The final (plus 1) count down

Blue for boys and pink for girls. Tony & Liz asking 'Does my boat look big on this?', the answer is an emphatic 'yes!'

We've just finished our final practice paddle, see http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=6772&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=969914
You may need to download Adobe's SVG player to play the map player.

Also, have you been to http://www.salemfc.org/s2c/files/ and seen the historic Google Earth files (open the zip file and select a session by double clicking on it)?

The final countdown

This is Tuesday evening (27th Jun), getting ready for our last practice session........ Nigel and Gordon are modelling the latest line in fetish gear while arguing about who needs the biggest cockpit.... I do believe Gordon's had his legs cut off and replaced with a couple of full milk bottles. My whizzy new boat is showing itself off in the background (thanks Matt), I think I'll have to learn (remember from the first time around) the Banana Splits song.

Preparation

Four of the bikes ready for delivery to Teddington where they'll stay until next Thursday when we disembark our kayaks and start the third leg of our odessy. Huge thanks to Stuart Radcliffe for storing them for us but, as he's our Commercial Director, I'm waiting to see if there's an invoice pinned to them when we pick them up (there will be now!). I'm getting excited about it all now but there's also an element of trepidation, particularly about the kayaking, I can't help worrying we may have bitten off more than we can chew. We'll see.

Another training session

No photo's, I forgot to take the camera!

Well, I got a boat and checked it out tonight, you can see the route we took if you go to:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=6772&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=952088

and I've uploaded the Google Earth KLM file (see earlier posting) so you can see where we went.

I'm still quite concerned; we're now doing 3.5 mph, which is better than last week at 3.2mph but is still slower than I'd like.......... when we have 31 miles to do on two consequtive days. At least we'll have the current with us (gulp).

Displaying our route on Google Earth (TM)

We're taking a Garmin Forerunner GPS with us. Rather than providing direction information like a Sat Nav system, this tracks where we've been and keeps all sorts of information about our speed, elevation etc.

We'll be uploading this information on a daily basis and providing a link to it so you can follow our progress (you can see examples before we leave on the 'Training' posting). You can export to Google Earth yourself (see how on the last posting) but we'll also be creating these files and storing them for posterity.

I can't embed these files in this blog so have put them on a server which has been kindly donated by Geoff Cowen. If you click here - http://www.salemfc.org/s2c/files/ - you'll be sent to the folder where you will see a zip file called 'S2C Google Earth.zip'. Click on the zip file and 'Open' it, then double click the leg you're interested in, it will automatically open Google Earth and overlay our track on it......... the miracles of modern technology eh?

Training - the build up.

None of us has done a lot of kayaking (I did two days on an outwardbound course back in the 70s but nothing since) so one of the first things we did was register for an introductory course with Milton Keynes Canoe Club (MKCC). Andy Nash (who works for Affiniti with Liz, Gary and myself) is a coach there and has been a fantastic help to get us up and paddling. The photo shows Tony, Gordon and Nigel getting on the water for the first time at the MKCC open day on May 5th, the course started the following Friday.

We're doing formal lessons with Andy on Friday evenings and 'free paddling' on Tuesday evenings. The aim for Tuesdays is now to concentrate on endurance training, I'm concerned that we're currently only averaging just over 3 miles an hour and we have two days where we have to paddle 31 miles, i.e. 10 hours paddling if we go at our current rate! The saving grace is that we're paddling with the current on the Thames which will give us an extra 1 - 2 mph.

The links below take you to a site called Motion Based and show some of our training sessions, as tracked by a Garmin GPS. I'll be taking it with me on the main trip and expect to upload our tracks on a daily basis (technology permitting!). There's an option on the left to 'Export to Google Earth', click it and then select 'Open', it will then automatically open Google Earth and overlay our route on the satellite image - fantastic! If I can work out how to embed the files it creates in this blog I will do so, but I would strongly recommend you try it, it really is good even in areas where the resolution of the satellite image isn't particularly high - where it is high, it's amazing.

If you go to the 'Map Player' tab on teh Motion Based link, you can replay our route (identifying pub stops, unexpected 360's etc.) - you may be prompted to download an Adobe module (SVC?) before it will work the first time.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=6772&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=887865

This link is for the following Tuesday:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=6772&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=929298

And this link is for the cycle ride Tony and I went on today - which I accept is a bit late in the day with less than two weeks to go:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=6772&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=929299

S2C Itinerary - let's meet up for a beer.

It would be fantastic to see you while we're out and about and even better to share a beer on an evening, call us on our mobiles or reply to this posting and we'll arrange to meet up.

Day 1: Saturday 1st July (21 miles)
Walking:–
Kemble to Cricklade – 10 miles
Paddling:-
Cricklade to Lechlade – 11 miles
Staying at the Bridge House Camp Site, Lechlade

Day 2: Sunday 2nd July - 20 miles
Paddling:-
Lechlade to Radcot – 6 miles
Radcot to Duxford – 7 miles
Duxford to Bablock Hythe – 7 miles
Staying at the Ferrymans pub, Bablock Hythe

Day 3: Monday 3rd July (31 miles)
Paddling:-
Bablock Hythe to Oxford – 10 miles
Oxford to Abingdon – 9 miles
Abingdon to Benson – 12 miles
Staying at Benson Waterfront Camping

Day 4: Tuesday 4th July (31 miles)
Paddling:-
Benson to Pangbourne – 10 miles
Pangbourne to Reading – 7 miles
Reading to Henley – 9 miles
Henley to Hurley – 5 miles
Staying at Hurley Riverside Camping

Day 5: Wednesday 5th July (27 miles)
Paddling:-
Hurley to Maidenhead – 10 miles
Maidenhead to Windsor – 7 miles
Windsor to Staines – 8 miles
Staines to Laleham – 2 miles
Staying at Laleham Park camp site

Day 6: Thursday 6th July (39 miles)
Paddling:-
Laleham to Sunbury – 5 miles
Sunbury to Teddington Lock – 8 miles
Cycling:-
Teddington to Westminster - 14 miles
Westminster to Greenwich – 12 miles
Staying at the Pilot Inn, Greenwich

Day 7: Friday 7th July (53 miles)
Cycling:-
Greenwich to Gravesend - 23 miles
Gravesend to Warden Point – 30 miles
Staying at Warden Springs Holiday Park

* Note: the Thames itself is 215 miles long; we have to travel further due to obstacles when we’re cycling.

Source 2 Sea background

Six of us are navigating 222 miles from the source of the River Thames to the North Sea on foot, by kayak and bicycle (plod, paddle, pedal!) in aid of six different charities. We're starting off on Saturday the 1st July and will finish on Friday the 7th.

The six of us are: Gary Burkhardt, Colin Bycroft, Liz Darlow, Tony Jones, Nigel Robinson and Gordon Wood and we're each supporting the following charities: CLIC Sargent, Parkinson's Disease Society, Cancer Research UK, Heart Research UK, Breast Cancer Awareness, and the 37 Camelot Way minibus appeal. If you'd like to support any of us or the team as a whole, please reply here (thanks in advance).

I included our itinerary in a seperate posting, if any of you live nearby it would be great to get a wave. I've also listed where we're staying, it would be even better if you popped round for a beer!