Hull to London by canoe
Page creator: Timothy Taylor
Page closes: 2nd Aug 2008
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The Trent after recent flooding?
About the charity : AbleChildAfrica AbleChildAfrica
AbleChildAfrica exists to improve the lives of the estimated 50m children and young people who are living with disability in Africa. We do this by supporting partner organisations to carry out life changing work with them. We think disabled children and disabled young people should be allowed to decide what changes they would like to see, so we make sure that the organisations which we work with actively involve disabled children and young people in their decision making. We have been working in East Africa for the past twenty years and during that time have affected the lives of over 250,000 disabled children and young people. We are currently working in Uganda and Kenya and hope to expand our work to other African countries in the future. The programmes we run include rehabilitative healthcare, inclusive education, parents support groups, children's after school clubs and campaigning work which seeks the full inclusion of disabled children and disabled young people in policy and practice everywhere we work.
Charity Registration No 326859
Fundraising target:  £1,000.00
Donations so far:  £ 1,020.00
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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 AbleChildAfrica. Please note that we are also collecting for the Teenage Cancer Trust 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/canoetrip.

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!

AbleChildAfrica are a really worthy cause and deserve your money. They provide assistance to children with both mental and physical handicaps in Africa. Quite aside from the unimaginable hardships they have to suffer there is still a massive stigma attached to being disabled in Africa and these kids really need your support. Please dig deep. If you would like to know more their home page is www.ablechildafrica.org.uk

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: AbleChildAfrica 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.
Display Name Date Amount Tax Bonus  Comment
Jonathan Steer 12/09/2007 £10.00 £2.82 great work sailor 
Bonnie H 10/09/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Good work Tim! 
Maraduke Fortescque III 10/09/2007 £125.00 £35.26 Well done lads, well bl**dy done 
Erica & Sam 10/09/2007 £20.00 £5.64 Are you guys still alive???? Amazing!  
steve and sandra button 09/09/2007 £20.00 £5.64 an astonishing achievement ,tim.we`ll never underestimate you again!! 
Pinto 06/09/2007 £10.00 £2.82 HAve you got to paddle back to return the canoes? 
Nicholas Wood 06/09/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Keep paddling Tim & Alan. Lantern figs are Mega!! 
Nicholas Wood 04/09/2007 £5.00 £1.41 Welldone Tim ans Alan, William and I are following your progress 
anon 03/09/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Good luck boys 
Emma Taylor 30/08/2007 £25.00 n/a Teenage Cancer trust made their target figure, so I'm donating my other half here! 
emma 30/08/2007 £25.00 n/a superstars the both of you! 
Mark Reynolds 30/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64  
Niobe Harris 29/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Christine & Ros are justifiable very proud of you both. 
Fred Normandale 28/08/2007 £50.00 n/a Well done At least it's downhill!!!! 
Ivy Johns 25/08/2007 £10.00 n/a  
Nicholas Wood 23/08/2007 £25.00 £7.05 Hi Tim. Don't know Alan but I'm sure that he's a fantastic guy like you too. Safe voyage to you both 
sarah livesey 23/08/2007 £15.00 £4.23 Good Luck Tim 
graemesmith 23/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82  
Carole Taylor 22/08/2007 £50.00 n/a Keep dry please 
Helen & Darren Smith 20/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Good luck again! 
MadmanMarkA 19/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64  
Emilt Trenholm 19/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Good luck you lunatics!! 
David Simpson 17/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64 It is this kind of foolhardy adventure that once made this once-great nation great. Good luck boys. 
alex 14/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82  
Bucket 14/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Good Luck 
Mike Thornley 14/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64 Take this boon. But I want to see a 360 as you cross the finish line....a 360 that you intended! 
Chris Riley 09/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 Stupid boy!! 
roger 07/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 I'm not offering to navigate to Africa! 
Arnold Taylor and Gladys Burnley 07/08/2007 £100.00 n/a Timothy,we'll send you a food parcel-grandma and grandpa 
Silas Taylor 07/08/2007 £50.00 £14.10 Where's that finr dinghy of mine you guys used on the Ouse??? 
douglas 07/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64 we'll see you in docklands! good luck 
Curd Burglar 07/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64 The security market is booming so I have whey too much money - here is a small portion. 
Steve & Chris 06/08/2007 £50.00 £14.10 Be safe 
Alex Booth 06/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82  
Cyra and family 05/08/2007 £50.00 £14.10 Good Luck boys!! xx 
Simon 03/08/2007 £50.00 £14.10 Here you are- a triple brace of braces by a brace of double braces, with a brace of quids added. GL 
Timothy Taylor 03/08/2007 £20.00 £5.64  
Ros 03/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82  
anon 03/08/2007 £10.00 £2.82 good luck! 
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*Total donated online: £970.00
Amount raised offline: £50.00
Gift Aid plus supplement: £200.26
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