2nd & 3rd August - Dingwall

Day 7 & 8 - 31st July/1st August

At the end of Day 7 - 31st July David and Ryan were picked up at Alness at about 7.20pm by Eileen and Graham who live near the Muir of Ord. Eileen got in contact with David after reading about the walk in the Manorlands newsletter . (They lived in Keighley about 20yrs ago)
Eileen and Graham gave the lads a bed not only on Thursday night but Friday also which allowed David and Ryan the chance to have a well deserved day off from walking (end of day 7 and about 101 miles so far). They were throughly looked after, had cloths washed, were well fed, not just by Eileen but also by friends that they were taken to visit, they were taken on the Friday to Rosemarkie (across the bay from Fort George and north of Inverness) where they watched and filmed dolphins. On Saturday morning...not to early Eileen took the 2 back to where she picked them up on Thursday night (minus the rucksacks which she took onto the campsite at Dingwall) ready to start walking again.

End of Day 5

5 days in and about 70 miles walked so far.
at least 1 phone appears to have died and the power monkeys are not working as well as they should...a number of us have had snatched conversations with either David or Ryan over the last few days and all seems reasonably well so far..apart from a split water bladder and a split in the tent bag (not the tent) the first night - these needed repairing and so delayed the start of day 2, not many miles done that day.
Ryan I believe has a number of blisters and there has been text messages about a pulled muscle but as they have walked nearly 20 miles today things can't be that bad.
They have camped in someones garden one night and with Davids chemistry teacher and family another night...bacon butties for breakfast - luxury! (they are on a camping holiday in the area and somehow found David and Ryan) more photos on the flickr map ...
Thanks to Martin Black for emailing us the photographs

David and Ryan sent a check in signal tonight at 8.48pm via the "SPOT satellite personal tracker" this shows they are near Culmaily so about 70miles down around 540 to go
...linda lewis

Day 1 - Friday 25th July

The 1st 20miles or so to the camp site at Wick. From the youth hostel at John 0’ Groats which is actually at Canisbay - (6 miles away) to John O’ Groats - then along A99 to Nybster and onto to the campsite at Wick.

Tracking

here is the link to the web page that will track David and Ryan
each time they send a signal to checking in.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots

the 1st on was yesterday from our garden to test

Only 3 days to go before they set off for John O Groats.
They are due to set off Wednesday morning at around 5am from home, 1st train from Keighley is at 5.30...or 6 if they miss that
They are booked on the7.10am Leeds to Edinburgh
11.36 Edinburgh to Inverness
and 17.53pm Inverness to Thurso - due in about 21.46 where they are being picked up by Helen and Ian who have offered to put them up for the night, feed them and take them the remaining 28 miles to John o Groats the next day. Thanks to both Helen and Ian and their family.

Strontian

View Larger Map

Bothy Crawl

less than 4 weeks to go now till David and Ryan set off for John O Groats -
This morning they set off with a group from school for a week of walking around Strontian on the borders of Ardnamurchan.
The route over the next week will take them northwards towards Polloch on Loch Shiel, then westwards along the shores of Loch Shiel towards Acharacle, then across the northan shores of Ardnamurchan to Kilmory.
They hope to climb Beinn Resipol on the way and to cross the Clasish Moss , a designated National Nature reserve.
They should be back late evening Sat 5th July leaving only 18days to go before they set off for the tippy toppy top of mainland Scotland and the long long walk home.

Keighley News Story

Duo to walk home from John O’ Groats

By Alistair Shand

Comment

David Lewis, left, and Ryan Mitchell, students at Oakbank School, Keighley, will walk more than 600 miles from John O'Groats to Keighley to raise money for Manorlands

Two teenagers are to walk from John O'Groats to Keighley to raise money for Manorlands.

David Lewis and Ryan Mitchell, both 17 and pupils at Oakbank School, will tackle the marathon trek this summer.

They have called the challenge "We will walk 500 Miles", but the route is actually closer to 610 miles. The duo hopes to cover 20 miles a day..................continue...follow this link

http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/search/display.var.2336164.0.duo_to_walk_home_from_john_o_groats.php

journey and training

The walk itself will take around 4-5 weeks of their 6-week holiday and promises to be one of the most difficult things they have ever done. They plan to camp for the majority of the trip to keep costs down and profits for the hospice up. This unfortunately again, makes it even harder as they have to carry a tent plus most of their food and water maps and all of their clothes. To help cope with this they have been training both in the gym and out in the weather since last November. The first outdoor camping training was a two-day walk and camp during the school holiday at Easter, with the first day taking them over both Pen-y-Ghent and Fountains Fell carrying full equipment. The next challenge was, “The Three Peaks Challenge” taking them over Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough within 12 hours, which they completed just inside the time limit. Training will peak at a full week worth of walking around Scotland carrying a full pack.

Why David and Ryan are doing this

quote from David....
"I have myself experienced first hand over the last 2 years, this brilliant service.
My Father was diagnosed in June 2006 with terminal secondary brain cancer along with a complicated metabolic disorder. From the beginning Manorlands have been an amazing source of support to him and the rest of our family, both practical and mental support. During the last 2 years My Dad when at his worst spent 3 months as in inpatient in Manorlands, remarkably, wonderfully, he survived and has been in remission since the spring last year. Manorlands has continued their care and he attended as a day care patient for some time.

The services I was, and still are particularly impressed with are, The Homecare Service, The Day Centre and the newly established, Young Persons’ Support Group. I was among the first few people to attend the Young Persons Support Group last year and I found it a very useful asset to have when times were at their worst. Basically, it is a place where young people of similar experiences can meet up and have fun and exchange experiences and support each other. So far we’ve been kayaking, clay modelling and have visited a local fire station among other things."

Hello everyone
I'm starting by sending you all a message from my son David
who is spending the summer school holiday, with his friend Ryan, walking far more miles than I can think about
It's all to raise funds for Manorlands Hospice .....
(where John -my husband and Davids DAD - spent 3 months at the end of 2006)

the staff at Manorlands have been...and still are... the most marvelous people I know and our lives over the last 18-months or so , particularly Johns of course, would have been very different.....

I hope you will consider sponsoring David and his mate Ryan.

I will use this blog to keep you all up to date with their progress


Happy summer, love to all Linda

*** David wrote: ***

Hello,

We're organising and taking part in (in fact it's just the 2 of us, tents and backpacks) the "We Would Walk 500 Miles" (note from me...it's actually nearer 610 miles)-
John o Groats to Keighley starting out on 23/07/2008
to raise money for Sue Ryder Care Manorlands Hospice and would really welcome your support.

Please take a moment to sponsor us. It's really easy - you can donate online by credit or debit card at the following address, there's the majority of the details on there, but any queries give me a shout or drop me an email: p3ac0ck@googlemail.com


http://www.justgiving.com/wewouldwalk500miles

All donations are secure and sent electronically to Sue Ryder Care. If you are a UK taxpayer, Justgiving will automatically reclaim 28% Gift Aid on your behalf, so your donation is worth even more. Please join us in supporting Sue Ryder Care and a fabulous cause.

If you believe this is worthwhile could you please, please, please also pass this message on so we can raise as much as possible. Maybe even put the widget on your facebook.