Timothy Taylor
Hull to London by canoe
Fundraising for Able Child Africa
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 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.