Today's stats: 7 hours, 29 minutes walking, 21.6 miles, 47525 steps, 2825 calories, 5 litres of water, 0 blisters. Still don't ask about the chafing!
When we set ourselves the challenge of walking the 259 miles from the constituency to the House of Commons, we knew we were able to walk the 22 or so miles we needed to cover every day. What we did not know was whether or not we could do it day after day, for the 13 days needed to complete the journey. So today was an important day. After managing to cover the distance we needed to yesterday, could we manage it again today?
When we set ourselves the challenge of walking the 259 miles from the constituency to the House of Commons, we knew we were able to walk the 22 or so miles we needed to cover every day. What we did not know was whether or not we could do it day after day, for the 13 days needed to complete the journey. So today was an important day. After managing to cover the distance we needed to yesterday, could we manage it again today?
Crossing the Tamar
Today’s journey took us from St Cleer,
up Caradon Hill, across the river Tamar at Horsebridge, on to Tavistock and up
onto Dartmoor as far as The Dartmoor Inn – roughly another 22 miles. The route
would include some of the biggest hills we are going to face.
The weather was much better for walking today.
A nice bit of cloud cover meant the temperatures were not high, although it still felt pleasantly warm. We even had a refreshing shower as we
arrived on Dartmoor which was great at the end of a hard day.
We again enjoyed some stunning scenery,
moors and amazing views across both Cornwall and Devon.
The walk continues!
Our driver today was Richard Pears who
is my campaign manager. Richard does a great job of looking after my campaign
for the General Election next year and he looked after us well today.
With Richard Pears
Crossing the border into Devon, which as
we all know is in England, was special. Ordinarily leaving Cornwall is not
something we welcome, but on this occasion it marked a sense of real progress
as we could tick off our first county and enter Devon.
Crossing the border into Devon
Another highlight today was to be
surprised on the road by our friends Peter and Barbara Wyper, who drove all the
way to find us just to wish us well, and place some cash in our
collecting pot! It really brightened our morning and reminded us of all the support
we have received for our challenge. The many posts on Facebook, Twitter
re-tweets, emails and text messages all really mean a great deal to us, so
please keep them coming. But I have to say nothing tops people just showing up
unannounced to say hi!
With Peter and Barbara Wyper
Another special moment was when we got up onto Dartmoor. Richard had driven ahead in the van and parked up to wait for us. As we approached we saw he was talking to a group of people. When we reached the car park they all stopped and applauded us which was a great encouragement towards the end of a hard days walking. They also added to our collection which was even better!
Pleased to reach the Dartmoor Inn and the end of the day's walk
The thing that keeps us going above
everything is the donations people are making towards the two charities we are
raising money for – Children’s Hospice SW and Cornwall Aid Ambulance. Today we
have topped the £3500 mark. If you haven’t yet sponsored us, it would be great
if you would – the link is here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/doublesteve
A reminder of why we are doing this - the Children's Hospice SW shop in Tavistock
All in all, another good day. A real
sense of progress, and growing confidence that we can complete the journey as
planned.
For those interested you can see today’s
route here: Map
of route
Some people have asked for details of
the whole of our route. It is difficult to post the route in great detail. An outline of the plan is below. However please understand this is very much
provisional and we will be taking it a day at a time:
Monday 16th – Dartmoor Inn to
Longdown. Across Dartmoor
Tuesday 17th – Longdown to
Honiton. Through Exeter
Wednesday 18th – Honiton to
Crewekerne
Thursday 19th – Crewekerne to
Shaftsbury
Friday 20th – Shaftsbury to
Salisbury
Saturday 21st – Salisbury to
Kings Sombourne
Sunday 22nd – Kings Sombourne
to South Wonston (half day)
Monday 23rd – South Wonston -
Odiham
Tuesday
24th – Odiham to Woking (along canal)
Wednesday 25th - Woking to
Richmond (along canal)
Thursday 26th – Richmond to
Westminster
In our hi-viz jackets, which were donated by Tony Goodman and his company Tevy
