Mr D's Big Walk

Lots of you will no doubt have noticed the signature line that appeared on my posts in the recent past - and some of you have already contacted me about it thanks! :D

Basically.....

Mr D is doing a very big charity thing next spring, walking from Dover to Cape Wrath, using only Long-Distance Paths, a journey of more than 1,000 miles. He's doing it by himself, and wants to raise at least �£1,000 for MSF (Medecins sans Frontiers).

The links in my signature will take you to the website he has constructed about it, and the JustGiving site, where anyone who would lke to sponsor him on-line can do so.

His reasons for wanting to do this are on his website, but what it boils down to is that he has a rare form of glaucoma which has taken 20% of the sight in his left eye, and he wants to have seen as much as possible of the country in case he loses it entirely, and since he's doing it, he wants a well-deserving charity to benefit. MSF is entirely non-political and does a great deal of work in emergency relief in disaster areas, so what could be better?

So - now that we're getting closer to him actually doing the walk, next spring, aiming to get to Cape Wrath before the midges do ( :rolleyes: ) I'm putting up this thread to let people know about it, and to ask for some practical help (and if you'd like to sponsor him too, that's all to the good!)

The two things that we are looking for help with are......

1) It's expensive to stay in B+Bs, and the first section, from Dover up to Hemel isn't practical for him to camp wild, so, if you, or anyone you know, lives close to the route, could you contact us to let us know if you could help by letting him camp in your garden?

and

2) The cause of him going blind is a relatively rare form of glaucoma - Pigmentary Dispersement Syndrome. He has to use eye-drops to keep it in check for as long as possible, and they have to be kept cool. He needs to be able to swap thawed out freezer packs for nice frozen ones - can anybody help with this?

I'm attaching here the planned itinerary - of course the dates will get a little less precise as he gets further into the journey, but the dates will be approximately correct.

Thanks very much for reading all this, and if you can help, please do PM or email me, or contact us through the links in my signature. :D :D :D

The destinations for each day, starting from Easter next year......


Boughton Lees 23/03/2008
Rochester airport (campsite) 24/03/2008
Farningham 25/03/2008
Grenwich 26/03/2008
Southall/Norwood Green 27/03/2008
Hemel Hempstead 28/03/2008
Bletchley 29/03/2008
Blisworth 30/03/2008
Brunston 31/03/2008
Bedworth 01/04/2008
Draton Manor Park (campsite) 02/04/2008
Wendon (campsite) 03/04/2008
Abbots Bromley 04/04/2008
Thorpe (campsite) 05/04/2008
Moynash (campsite) 06/04/2008
Edale (campsite) 07/04/2008
Crowden (campsite) 08/04/2008
Littleborough 09/04/2008
Buckley (campsite) 10/04/2008
Gargrave (campsite) 11/04/2008
Horton in Ribblesdale (campsite) 12/04/2008
Shot Lathe (campsite) 13/04/2008
Middleton in Teesdale (campsite) 14/04/2008
Green Fell 15/04/2008
Slaggyford (campsite) 16/04/2008
Setnaugh (campsite) 17/04/2008
Cottonshopeburnfoot (campsite) 18/04/2008
Kirk Yetholm (campsite) 19/04/2008
St Boswells 20/04/2008
Galshiels 21/04/2008
Peebles 22/04/2008
Broxburn 23/04/2008
Polmont 24/04/2008
Croy 25/04/2008
Milngavie 26/04/2008
Loch Lomond 27/04/2008
Tyndrum 28/04/2008
Kingshouse 29/04/2008
Fort William 30/04/2008
South Laggan 01/05/2008
Tomdoun 02/05/2008
Cluanie 03/05/2008
Morvich 04/05/2008
Killan 05/05/2008
Achnashellach Station 06/05/2008
Kinlochewe 07/05/2008
Corrie Hallie 08/05/2008
Glensquaib 09/05/2008
Oykel Bridge 10/05/2008
Kylesku 11/05/2008
Rhiconich 12/05/2008
Sandwood bay 13/05/2008
Cape Wrath 14/05/2008

[ 07. October 2007, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: dendrobium ]

 

Sounds like a gruelling journey, dendro, and needless to say a lot of planning has and is going into it.

No doubt you will bring this forward again in the new year.

 

Yes, thanks a lot, LoL - I certainly will do! :D

The reason I've posted it just now is that he needs to start booking the B+Bs for the first stage, since camping isn't practical there, and I'm hoping that maybe there might be somebody on here who can help him avoid having to B+B it every night on that stage.