Over the years I have helped organise or coxed lots of river trips from Lechlade to Teddington but never actually skiffed the distance myself. As I am 50 this year, I decided, with help and encouragement from my friends to try and do something about it and raise some money for a good cause at the same time. The aim is to do the trip in sections in traditional Thames skiff - think "Three Men in a Boat". The other members of the crew will change as the trip goes on and so I get to spend time with lots of people; the key thing is that I have to do the lot! The aim is to finish the trip in time for my birthday in September.

So far I have done the first 50 miles, from Lechlade to Benson and am planning on starting the next section on 1st May. For the first part of the trip there were more people on the land party accommpanying me, sitting in pubs, waving as I went past in the rain and generally having a good time, than there were on the water. This shows no sign of changing so please feel free to give me a call, find out where we are and join us at any time. If your someone I've coxed or skiffed with and you fancy getting into the boat with me for a bit let me know as well.

Please help, the hospice is a wonderful place and the more money I can raise to help it support children and their families the better.

I really hope you will be able to help raise money for a great cause!

26th April,

Thank you to all those who have sponsored me so far - this is fantastic! Just doing the final bits of planning for the next stage of the trip, starting on Saturday 1st May at Benson Boatyard. This time there is just one boat in the group and I will be skiffing with some combination of Dave, Ellen, Nick Dawes and Chris Ramsay. We hope to cover quite a few miles before we stop on Monday lunchtime but there is not as much stream as there was at Easter and, as the weather's good we might have to cope with a bit of river traffic as well. I'll let you know how we get on.

 

Weather over the Bank Holiday weekend wasn't as kind as it might have been. We made good progress on Saturday and were joined for lunch by Sarah and Glenn and my Dad at The Swan in Pangbourne (where the three men in a boat gave up and took the train home!). Sunday was a dreadful day, cold and wet and the river was a mass of waves - it was like the sea; but Nick and I managed to keep going for the day and we all celebrated by visiting every pub in Wargrave, where we were staying! Sunday was much better but there were still enough rough bits for me to end up with my knuckles bruised and bleeding and we lost one crew member as we passed Marlow Regatta where the Walton Rowing Club eight had realised they were one man short for their afternoon race! The rest of us carried on and made it to Maidenhead whilst the eight were collecting trophies for their event. More photos soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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