Do JustGiving take any of your donation?

I have been asked whether any of the cash you so kindly donate ends up in the pockets of the JustGiving people?

Fair question!

Here's what happens when you make a donation of £10:
(Based on information on their web-site here JustGiving)

You donate     £10.00
+ Gift Aid reclaimed on your behalf    £ 2.82
Total Donation  £12.82

JustGiving 5% fee     £0.64
Credit card fee @ 1.3%     £0.13
Total cost to your charity     £0.77

Your charity gets     £12.05

*Debit card (17p) *PayPal (1.45%)

So the answer is yes it does and some ALSO ends up with your credit card company. But by using JustGiving, the charity normally gets more than you originally donated! Fair deal!

A common myth!

It is a popular belief that the Coast to Coast route crosses England at its widest point.

A quick look at a map will show that the accepted route is much shorter and thank goodness for that too! It is still about two hundred miles but the path is selected primarily because it is rewarding to walk and doesn't bring the walker into conflict with private-land owners.

Myth busted!

Please sponsor me!

So I have decided. Outward Bound is the charity I'd like to sponsor.

When I was very young, a charity paid for me to attend an Outward Bound course and I really do think it changed my life. I'd like to give other young people the same opportunity. Please give whatever you can afford via my JustGiving page at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Simon-Oliver0

Someone will be very glad you did!

Thanks
Simon

Training walk number 1

So a nice little training walk in the drizzle. Yum! This is where the training really has to start. 6 weeks and counting. . . . 

Thought I'd better try out my new rucksack and boots and walk some strength into my legs.

It turned out to be a very drizzly and muddy 10 miles of squelch.To my shock and horror, my legs didn't want to work when I got out of the car on getting home! After just 10 miles! Oh very dear! I'd better get training harder or I'm in serious trouble in April!

 Here's some pictures.

Yes, I really did do the hike! 

 And the clouds were just about skimming the tops of the trees.

But just in case I had forgotten, here's proof that spring is nearly here.

And more proof. . . 

Yup! I really was there. 

I realised my camera balances really well on fence posts and has a self-timer!

Seemed pretty at the time.

Turns out I had gone too far along the North downs way and though it was reassuring to see the 'tombstone' below, it was also a complete red-herring. I had to back-track a quarter of a mile! Drat! I wonder what someone chiselled out of the stone in both places? Kilometres perhaps?

 It was far to wet and boggy to put my rucksack down on the ground so had lunch 'on a style' just near here. To my surprise, after not having seen a soul all day, another lonely walker came tramping out of the woodland the other way; and wanted to get over the style. Timing! Life is all timing! I said 'Hi!', he looked at my sandwich, muttered 'Nice!' and carried on walking. Have I joined a club for the socially challenged? Suddenly I'm feeling uncomfortable!

I have not idea what this was all about. I think I strayed into a mountain biking circuit since there were other similar locations all around!

And this is what it was like an awful lot of the time. Boot-sucking, squelching mud! Slippery and very hard to wade through! Is this really fun?

By the time I past these little chaps it was gone 5pm and was getting dark. They had gone to sleep for the night! I should most certainly have got started sooner!

Clouds hugging the hills I just came from. I'd about had enough anyway! Time for home.

Sponsorship. . .Maybe. . .

You know, I'm inclined to go for sponsorship. There are a lot of people in this world that could do with a little bit of a helping hand, and who knows one day I may be one of them. Also, if I ask you all to sponsor me, then I'm going to look like a complete loser if I quit when things get tough (or boring!). So I just need to find a charity that makes my heart go 'yes'! Feel free to suggest. I'm in ponder mode!

So to Charity or Not to Charity. . . That is the question?

To go a-wandering all alone for the pleasure of a-wandering all-alone! Or to make a few pounds for those in need while I'm at it? That is the question! Would you sponsor a guy to spend two weeks hiking? Hmmm.... To ask for sponsors or not? What do you think?

Its all booked. I'm on my way. . .soon!

Accommodation is all booked and I have my train tickets in my pocket. April 5th to April 21st. Pray for nice weather! Here I go! .....