I decided that when I had a chance this evening, I would do some maths on the blog.

It's 9.15 in the evening, 7 days after we launched the Just Giving Page and we can announce that we are 28% of the way towards our target of £1500.  That's £429.03 ( funny figure because of the conversion from Euros to pounds of one of the donations).

That's brilliant - and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so far.

It's interesting that we have had donations at all times of the day and night, because some have come from the other side of the world, although oddly some of that was in Australian dollars and some in English pounds, and then there was the Euro donation.  So we have been enjoying looking at the latest figures at all times of the day and night to see if the grand total has risen.

With just 5% more we will be a third of the way to our total - that's 33.3%.  That's just 5 x 1% or 5 x £15.  Or to look at it another way, it's a one off of £75. Which is odd actually because that would give us £504.03 so it should probably be rounded up to £75.97.

A further 22% would get us half way - financially £750, but in miles to round about Cookham (65 of the total 130).    Since the launch until we start is 7 weeks and 3 days.  So it would be good if we were half way to our target after 26 days (3.71 weeks).  But given that we are 28% of the way there after 7 days, who knows where we could be in another 19 days ( half way) and it's anyone's guess where we will be after 52 days, financially, because physically we will be getting ready to set off from Oxford.  

SO IF YOU HAVEN'T DONATED YET, IT'S VERY EASY  

Just click on the link on the right hand side of the blog and donate through the Just Giving page link. Otherwise donate by texting NJTF63 and an amount such as £1, £3 or £5 to 70070.

We have already had people wanting to join in for some sections - HURRAH!  Georg and Barbara are coming all the way from Germany to do two sections with us.  Sharon and Neil and the dog are joining us for another section, and one of Nick's nieces for a section in London.  But the more the merrier.  You don't have to do a whole load of miles but you might just want to do a few, or maybe meet us for lunch or for dinner. It would be great to see you and it will take our minds off our blisters and aching joints!

Training Day-Walk 1

By Nick

The plan was to set off after breakfast, but, by the time we were ready - what to pack, what to wear - it was half past noon.

The Macmillan Way crosses our road about a quarter of a mile from our house, and the first section of our walk today - the four, often muddy miles to Maidwell; a route we've followed before - takes us to a point where the Macmillan Way joins a dismantled railway path at an old cast iron footbridge that once provided safe passage across the busy track. At this point last time, we turned south along the track bed to return home. Today, though, we turned north to begin the six mile section of the well graded foot and cycle path - the Brampton Valley Way - that would take us all the way into Market Harborough.

  

We had a lovely bright, dry day for it, with a bit of a breeze to keep us from getting too hot. The fine weather after so much rain had encouraged many other walkers and cyclists to venture out too.

 

Just past the foot bridge, where a minor road crosses the path, there's a small car park and picnic area. We stopped here for quick snack before pressing on towards the first of two tunnels along the route. This one, Kelmarsh Tunnel, is 480 metres long and pitch black apart from under a single ventilation shaft. We'd not brought torches with us and were glad the tunnel was no longer and dead straight, so all we had to do was walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

  

About a half mile on from the far end of the tunnel, is another picnic spot, where we had our sandwiches by a sign post indicating we still had over four miles to go, so we didn't take long over them before setting off again. Shortly after, we were passed, for the first time, by a small group of trial bikers making a terrible racket zooming along a path meant only for walkers and cyclists. They passed us again - this time in the opposite direction - a few minutes later, and then a third time shortly after that. I wish there was something one could do about such villains of the peace (pun intended).

The second tunnel, a little shorter than the first, but equally dark, is close to Great Oxendon. However before we could go in we had to wait for the bikers to pass through. They certainly make a racket in such a confined space, and the fumes!

The Macmillan Way parts company with the Brampton Valley Way on the north side of the second tunnel and heads north-east back towards its starting point in Boston, Lincs. Its finish is either Abbotsbury or Barnstaple depending on the route you choose. One day, perhaps.

The rest of our walk - about two more miles or so - passed uneventfully, except that my leg started to ache, having pulled a muscle when I stumbled in the second tunnel. Soon, though, we were walking through the outskirts of Market Harborough, and soon after that we were back at Juli's car in the car park where we'd left it before driving back home in mine four and a bit hours earlier.

Our reward for completing our first practice walk was a hot drink and a cake in Waitrose's cafe. But, before we could head for home, we had one more walk to complete: back across the car park and once around Sainsbury to do the weekly shop. By the time we came out, it was dark and we were glad to be making the return journey by car.

 

Training! What training?

By Nick

In reply to Juli's e-mail soliciting donations, we had an e-mail from my niece, who works, as it happens, for Macmillan Cancer Support. She asked, quite innocently, how our training was going. I showed her e-mail to Juli and we just looked at each other, blinking.

However, we gave it some thought, and wondered if there might not be some mileage in the idea after all, so this morning we're going on a 10 mile walk from our house to Market Harborough to see how it goes.

There's a dismantled railway path that runs between Northampton (south of us) and Market Harborough (north of us) that crosses our road (Station Road) about a mile from us. We could just walk east down the road to the crossing, but another footpath we can join closer to us, meets the old railway track further north, so we're going to do that. The other reason for this route is that this closer path just happens to form part of the Macmillan way (as does the railway path, incidentally.)

This will also be a practice run for us in terms of blogging, tweeting, and photographing our walk as we go, so watch this space.

More shortly.

New way to give a little (or a lot)

We've set up a JustTextGiving code so you (or anyone you know) can help us to support Macmillan Cancer Support by text. For example, to make a £5 donation, simply text NJTF63 £5 to 70070. It's as easy as that. Of course, it doesn't have to be £5, but it must be either £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10, but there's no restriction on how many times you text. You'll even get the chance to add Gift Aid to your donation, which sticks an extra 25% on top at no cost to yourself, so long as you're a UK tax-payer. (HMRC gives the tax back on your behalf.) Best of all, it costs nothing to send the text (no matter which network operator you're with) and every penny goes to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Proper planning prevents p***-poor performance

Juli hard at work planning our route and accommodation.

First Post

Watch this space.