My story

BREAKING NEWS:  TIM AND ALAN COMPLETED THEIR TRIP ON MONDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER. Many thanks for all of your support over the last few weeks it has been greatly appreciated. We arrived on Monday tired but delighted to have been able to complete the trip without serious incident. Thanks again for all of your support.

Dear all, thank you for visiting Tim and Alan's fundraising page for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Please note that we are also collecting for AbleChildAfrica and if you would rather your sponsorship money went to them, or you would like to give to them as well, you can go to http://www.justgiving.com/canoetrip2.

The trip will involve setting out from Hull on 26 August 2007 and attempting to canoe from Hull to London via the Humber, the Trent, the Soar, theGrand Union Canal and the Thames. Its over 300 miles and 250+ locks for us to carry our canoe around. To the best of our knowlege no one has ever canoed this route before. We hope to finish at Tower Bridge on 12 September. We will be camping out by the river during the trip and trying to raise sponsorship in any pubs or bars we pass, as well as avoiding the perils of dehydration by having a quick pint so as to be friendly!

The Teenage Cancer Trust is a great charity and does some really important work, if you want to know more about them you can click on this link to visit their homepage www.teenagecancertrust.org/.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: the Teenage Cancer Trust will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor us now!

Many many thanks for your generous support.

Tim Taylor and Alan Johns

**********LATEST NEWS COURTESY OF TIM'S DAD**********

WEDNESDAY 29 AUGUST

Pleased to report continued excellent progress.Tim and Alan left Torksey (where they had camped on the river bank under a ruined castle) at about 6 am yesterday.They arrived at Sutton on Trent lunchtime and reached their destination of Cromwell Lock by 5pm.BWB have facilities there and they were enjoying a shower when I spoke to them.They were going to a pub in Cromwell village to watch the football.I hope they showered their footwear.All they have are rubber canoe shoes which were squelching with mud when I last saw them.

 They are now out of the tidal reaches of the Trent but face the new challenge of carrying their canoes and gear round the locks (250 before London).They hope to get past Newark today,continuing until early evening when we are going to meet them with clean clothes and food.It is a testament to what they have achieved that it will take us over an hour to drive to them on the motorways.
THURSDAY 30 AUGUST
Pleased to report continued good progress.The boys reached Gunthorpe last night and will make a big push to clear Nottingham today.It was 83 miles by road from South Cave,downriver of Humber bridge, to get to them.As you will see from the attched they are in good shape but VERY stiff.We thought they would appreciate a meal,which they did-4 peices of bread each when it arrived followed by a 3 course meal.However we then learnt that they had had fish and chips - for "breakfast" and a pub lunch.Great progress and excellent weather but portage round the locks will become an increasing problem.We will next see them on Sunday.
FRIDAY 31 AUGUST
 
The boys had a tough day yesterday with a strong headwind and also a strong current against them.However they achieved their goal of getting through Nottingham,although they didn't have a map and as it is an Industrial area didn't know if they had cleared Nottingham or not.In fact they ended up camping in a field,shared by sheep,about 2 miles upstream of Beeston lock.This means they are closer to Trent lock than they had anticipated(about 3 miles away) where they leave the Trent and head due South on the river Soar.Life should then be a little easier.They have not had a shower (or I suspect a wash) for 2 days so I do hope they will arrange this before going to a pub. Next few days will take them down through Loughborough to join the Grand union canal at Leicester
MONDAY 3 SEPTEMBER
In contrast to the huge expanse of the Humber estuary and the dangerous tidal waters and commercial shipping lanes of the Trent the boys are now travelling through the peaceful countryside South of Leicester on a small branch of the Grand Union canal.A quick transit of the river Soar saw them at Barrow upon Soar on Friday night (grotty camp site) and Ayelstone Saturday night.
 By yesterday afternoon they had reached Pywells lock and had a visit from the full parental support teams.As nobody ,least of all the canoeists, had any idea where Pywells lock was this proved to be challenging exercise,compounded by the fact that the nearest road was closed to traffic.They were eventually found near to the village of Fleckney.They are in good shape,indeed noticeably broader shouldered than when they started!
 If you have any interest in following their progress then there is an excellent mapping system on the BWB leisure site www.waterscape.com If you look at that you will see that at this point the canal seems to consist more of locks than water.Thanks yet again therefore to Rod Dubber of Wet and Wild in Hull without whom this trip would not have been possible.He has supplied some special trolleys which will enable the boys to wheel their canoes round the locks - although of course that means more weight to transport.
They remain on schedule but will have to work hard to get to Tower bridge for the 12th September.
THURSDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER

Herewith some pictures taken by Alan's dad at Stoke Bruerne on Tuesday.Looks a great place.Last night the boys got to Milton Keynes.Their report was very brief.Clearly they have been going flat out and are seriously exhausted.However today they were intending to get to Leyton Buzzard by lunchtime where they are going to be looked after by some friends which will hopefully sort them out. The navigational planning of this exercise has always been a bit of a grey area but apperently the canal system is not quite as anticipated so that the distance to destination is less.This coupled with the rapid progress means they are hoping to reach Tower bridge late Monday afternoon.Two days ahead of schedule.They are expecting to be bought a few beers! Mission Control

My gallery 1

My Teams

My company

My charity

Teenage Cancer Trust

Teenage Cancer Trust

Charity Registration No. 1062559

Every day in the UK, six teenagers are diagnosed with cancer. At Teenage Cancer Trust, we understand that cancer doesn’t stop these teenagers being teenagers. We know that young people have a much better chance if they are treated by teenage cancers experts, in an environment tailored to their needs. So we have created specialist units that aren’t like ordinary cancer wards. Everything about them has been designed to give teenagers the very best chance of a positive outcome. And we want every young person with cancer in this country to have that chance.

Donations 51

congratulations TT, truly impressive stuff - especially the tache

Donation by Jonathan Steer on 12/09/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Well done guys!

Donation by Jude on 10/09/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Donation by Mark Adams on 10/09/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Best of luck TT! x

Donation by Laura Britten on 10/09/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

I thought I would leave it late just in case!

Donation by Uncle Ed on 09/09/07

£30.00

+ £8.46 Gift Aid

Jokers. Tim, I hope you're safer in a canoe than on skis!

Donation by Pinto on 06/09/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

T-bag your unutter muppet, but i wish you all the luck to get there and not drown

Donation by claire on 06/09/07

£10.00

Go paddle your own canoe

Donation by Bruce Smith on 05/09/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Brilliant Tim, William and I are following your progress

Donation by Nicholas Wood on 04/09/07

£5.00

+ £1.41 Gift Aid

Go Tim!

Donation by Jenny on 03/09/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Good luck boys

Donation by anon on 03/09/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Donation by anonymous on 30/08/07

£10.00

Good luck Alan - don't get too wet!

Donation by PLC on 29/08/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

I'm seriously impressed guys. Good luck with the rest of the journey!

Donation by Katharine Talbot on 29/08/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Good luck with your "elaborate adventure in the name of charity general japes" (Ros' words)

Donation by Andrew D (I work with Ros) on 29/08/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Good luck Tim - if all else fails, swim

Donation by Alex Reynolds on 29/08/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Good Luck, Alan! Looking forward to seeing you meeting Ken Livingstone when you reach London!!

Donation by Sally (Purley L.C.) on 28/08/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Paddle on Tim! Good work

Donation by Adam Bosman on 27/08/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Best of luck. Nutters... :)

Donation by Dave Wood on 26/08/07

£10.00

+ £2.82 Gift Aid

Donation by Bill Johns on 26/08/07

£20.00

Donation by Ivy Johns on 25/08/07

£10.00

:)

Donation by maki on 25/08/07

£10.00

Go for it Tim - prove them wrong!

Donation by Charlie's Dad on 24/08/07

£20.00

+ £5.64 Gift Aid

Good Luck Alan

Donation by Ian and Vivienne on 24/08/07

£30.00

+ £8.46 Gift Aid

Can't beat 3 weeks on the rivers of England with a couple of oars Hyper Hyper

Donation by Nick Wood on 23/08/07

£25.00

+ £7.05 Gift Aid

Donation summary

  • * Online donations£1,135.00
  • Offline donations£45.00
  • Text donations£0.00
  • Total raised£1,180.00
  • Gift Aid£260.90

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