Days completed: 125

Miles walked: 1556

Donations to my charities: £7,540.63p

For Jon Kay's BBC TV News Interview, go here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7403220.stm

Friday 4 July 2008

Well, he's done it. Twenty-five miles today in eight hours of walking and tonight he is sleeping in the shadow of 'the Ben' - Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain - which he plans to climb tomorrow. Colin Snook climbed it today - well done Colin! - and when I spoke to Seb just after five the two of them had not yet managed to meet up, but hopefully this will happen before they leave Fort William. Seb's phone had been off all day to conserve the battery, and plans by Colin's Team to intercept him (Seb) as he came off the passenger ferry were thwarted when he decided earlier in the day not to risk the foot ferry in case it wasn't running, so he came across at Corran instead and walked up the A82 missing them completely. He survived the A82, but I think he's planning a new campaign when he gets back - taking cars off some of the people out there who simply shouldn't be let loose behind the wheel...one or two hairy moments, but not as bad as it might have been.

Tomorrow he plans to climb Ben Nevis with Ashley and colleague - I hope the weather's kind and we get some good photos from the summit. Seb had rain early in the day today, but was sat on a bench at the foot of the mountain in glorious sunshine when we spoke this evening, fighting off the midges. On the whole he has escaped these nasty little beasties, but I guess it was inevitable that they would catch up with him eventually.

A cheque arrived in the office today from Weymouth Rotary enclosing £500 towards Seb's charities - a welcome boost to the fundraising. I haven't added it on to the total yet as I keep getting ahead of our official treasurer and so I've promised not to add things on until I get the officially updated accounts each week. There was also an invitation to go and talk to the Rotary when he gets back, which I'm sure Seb will be only too pleased to do. Thank you, Rotarians, much appreciated!

Thursday 3 July 2008

On the first hot day in ages, as Seb headed south and then east towards Fort William today, putting another 25 miles on the clock and a further 4000 feet of ascent under his belt, there was all sorts of wheeling and dealing going on in the background. I had been endeavouring to get sponsorship for his mobile phone which eats into his support fund and having been totally unsuccessful with one of the major providers whose best offer was £15 of credit on a PAYT (which he already has) I was feeling pretty despondent. Then, as often seems to happen these days, a knight in shining armour, this time in the shape of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, came leaping to our rescue with an offer of a contract phone for the duration of the walk. This is a huge boost for Seb, and he is just one of many participants that the Award supports in a variety of ways to enable them to complete their Award through its' Jubilee Fund. Many thanks to Elaine and Ken in Windsor for a wonderful piece of lateral thinking and such practical support!

It was also a good day for messages - we heard from Jon Kay at the BBC with a promise of fish and chips at some future meeting place, from Seb's former compatriots at the Weymouth WOW Youth Musical Theatre wanting to know if he's singing as he goes (he was a very active member for a number of years until his voice broke) and our Lord Lieutenant here in Dorset was also enquiring after him. And another potentially exciting event is that it appears that Seb will arrive in Fort William on the same day as Colin Snook, a 72 year-old gentleman who is walking round Britain in the opposite direction to Seb for a charity called CLIMB (www.climb.org.uk) - and they both have ambitions to take a 'day off' to climb Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis. We are hoping to organise a meeting between the two who must be amongst the oldest and youngest members of the Round Britain Club - and what a photo opportunity on the top!

Seb needs an early start tomorrow as he has a whopping 25 miles to complete again if he is to reach his planned destination of the campsite in Glen Nevis by early evening, and the last ferry across to Fort William goes at 1635. There are later ferries from Carron, farther south, but crossing there will mean a hairy walk up the A82 in the gathering dusk, and with no footpath to follow this is not a good idea. Based on recent performances I am confident he will make it with time to spare, but I shall be pleased to know he has arrived safely.................

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Not a lot to report this evening - Seb has made steady progress today having opted for the scenic route to Fort William which has taken him south through Arisaig and then west again along the southern edge of Loch Ailort. He has covered about 20 miles today - not quite as far as he hoped but after that huge distance yesterday I'm not surprised he opted for an earlier finish. He was already tucked into a wild camp by the time we spoke just after six - he loves his new tent - although identical in size and shape to his last one the more robust material actually breathes better than the ultralight version and he is experiencing less problems with condensation. He has two long days ahead of him to reach Fort William this weekend - about 23 miles each day - but he hopes to get there in time to drag Ashley (Award Leader from Dorset) up Ben Nevis on Saturday or Sunday. Ashley thinks I've set him up - he had anticipated a pleasant stroll along the banks of some scenic Scottish Loch with Seb and now finds himself gearing up for an ascent of the Ben. Ashley - how could you think such a thing? As if.........

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Well, what an extraordinary day! I was just starting to get a little twitchy because Seb's phone was ringing but he wasn't answering when, at five to nine this evening, he rang me on my other line having just arrived in camp. It transpires that he left Applecross this morning yet again in steady rain and after a few miles he was exceedingly fed up when two (I think) guys pulled up in a car and offered him a lift. He agonised for a few moments as the rain dripped steadily down his neck and he suddenly thought 'why not, just this once' and jumped in. They ran him 30 miles down the road (he'd already done 6) and dropped him short of Kyle of Lochalsh to continue on his way. He says it was an incredibly uplifting experience, cheered him up no end and motivated him into putting in one of his longest days yet. Once he had crossed on to Skye he enquired about ferry times from Armadale to Mallaig, discovered there was one just after half six and off he went, pouring on the miles in a bid to get there in time to get back to the mainland tonight instead of camping on Skye as planned. Having done 6 miles in the morning this leg was an incredible 25 miles from where he was dropped off, but he says he just felt really good, the rain had stopped, and decided to go for it. The mileage I've added to his total above does NOT include the 30 miles by car...... Once back on the mainland he staggered a further couple of miles to Morar and is camped on an unofficial site with loads of other people close to a stunning white sand beach having physically walked 34 miles in 12 hours. He feels great and has his sights firmly set on Fort William by the weekend and possibly Ben Nevis on Saturday!

This photo was sent to me today by Margaret, one of the birdwatchers Seb meet earlier in the week. To me it captures the essence of Seb's Odyssey - the lonely figure on the road through the Highlands.

Monday 30 June 2008

Okay okay, my mapreading failed the test yesterday (in my defence I'd had a very long working weekend) and I managed to put the red dots in the wrong place, so my apologies to the residents of Applecross who must have been extremely disconcerted to find they had been relocated about ten miles south when they woke up this morning. I have now returned Applecross to its correct location.

Quite an exciting day off for Seb today. He collected his packages from the Post Office and is delighted with the new tent and clothing, the replacement lead for his solar charger, and Flash was pleased to see his larder replenished also. He (Seb, not Flash) was telling me all about it on the phone when our conversation was interrupted by the clatter of helicopter blades in the background, and not one, but two, small private helicopters proceeded to land on a small patch of land close to the nearby pub. Well, Seb was off like a... flash? to investigate, clutching one of his sea safety message cards which the RNLI sponsor to leave as a calling card. It turned out that the two tiny helicopters - smaller than our Dorset Police helicopter I'm told - were taking a small group of tourists on a flight over the area to see the sights and in no time at all Seb was airborne and being taken on a trip around the bay at the invitation of the group. Seb, as you can imagine, was made up, and rang back later to give me a blow by blow account of the trip and I think the career plan has now moved on a stage from simply 'joining the Marines' to 'joining the Marines and learning to fly helicopters'!

Seb moves on again tomorrow after a memorable stay in Applecross (and another 'free' campsite AND free access to the internet - thank you Applecross) with his sights firmly set on Fort William in the not-too-distant future where he plans a day off to climb Ben Nevis in passing (as you do...). I'm hoping one of our Award leaders from Dorset - Ashley - will catch up with him this weekend and deliver some of the letters written by children from one of the Primary Schools who are following his progress, and a printout of this 'blog' for him to read at his leisure. Ashley will hopefully bring back Seb's footage of the otter and I'll do my best to get it up on the website. Watch this space!

Sunday 29 June 2008

Is the weather never going to give him a break in this far-flung corner of our land? Such a shame that as he traversed what must be one of the most beautiful places on this planet he should again be dogged by relentless rain driven by strong winds across the hills, and yet, although by his own admission soaked to the skin, he sounded positively upbeat on the public phone tonight as he pumped in money, describing the swollen rivers and the water pouring down the track he was walking on. Friends who walked the West Highland Way with me in September 2000 will remember our second day when we too waded up tracks which poured water off the hills, so I certainly empathised today! However, Seb's day was brightened by something which has eluded me on my trips to Scotland - an otter, which came so close to him as he took a breather that he even had time to grab a photo and get some footage on his video camera and if Flash hadn't stood up when he did who knows what might have transpired! To say I am green with envy is an understatement, and I'm so pleased that on this otherwise foul day he had something to make him smile.

He's holed up now on another good campsite and has decided to stay put tomorrow to give him a chance to dry out and sort his kit as he will be picking up his 'goody' bags from the Post Office tomorrow - new waterproof (much needed by all accounts) and trousers donated by Cotswold Outdoors in Bournemouth, the new tent from Martin at West Dorset Leisure Holidays (discounted by Cotswold), and a re-supply of dog food from Dave at Healthy Pets in Blandford (kindly donated by Laughing Dog and Judge's Choice) so even Flash is catered for. Hopefully he will find a phone I can call him back on tomorrow and if the sun shines for a change maybe he'll get to see the glorious views.............

There has been a miniflood of messages today too - thank you, one and all - I know it will brighten Seb's day even more tomorrow when, hopefully, he'll get on-line somewhere to read them, as he often does on days off. If not, I shall read them out to him.

Saturday 28 June 2008

An awesome day today both in mileage and scenery as Seb headed on south along the shores of Loch Maree

under the looming presence of Slioch, through Kinlochewe and finally into the infamous Glen Torridon before completing his day in Shieldaig. He is truly in the wilds of Scotland now, greenflanked mountains sweeping down to the waterside in every direction, absolutely breathtaking scenery. He is camped on common land given over to camping tonight - no facilities but a 'PC' at the foot of the slope. He will miss the campsite in Gairloch where he appears to have been adopted and I understand they plan to continue to raise money for his charities even though he has now moved on! Have had to confess to him that there have been few new messages of support and encouragement over the last few days - he always asks! so if you're still out there fans, drop him a line! He really is lifted by messages from well-wishers and I suspect that mentally this current stage is tough - he's turned the corner and appears to be well on his way home if you look at the map, but the reality is he hasn't even reached the half-way point yet which is roughly Fort William.

I look forward to hearing from you.............

Friday 27 June 2008

Just a quick update to say Seb took a break today as he has access to shelter and as his dog food, tent and jacket can't be picked up until Monday at Applecross he has decided to stay put the extra day. They have had a very successful collection for him at the campsite where he is staying in Gairloch - thank you, all involved!

Thursday 26 June 2008

Well, what can I say! Within hours of posting last night's update Martin from West Dorset Leisure Holidays, Highlands End, Eype, Bridport, in Dorset had leapt to the rescue with an offer to sponsor a replacement tent for Seb, and with support from Cotswold Outdoors in Bournemouth (thank you Stuart and Paul) we despatched this afternoon not only a heavily discounted tent but also a brand new pair of trousers and a top of the range goretex jacket which they threw in for free! With the support of the post office in Applecross who are gearing up to receive dog food, parcels and now tents, everything is on its way to Scotland. An enormous thankyou to you all for your tremendous support. The original tent - shown here early in the walk - was donated by Cotswold and has now been replaced, thanks to Martin, with an identical tent but a more robust model. Seb weighed up the pros and cons of weight versus durability, and in the end concluded that carrying a a little extra weight made more sense than ruining another ultra-lightweight tent...

Seb, meanwhile,wasn't having quite such a good day because the weather was so dire that he abandoned his plans to head right up to the top end of Loch Ewe to explore the old coastal defences and headed instead straight down the road to Gairloch. The winds were strong again with huge gusts and driving rain and the thought of a full day on an exposed coast simply didn't appeal - and who can blame him. An eminently sensible move, so he was tucked up on a very pleasant campsite in Gairloch, free of charge and with the warden's sitting room at his disposal quite early in the day.

Let's hope his weather improves soon (although the wind is keeping the midges at bay!)

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Another 20 miles knocked off today but more downs than ups interestingly - not sure how that happens when he started by the sea and finished by the sea! 2339' of ascent and 2567'descent. Early in the day Seb's journey took him close to the famous Gruinard Island where anthrax experiments were conducted in World War II - the 1942 test was sanctioned amid fears the Germans might attack the UK with biological or chemical weapons. There is an interesting account of events on the following link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1457035.stm and it was nearly 50 years before the island was declared safe. Today it is a haven for wildlife due to the absence of man, and Seb encountered a group of ornithologists in a layby who were 'spotting' with their telescopes. The accompanying ladies recognised Seb and were engrossed in conversation with him when the magic words 'white-tailed sea eagle' were uttered and he found himself completely abandoned - stood up for a bird! Feeling somewhat abandoned Seb shouldered his rucksack and continued on his way, finally rolling into camp at Poolewe at about 4pm after an 8 hour day. During the Second World War, Aultbea, the tiny village just before Poolewe, became an important naval base when Loch Ewe was used as a strategic assembly point for convoys before they left for the dangerous route to Scandinavia and Russia - another point of interest for Seb's military history project - and his reason for stopping here overnight rather than pushing on to Gairloch.

One looming crisis is that the heavy winds of the last few days have taken their toll on Seb's ultralight tent and it is in danger of coming apart at the anchor points and guy attachments if there is another serious blow. Our concern would be if he is remotely camping in really bad weather and the tent fails to provide the shelter he needs. Just when everything seemed to be going swimmingly well!

I don't know how many of you have tried googling 'Seb Green' but it brings up an interesting array of articles now. I discovered this one last night on Shiptalk.com newsletter http://www.shiptalk.com/newsletter.html#instant under the title 'Instant Karma' which I thought was rather fun. If anyone spots any other good articles I haven't already included on the media page, please let me know!

And finally - we've placed an order for some souvenir clothing - adult hoodies and polo shirts, and children's t-shirts - with Seb's logo (Stay Safe, Stay Alive) on the front left chest, and I'm Supporting Seb with the website address on the back. Email me if you are interested in purchasing one of these unique items and I'll send you an order form!

Tuesday 24th June 2008

A new challenge every day and today certainly tested the teamwork. We discovered last night that in the storm Seb had lost his Ullapool map and, rather than 'waste' - his words, not mine - Support Fund money on a new map for the sake of a few kilometres, Seb decided to give it a go without a map. He has been experimenting with navigating without a map, testing his ability to commit routes to memory at the beginning of the day and then walking without referring to the map later on - just in case he should inadvertantly lose a map en route. The difference this time was, of course, that he didn't have the opportunity to study the map in advance, but he wanted to give it a go. I texted him clear but brief instructions with handrails, aiming points, distances and bearings (remembering he can only judge, not measure, distance). All went well for the first stretch but where he left the road to head straight up the mountain he was confronted with two six-foot high deer fences -um, they don't mark those on the map! He worked his way round the fences, got back on route and headed up the hill, attempting to follow the track I had seen marked on the map. Thus he discovered the downside of 'open access', because in Scotland there is no such thing as a public right of way and therefore no legal requirement to keep them up to scratch, and the track, although clearly defined on the map, was rarely used, overgrown and barely visible. But the system worked, and at 3pm I received a most welcome text to say he had safely crossed the ridge and had come onto his next map exactly where planned. Success! This was probably one of his biggest climbs to date with full pack - nearly 2000' in one hit - and the verdict? The track was a nightmare but the ascent? Piece of cake! All in all he walked over 20 miles today with 3000' of ascent and virtually the same amount of descent - a great achievement. Full phone signal at the campsite was an unexpected bonus and surprising considering the awesome backdrop of mountains. The site is named 'Northern Lights Campsite' - he lives in hope................

Monday 23 June 2008

Poor old Seb had an unexpectedly exciting couple of days off - I confess my heart sank into my boots when a text at 9am on Sunday said 'Tad drama here, great fun' so I was on the phone to him almost before the text alert had died away. It transpired that Ullapool was in the grip of a ferocious storm with gale force winds sweeping across the campsite causing a mass exodus of holidaymakers. John Williams had left his old frame tent - on its last legs by his own admission - for Seb to enjoy his days off in with instructions to consign it to the skip when he moved on. Sorry John - the tent didn't make it! At half seven in the morning the tired old legs gave up their struggle against the ferocious winds and imploded, enabling a great gust of wind to launch itself under the canvas whence it proceeded to hurl the entire structure skywards - with Seb still inside. Thank heavens for a 26kg rucksack! Fellow campers rushed to his aid and he was soon extricated from the whirling maelstrom - a rescue which was probably not made any easier by the fact that Seb of course was doubled up - laughing. Fortunately the only casualty appeared to be the dog lead which disappeared at the time but even that eventually turned up - in Seb's pocket.

So not quite the couple of days off he envisaged, but he has put the time to good use and has sorted out all of his kit and has done some extensive planning for the next week, not an easy task with the rugged profile of the coast here because some of the great inlets sweep so far inland that they disappear off the map before he's found anywhere to cross! Looks like he might have to resort to his road atlas on occasions for linking stretches. He doesn't seem daunted by the task however and seems to have everything pretty well thought out, with campsites sorted and he's even arranged to access the facilities at a nearby YHA on one of his wild camp nights.

A challenging stretch ahead - we'll keep you posted.

Saturday 21 June 2008

The longest day of the year and Seb completed a marathon today - literally, by completing a distance of just over 26 miles to bring him into Ullapool.

Virtually in the land of the midnight sun where he is now, daylight was never going to be an issue of course, but still a remarkable days journeying. The terrain is criss-crossed with lochs and rivers and he described the scenery as being more like Jurassic Park than Lord of the Rings, but admits he by and large kept his head down and just 'yomped' at about 4 miles an hour because he was so aware of the distance he had to cover. He says the last hill seemed to take forever even without a full pack, and I'm not surprised considering he climbed a total of three and a half thousand feet today.

The forecast for tomorrow is not good - heavy rain and strong winds - so a day off is proposed and he might even take two!

Friday 20 June 2008

A slightly longer day today than Seb planned with a bit of confusion over the pick-up point which resulted in him overshooting and then backtracking! The end result was a walk well over twenty miles long but as he is still without a full pack he seems to have taken it all in his stride. Tomorrow will be even longer, but he has decided then to take a 2 day break in Ullapool and to chill out a bit before getting back into his stride with a full pack once more, as John will return to Cheshire. It sounds like they have had an entertaining time together - John's big frame tent has taken a bashing from the relentless wind and copious amounts of rain and the door zips have given up so he and Seb climb in and out of the window now. The leaks are leaking more and more and apparently John and Seb have learnt to skirt around the worst of the puddles but Flash sees them as additional drinking water and just laps them up. I gather the tent is going in the skip when they've finished with it - how sad is that!

I wondered what the attraction was in Ullapool to persuade Seb to actually stay put for a couple of days, and tonight I discovered what it was - Kelly's Take Away! Apparently this is a new venture recently opened and Seb tells me that the food is 'spectacular' and that the chicken burger he had this evening was the best ever - high praise indeed from the world's greatest connoisseur of chicken burgers. He is delaying his start tomorrow morning to ensure he can pack away a large breakfast there before he embarks on one of his longest days yet (John will drop him back to today's finishing point after breakfast).

Thursday 19th June 2008

Seb left Scourie Guest House behind this morning and headed south after a most enjoyable stopover with Ken and Madeline and other guests. He says it was very comfortable and welcoming at Scourie so here's the link for you to go and have a look for yourselves! http://www.scourieguesthouse.btinternet.co.uk/accommodation.htm As he's not carrying a full pack at the moment thanks to John being available for support he made excellent time again today and as a consequence arrived at his pre-arranged pickup point a good two hours early, and decided to press on, adding an extra five miles and ending the day with a total of 24 miles ticked off. His route today took him through Dartmoor - sorry - Duartmore Forest, Kylestrome and across the bridge to Unapool and beyond.

Meanwhile back at the ranch Katie and I were at Dorchester Hospital setting up for a fundraiser in the canteen. Katie had been given lots of prizes for a tombola, and we also had postcards with Seb's picture and the Don't Quit poem, and we screened a selection of photos from the trip in a continuous slideshow. As always, Flash appeared to be the biggest crowd-puller! It was lovely to hear lots of people saying 'Oh look, it's the young man from the telly/Dorset Echo' and even better when they dug deep and made a donation. I abandoned Katie before the lunchtime rush (places to go, people to see...) but the latest news is that she had raised somewhere in the region of £200. Thankyou Katie!

The Support Group are in the process of ordering our first batch of merchandise which has been most generously underwritten by a donor to ensure we don't make a loss if the items don't sell. We have on offer Adult Hoodies at £20 - High quality navy blue hooded sweatshirts with embroidered front logo and ‘I’m Supporting Seb’ and website address on reverse.S 34”-36” M 38”-40” 42”-44” XL 46”-48” XXL 50”-52”

Also Children’s T-shirts £10 - Hard wearing royal blue T-shirts with embroidered front logo and ‘I’m Supporting Seb’ and website address on reverse. Age 7-8 Age 9-10

Let us know if you want to make an order - we'll post a picture and order form as soon as they are ready!

Tomorrow will be John William's last day in the area and Seb intends to make the most of the last day for a while without a full pack by pushing on to Lochinver along the coast, a route which will involve over 3000' of ascent on the way. We are most grateful to John for giving of his time, and wish him a safe journey home, and I know Flash will miss his airbed!

Wednesday 18th June 2008

Just a brief update this evening as I'm busy printing postcards to sell at the fundraiser at Dorchester Hospital tomorrow.

John dropped Seb off this morning and he picked up his route along the main road before turning up towards Tarbet on the coast where the ferry to Handa Island plies its trade in the summer, passing the large Loch nam Brac on the way. Seb describes this as real Lord of the Rings country, with lochs and lochans everywhere you look. From Tarbet he took the track which heads in a south westerly direction and this evening he is staying at the Scourie Guest House at the invitation of Ken and Madeline Stephens - an easy 11 mile day!

Tuesday 17th June 2008

Good news! Seb has returned safely from his three days up on Cape Wrath and is bubbling with enthusiasm after the experience.

He set off from Durness at about 9.30am on Sunday morning in no great hurry as the first ferry across the Kyle of Durness from Keoldale didn't leave until 11. When he got to the other side he got talking with one of the range wardens who told him to look out for a pair of golden eagles which were nesting in the area, so that raised his expectations - but unfortunately he didn't see them. (Flash was probably quite relieved I would imagine...) Understandably he wasn't told the exact location, and the RSPB guys he met didn't reveal it either! Seb had planned to take his time on this route, but incapable of walking slowly now he cracked on up the road through the ranges and reached the lighthouse much earlier than expected. This was the turning point, the last outcrop of Scotland's northernmost coastline, and the point he finally turned south to head home. Although rain had been forecast, and it was windy, the drizzle didn't set in until late afternoon, but it was a bleak, grey day, heavily overcast and unfortunately the photos taken at the lighthouse weren't brilliant (so here's a picture from the internet instead)

Cape Wrath is a bleak and desolate area but Seb was to find plenty to like about the place, in particular the drinking water which he says is the sweetest, purest water he has ever tasted. He abandoned his plan to camp near the lighthouse, and headed on down between two hills and then over another bigger one to a point just north of Sandwood Loch where he managed to find a sheltered spot to pitch his tent, and there he stayed for two nights, soaking up the remoteness and solitude of the area. Flash was in seventh heaven, off the lead for three days straight and free to explore this awesome landscape, but never far from his master's side. Seb was disappointed not to bump into Shonagh, the teacher from Lossiemouth, but he did fall over one of her school groups in the morning of his second day and they commiserated with each other after a damp night in steady drizzle. The beach at Sandwood Loch is beautiful and it was a great place to spend a day off exploring, crossing rivers on waterfalls, despite the inclement weather!

Today Seb struck camp early and headed south to meet John Williams who was walking in to meet him. They rendezvoused mid-morning and Seb was able to offload his full pack and made good use of this to burn off a few extra miles along the northside of Loch Inchard before finally stopping for the day by Loch na Fiacail. John then ran him down to Ullapool to camp tonight, and will run him back up in the morning for a shorter day to Scourie, where Ken Stephens and his wife have offered him B&B for the night.

More tomorrow!

Sunday 15th June 2008

No news as Seb heads up into the wilderness of Cape Wrath. We knew he was unlikely to have phone signal, and it may be Tuesday evening before we hear anything.

Saturday 14th June 2008

Just a brief update - another wet day today but Seb cracked on and once again was in awe of the stunning scenery. He had one big hill today - a climb of over 200' which he said was 'easy' - and a change of scenery with a visit to Smoo Cave which he says is spectacular.

Tonight he has shelter from the elements at the SYHA and tomorrow starts the first really remote section of the walk as he heads up towards Cape Wrath. Seb has stopped using the tracker for the time being - the weight is a bit of an issue when he is having to load up with extra food, water - and dog food of course - but I think for him carrying it has detracted from the sense of remoteness and isolation and that feeling of self-reliance that he seeks. He wants to pit himself against the wilderness, with minimal outside assistance, and the tracker doesn't allow him to do that because while he's carrying it he knows that if something does go wrong he only has to flick a switch and an alert will go out. Whilst it might give his Support Team peace of mind, it is affecting his enjoyment and sense of achievement, and we have to remember who the walk 'belongs' to.

So there may be no news for three days, but Seb will attempt to get a text out at least if there is any reception at all to let us know how he's getting on. John is relocating and plans, I believe to walk in a way to meet him on the third day. I hope the weather is kind, the scenery spectacular, and may Seb's every footfall be on solid ground...

Friday 13th June

Well, I'm relieved he's safely back tonight - not that I'm superstitious but Friday 13th wasn't the best day to be attempting a pretty 'wild' walk! He sounded in great form this evening having really put the new boots to the test across the top of Whiten Head or An Ceann Geal to give it its' Gaelic name. The day didn't start too well with some pretty heavy rain and wind and the route today was much wetter underfoot - he likened it to Fox Tor Mire on Dartmoor which many of you will recognise as the mire which inspired 'Grimpen Mire' in the Hound of the Baskervilles. He has learnt to recognise the deceptively beautiful spaghnum moss by it's vivid green colour and now knows that it conceals the really nasty bits! He fortunately decided to use his walking poles to test the going when he came to a particularly dubious stretch and was somewhat surprised when he pushed it easily straight down to full-length depth. Good job he didn't step in there then.....

His original plan today was to stop at Torr na Bithe just after he hit the road again, but was feeling good so cracked on roughly another five miles which means he has a good chance of making Durness tomorrow. I think, reading between the lines, the game plan is to attempt to get to Cape Wrath at roughly the same time as Shonagh, the teacher he stayed with in Lossiemouth, who will be up in the area with her school. I know he would love to meet up with them. Here are photos she took of Flash and Jinty, her dog, playing in the garden at Lossiemouth

Sue also brought some fantastic photos around today - I'm going to sort out a photo page soon but for now here are a couple to whet your appetite.

Had some exciting mail today when a whole envelope of letters arrived which had been written by the children in Years 5-6 of New Bewerley Community School in Leeds. Seb was really pleased when I told him and has asked me to send them up to Scotland for him to read in the evenings.

Thursday 12th June 2008

Seb has been chilling out today on a day off, but I couldn't wait to share this lovely photo of him taken at John o' Groats on 5th June. Details of how to order copies will be available soon, and the copyright owners, Courtwood Photographic Limited, have kindly donated 3 copies for Katie's fundraiser at Dorchester Hospital on 19th June. I'll move the photo down to the 5th June in a couple of days, but didn't want any of our regulars to miss it!

Wednesday 11th June 2008

Seb has had a really good day today and was very upbeat this evening - he is getting closer and closer to the wild and remote areas which will enable him to experience and savour true solitude, one man and his dog, self-sufficient and self-reliant. He was pleased to be able to spend more time off the roads today, and climb some real hills instead of pounding along the road, although the traffic he encounters has now dwindled to caravans and camper vans as he leaves civilisation behind. He says the scenery reminds him of the Yorkshire moors which he also enjoyed, but the heather is shorter here and easier to walk across, and the going underfoot not so wet. Once again he came across abandoned crofts, their rooms open to the sky, the roofs long gone. The wind had eased fortunately, making walking more pleasant, and he put a solid 18 miles behind him before he stopped at the end of the day. I think he said he was going to have a day off tomorrow (short-term memory loss - it's old age you know). I wondered if crossing the Kyle of Tongue had been another long bridge but apparently it's a causeway apart from a short bridge at the far end - reminiscent of home for him, thinking about the road across Chesil Beach to Portland.

Sue popped in to the office today with a copy of the photo taken at John o'Groats - did I mention that the signpost has to be specially installed for photo opportunities?(!) It is a stunning image taken on the most glorious of days with a smiling Seb and yes, a smiling Flash too I do believe. I am hoping to obtain permission to put a copy up on the website - watch this space!

Tuesday 10th June 2008

Hard to believe while we basked in sunshine down here in the south that once again Seb was battling the wind which was roaring in off the Atlantic and hitting him full in the face. The weather map showed it at 26 knots but Seb was certainly experiencing much stronger gusts and when he rang from the shelter of a bus stop I could hear the wind battering the roof and for all the world sounding like a howling banshee. To a certain extent Seb found it exhilerating to be out battling the elements and he says the scenery was absolutely stunning, but the wind certainly took some of the pleasure away and if it's as windy again tomorrow he will take a break and wait for it to ease off.

He spent a lot of the time on the road today because of the nature of the terrain but headed north at Armadale to explore the ruined village at Poulouriscaig and was fascinated by the small stature of the only croft still standing. The abandoned village lies between Armadale and Kirtomy. Four families originally lived there as a result of the “Clearances” in Strathnaver, but the last family moved out in the 1930’s.  From there he hugged the coast for a while before dropping back down to the road again in an attempt to escape the worst of the wind. He describes the terrain as similar to Dartmoor - open moorland, large areas of bog cotton and granite dominating the landscape. Tonight he is camped at Bettyhill and has successfully linked up with John - the site is in a significant dip so hopefully they will escape the worst of the wind and sharp showers.

Had an email from Kath and Ian today who met Seb on the road on 3rd June at Berriedale at the top of a very steep hill in pouring rain (see messages page). Here is Seb enjoying their hospitality!

Monday 9th June 2008

Well, Sue is heading back south as I type and we wish her a safe journey - she had to tear herself away in the end because she was having such a good time up there. Seb certainly enjoyed her company, but he is only on his own for 24 hours because tomorrow he will be joined by John Williams, Mick's father, who has kindly offered to support Seb as he enters the wilder part of his odyssey. John is camped on Chanonry Point tonight where Seb and I watched the dolphins last week - I'm really envious.

Seb walked 16 miles today and experimented with the new dog panniers, but unfortunately Flash is so slim and fit that they kept slipping. Sue tried to balance them by ensuring they were evenly weighted, and used her purse as ballast....... and there were major dramas at the far end when the purse was nowhere to be found! However, convinced it was in the panniers when he took them off and put them in his rucksack, Seb upended his rucksack and sure enough, there it was. Sue was remarkably calm about the whole affair - so who needs money? As she had already left her camera behind once and had to backtrack for it, it was no surprise when the third item went missing, because things always go in threes don't they? Number 3 was Seb's phone charger allegedly left on the back seat of Sue's car... I managed to catch her only 12 miles down the road but as she turned the engine off to commence searching, a follow-up phone call from Seb informed her that the rucksack upending trick had worked again and the phone charger was with him after all. Support is great, but the downside is that kit ends up all over the place and making sure it's all back in the rucksack at the end of the day is a nightmare. I went home with his poles last week, so I'm sure something will be lurking in Sue's car when she gets back to Dorset. Any excuse to head back north again......

Seb is still full of cold but he thinks it's slowly getting better - he certainly wasn't quite as husky this evening. He's still walking at a phenomenal speed - Sue tried to walk with him today and simply couldn't keep up. She abandoned her rucksack somewhere along the way to collect later to lighten her load, but she was aware that even then she was still holding Seb back so she submitted gracefully and hitched back to her car at lunch-time, instead of bussing back at the end of the day.

Those of you planning to walk with Seb in days to come had better start training now - you have been warned!

Sunday 8th June 2008

It rained overnight in the north of Scotland and while here in the south we baked under the summer sun, Seb was striding out on another grey and damp morning. By early afternoon however the cloud had burnt off and blue sky and sunshine lasted into the evening which hopefully will have attacked the head cold he is suffering from - quite the husky voice on the telephone this evening! Seb made Scrabster today, walking mainly on the road again but cutting back to the coast for the final stretch. Fields have given way to low, dense heather and he feels at last that he's getting into the wilder, remoter parts he is so looking forward to, with proper wild camping and nothing for company except the seals. the seabirds and,of course, Flash. John Williams will join him soon from Cheshire and give valuable back-up during the early days heading down the west coast, ensuring that he keeps his supplies stocked up and doesn't end up out of gas at inopportune moments.

There was one moment of excitement today when Seb, accompanied by Sue, met a lady coming towards them with a horse she was clearly breaking in. Spooked by the dog (who did nothing to cause the spook) the horse shied and tried to take off - and Sue, equally startled - yelped and took off in the opposite direction! Seb thought this was uproariously funny, but I'm sure Sue didn't.......... Disaster was averted however and all involved continued on their way unharmed.

Saturday 7th June 2008

Another milestone today as Seb rang me early afternoon from the northernmost point of mainland Great Britain - Dunnet Head. He was sat on the viewpoint gazing out at the Orkney Islands after a 16 mile speed hike along the road from John O'Groats. The cliffs are spectacular and Seb was struck by the vast areas of peat cutting activity on the open moorland, adding character to the area. He also spent some time exploring buildings on the point which appear to be World War II installations - possibly an anti-aircraft battery? Something else for him to research for his DofE Skills project (Military History - in particular Coastal Defences) when he gets back. He was speculating that maybe it was something to do with Scapa Flow and having just done a bit of research myself he was pretty close - apparently it was a radar station on the look out for U-Boats passing through the Fair Isle channel to the Atlantic.

On to Scrabster tomorrow - another damp day forecast and he's got a bit of a nasty cough, but he remains very upbeat and obviously enjoying life!

Friday 6th June 2008

Seb had a well-earned day off today, but sets out again tomorrow heading for the northernmost point of mainland Great Britain - Dunnet Head.

Thursday 5th June 2008

He's made it!

I am delighted to report that Seb reached John o'Groats at approximately 3.30pm today and is out this evening celebrating with Sue Craxton, one of our Support Team who drove all the way to Scotland to make sure someone was there to witness the Great Event! As soon as we get the photos back we will post them on the site for you to enjoy with us.

Yes, it was really hard yesterday when Seb was suffering badly with his past-their-sell-by-date boots and sore feet because I didn't want to spoil the surprise by telling Seb that help was on its way! However, because we wanted him to be able to savour the moment today Sue greeted him first thing this morning when he staggered out of his tent to start the final push north, and I hope that knowing he had only another few hours of wearing those boots will have lifted his spirits. He certainly seems to have been motivated by her presence, because he completed the 19 miles in six hours which is a cracking pace - not that that surprises me any more after spending a few days with him. And he arrived in time for Sue to rush him in to Thurso to buy new boots, so he is now the proud owner of a pair of Brasher's. And the day just got better and better - I returned from Devon to discover 2 cheques on my desk from a gentleman named Michael who himself walked from Lands End to John O'Groats when he was just 17 years old (quite some time ago.....) enclosing substantial donations for both the Support and Charity Funds as Seb's walk had 'struck a chord'. And there was more to come, because within the hour we had been promised another HUGE donation - what a day! I'll tell you more when I know how much I can reveal. There were a number of other donations also today which again added to a tidy sum, and that this should all happen on the day that Seb reached John o'Groats was just, to quote the man himself, not just the icing on the cake but the cherry on top as well. As Paul Greer who interviewed Seb for the BBC said when he heard the news 'Downhill all the way now..........'

Wednesday 4th June 2008

A long day for Seb today with over twenty miles to complete to reach his next campsite in Wick. The boots are now causing blisters and unfortunately much of the day was on roads once again which resulted in more damage to his feet. He reached the campsite safely but with little prospect of replacing his boots (or so he thinks) for several days, it has put quite a dampener on his spirits on a day when he should have been buzzing with the anticipation of reaching John o'Groats tomorrow! If only he knew what I know, but I can't tell him and spoil the surprise........

Seb's journey has, on the whole, been an uplifting experience for all involved and we have been overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity exhibited by people he has met along the way and who have contacted us through this website. So it is with great sadness that I have to report that today we saw the flipside of all the publicity when a member of the public, in his big lorry, chose to use Seb's satellite tracker to facilitate a meeting with him en route, and having tracked him down, accosted him and proceeded to hurl abuse at him for 'lying on national television' by stating that he was fundraising for the RNLI when he isn't. This person's aggressive and intimidating behaviour has forced us to remove access to Seb's tracker from the website to ensure there is no repetition of this behaviour.

We have never said that Seb is fundraising for the RNLI - after detailed discussions with the RNLI it was decided that the most appropriate way for Seb to 'repay' the RNLI was to promote sea safety rather than to raise money, and to this end the RNLI have produced and printed a large number of sea safety cards which Seb, and his Support Team, hand out to the general public. In addition, on his return, Seb will give talks about sea safety to local teenagers in an attempt to make them realise that if he hadn't been rescued when he was he too would almost certainly have lost his life, as did Kyle Moore who was tragically drowned off Portland last year in circumstances very similar to Seb's. Seb's contribution to the RNLI will be unique and valuable, but not financial.

Tuesday 3rd June 2008

A challenging day for Seb today - both route-wise and weather! After leaving Helmsdale at about 10 this morning any attempt to keep on the coast was thwarted by unbelievably difficult terrain which I had observed and warned him about during my recce. Steep ground plunging to the sea bisected by deep deep valleys, and thick heather underfoot - pretty-much unwalkable. So onto the road it was and a punishing slog on the main A9 as it zig-zagged its way north. We had had a conversation about boots before I left because the new boots he has been wearing since Hythe have completely had it and there is no cushioning left in them whatsoever, so a day on the roads was the last thing he needed, especially as they are leaking as well and he endured relentless rain today as well. He's contemplating sending for his army boots rather than hit his Support Fund for yet another pair of boots, but we'll see what we can do. On a positive note the appeal in the Dorset Echo has worked wonders and we have received almost £300 for the Support Fund in the last few days and I know there is more to come - thank you so much everyone! Anyway, sore feet notwithstanding he arrived in Dunbeath by late afternoon and set himself up on a pleasant campsite and was only charged a nominal fee. He is in an area now where charity walkers and cyclists are more prevalent than tourists, so understandably the campsites feel they have to charge something! He was made to feel very welcome though at the end of a hard day. The rain stopped shortly after his arrival and it looks okay for the next 48 hours which hopefully will see him into John o'Groats.

I'm afraid the photos are going to have to wait until the weekend - simply run out of time again! There will be no update tomorrow as I am away overnight, but back on Thursday.

Tuesday 27th May - Monday 2 June 2008

What a week! Just staggered in after driving back from the north of Scotland and delighted to report that Seb is in absolutely great form and made really good use of the few days I was up there to support him by piling on the miles whilst walking with just a daysack. He is fit and well and looking forward to reaching John o'Groats - hopefully - this Thursday. I cannot tell you how fast he walks, it is totally mind-boggling to observe, I've never seen anything like it!

So, back to Tuesday last week. Seb had a good day again that day and as he arrived in Nairn earlier than Chris, my nephew, was able to pick him up he decided to forge on and eventually stopped at Ardersier on the coast on the eastern side of the Moray Firth. Back to Elgin for the night with Chris, who is an RAF pilot at Lossiemouth, and Seb can now reel off lots of facts and figures about the Tornado to add to his ever increasing knowledge of all things military. Washing done, shower and bed and a very early start the following morning as Chris had to be at work at some ungodly hour the next day and needed to get Seb back to Ardersier to pick up where he left off. His mood, if not his rucksack, was considerably lightened by the addition of a small number of miniature whisky bottles kindly donated by Chris's lodger to speed him on his way!

By the time I arrived on Wednesday evening Seb had made his way across the Moray Firth on the Kessock Bridge, an awesome cable-stayed structure, and had been collected from Munlochy by Mike and his wife Lucy who had kindly agreed to put up not only Seb, but me as well that evening. It was the first time I had seen Seb since February and I was immediately struck by how fit and well he looks - tanned, lean and incredibly fit. We had a pleasant evening, thoroughly enjoyed the 'spag bol' Mike had put together and it was good to catch up on all Seb's news.

On Thursday we said goodbye to Lucy who was off to work early and I then ran Seb back to Munlochy to start his day's walking. Seb packed my daysack with the bare essentials and set off at an incredible pace, and later on that morning Mike joined up with us and we all walked through the lovely stretch of woodland which he owns which hugs the coast between Avoch and Fortrose. Neither of us could keep up with Seb and Flash and we were clearly holding them up, so we bowed out gracefully and left the two travellers to forge ahead while Mike and I wandered through the woods looking at strange carvings and standing stones. Back at the cars I bid farewell to Mike and chased off to Rosemarkie to sort out a campsite for the next two nights and found a very pleasant spot right on the beach, then it was off to Cromarty to wait for Seb to arrive. He was there by half three, we had a light snack in town then back to the campsite to set up tents. ( I forgot to mention meeting Becks at the campsite - a lovely lady who was due to play bassoon for a matinee performance of the ballet Romeo and Juliet in Inverness at 2pm who had managed to lock her keys (and bassoon) in her car with only about an hour to go before the live performance! Much drama, but a little breaking and entering and she was soon on her way, minus her car's rear quarterlight........)

Camp organised, Seb and I wandered into Rosemarkie and had an excellent evening meal at the Plough, then drove down to Chanonry Point where, to my delight, we were able to watch bottle-nosed dolphins and seals playing close to shore and arctic skuas chasing across the water. I then sat and read my book on the edge of the beach while Seb sorted out his gear and made a list of jobs for the following day which was to be a day off.

And we used it well - dog food collected from the parcel office, all sorts of odds and ends of shopping and a trip to the vet to get some anti-tick 'Frontline' for Flash. We also drove back up to Cromarty to collect a parcel of socks which Seb's dad had sent to the Post Office there. Chris joined us in the evening for another meal at the Plough, and we were also pleased to meet up with Cath William's cousin Hilary and Uncle Alastair at the campsite. The weather wasn't too clever with torrential rain early on, but as it wasn't a walking day we weren't too bothered.

Saturday saw us away by 9 as planned and we just made it to Cromarty in time to catch the 9.30 ferry across to Nigg. It was the ferry's first day back in service after the winter break and it was with some trepidation I manoeuvered my car up onto the ancient but very seaworthy landing craft where a nifty turntable rotated the 2 vehicles round to spare us the trauma of reversing off on the far side! The water was flat flat calm - glass-like - and by 9.45 Seb and Flash were on their way leaving me to explore Tain pottery and go in search of the campsite at Dornoch. Again the site were very generous - as they had been at Rosemarkie, with Seb free and me at a reduced fee. I can certainly recommend these sites for a holiday - lovely facilities, very clean and welcoming and well-maintained pitches. Quite a change from Exmoor last week where I can only describe my tent site as being between a rock and a hard place!

I went to meet Seb on the road bridge across Dornoch Firth and picked him up halfway across to transport him the last couple of hundred yards to the other side as the speed of the traffic and total disregard for his safety was mind-blowing. Fortunately the bridge has large laybys (for sightseeing I presume) and I was able to pick him up quite safely. In the layby we met a grouup of firemen (sorry lads, forgot to ask where you were from!) who were cycling from John o'Groats to Lands End.

One of them recognised Seb from the BBC News last week, and leapt over to shake him by the hand and congratulate him on what he was doing. Seb then had to pose for photographs to commemorate the meeting! I kept Flash with me after I dropped Seb off on the far side of the bridge and he curled up contentedly of the seat beside me while Seb powered the last few miles into camp.

We ate out in Dornoch that evening and after supper were entertained by the Dornoch Pipe Band who were playing in the village square.

Seb's face lit up when they played Scotland the Brave because that, apparently, was the tune that piped him across the border when he reached Scotland - definitely the high point of his walk so far, he says, and one he will cherish for many years to come.

Sunday was my last day and Seb made an effort to get back into his proper routine and was up at 7.30 and away at nine on the dot. The local shop, being Sunday, didn't open until ten so I met Seb late morning for a second breakfast and cooked him a bacon butty on the side of the road!

I have to say it was very pleasant, sat on the side of the water watching eider ducks and oystercatchers, and listening to the noisy grunts of the seals playing further out. Seb was aware of my need to get away in reasonable time, and again powered on, arriving in camp early afternoon after a 20 mile day! We set his tent up on the campsite at Dalchalm then had an excellent roast lunch of highland lamb in town before I dropped him back at the campsite later (and helped him move his tent which apparently was on a caravan pitch despite the notice saying 'set-up anywhere'....). Unfortunately this resulted in him leaving his walking poles in my car so I need to get them back to him somehow. A nice site, but sadly not free this time - mustn't grumble though, we have been lulled by some very generous campsites and new friends who have offered their homes recently. Can't win 'em all!

Spoke to Seb this evening who has arrived safely in Helmsdale and has treated himself to B&B as his Army pay has come through for his course, and we couldn't find anywhere flat on this part of the coast for him to camp! I had been concerned that today would be tough as there was no path marked on the map and the A9 is not the best place to be walking, but Seb found a coastal track which took him all the way along the very edge of the coast. Seb discovered his first oystercatcher's nest today - unfortunately just after he stood on it... Hopefully being early in the season they will nest again successfully. He was more careful to watch where he was putting his feet after that and as a result found some eider duck nests - he says the nests were beautifully lined and now he knows where eiderdown comes from! He took a nasty tumble today on a rolling boulder too which shook him up a bit - another good reason to watch where he's putting his feet.

I'll add some photos to this tomorrow. Time to go and unpack the car!

Tuesday 27th May 2008

A brief update before I leap in the car to go up to Scotland to visit Seb.

Last Friday Seb walked to Fochabers, having headed inland slightly down the River Spey and enjoyed a rest day at the lovely Burnside campsite. The Williams family drove up from the north of England to visit and deliver a variety of essentials - maps, dog food, RNLI cards etc etc. The following day he walked to Lossiemouth where he stayed with Shonagh, a local schoolteacher, and Flash enjoyed the company of her dog Jinty. There's a tale about Seb having to climb in through the bathroom window too but I'll fill you in on that when I get back.

The following day Seb walked to Findhorn in the company of one of Shonagh's colleagues, Gillian, and he spent the night an Gordonstoun after a slap-up meal in a local hotel - again, more info later. Today he heads for Nairn and beyond and I hope to catch up with him the following day. So we'll be back on 'air' in a week and I hope to bring you some up-to-the-minute photos and a first hand account of his adventures.

Thank you for staying with us - back soon! You can follow our travels on Seb's tracker!

Thursday 22nd May 2008

Another good days progress although Seb actually overslept this morning and was later away than he intended. He continues to head pretty much due west and passed Banff and Portsoy today. I understand the Banffshire Journal have been trying to catch up with him for an interview - hopefully they'll have better luck tomorrow. Seb had some luck today though because he ran into another group of Ramblers - this time the Buckie 50+ Ramblers - and once again they made a spontaneous collection and donated £21 into the kitty. Thankyou everybody! Apart from that it was a fairly uneventful day - cloud and pleasantly cool when walking, but slightly chilly when stopped. I say fairly uneventful because in fact Seb had to make a detour at one point because the police had closed the path due to the discovery of an unexploded 500lb bomb left over from World War II - that's an entry of note for Seb's Military History project! He thinks they plan to blow it up tomorrow.

We were delighted today to be contacted again by Your Dog Magazine and they have put a brilliant piece on their website - here's the link www.yourdog.co.uk. We were particularly pleased because it has given us the opportunity to draw attention to our wonderful dog food sponsors, and to Dave Smith in particular who despatches bags of food up to twice a week. I think they have more than earned a little publicity in return!

Now, I know this is a bore but there'll be NO BLOG for the next three days - I hope to catch up a little on Monday night or Tuesday morning before I head off to Scotland, and then there'll be a further gap until about the 3rd June. Can't be helped I'm afraid as I will be away from base. You will be able to follow Seb's progress on the tracker link and hopefully I will have lots of news AND PICTURES when I get back from Scotland.

Don't go away...................

Wednesday 21st May 2008

He's got the bit between his teeth again today! Knowing he had a long day, and a substantial amount of height and descent, Seb was away at 9a.m. and, setting a punishing pace, by 2pm was already just outside Gardenstown with time enough to pop into town and have a look around before starting the final leg to the campsite. This was nearly his undoing, because when he rang at about half four to say he had reached the campsite (no charge again, thank you everyone at Wester Bonnyton Farm Campsite!) he reported that he had tripped over a dodgy paving stone in Gardenstown and that his ankle was 'on fire'. Minor panic back here and lots of nagging about cold water treatments, but I'm relieved to report that by 8pm it was feeling much much better.

His fame is certainly spreading because a gentleman called Roy who had emailed offering accommodation in Banff was not put off by my reply saying many thanks, but actually it's not a stopover (too far today, not far enough tomorrow) and tonight he drove over and picked Seb up from the campsite to take him home for supper. So thank you Roy!

Some more funding in for the Support Fund today so this week we have received enough to keep him going for at least another week (and with so many free campsites and suppers his outgoings are coming down all the time). And keep your eye on 'Your Dog Magazine' website who are also running the story - they rang Seb this evening to interview Flash I believe. I wonder what he said?

We are starting to give some thought to producing merchandise to sell and raise funds for the charities. Any thoughts? Suggestions include 'I'm Supporting Seb's Odyssey' T-shirts and car stickers, mugs, and - wait for it - cuddly border collie toys with hi viz jackets on called Flash! We thought we might put 'that poem' on the T-shirts - here it is again...

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.

Let us know what you might be prepared to buy to boost his charity fundraising by emailing me on mary00harper@btopenworld.com

I will look forward to hearing from you..............................

Tuesday 20th May

Seb was on a rest day in Fraserburgh today and managed to catch up on some sleep! However he did meet up with some locals who recognised him and had quite a conversation - though he does admit he is struggling with the accent a bit and could do with an interpreter. But he says he's getting the hang of it and appreciated their interest in his endeavours.

We had another substantial company donation from JP Morgan Chase Bank in Bournemouth today which is much appreciated, and this was accompanied by a lovely cheque for £103 from Lumley Duke of Edinburgh's Award Group who have been raising money by selling copies of that superb poem in aid of his funds (see the entry for February 9th). There were a number of donations for his Support Fund too so we can keep him walking for another week! I also received photo's from Rosemary in Newburgh where Seb stayed on Saturday - I'll put them in here for the moment than move them down to Saturday after the weekend.

Rosemary and Tom with Seb in Newburgh

Just to warn you all that I am off to Exmoor with some Duke of Edinburgh's Award Silver Expedition this weekend so there will be no blog Friday through to Monday. I'll put Seb's itinerary up on Thursday for the next few days, but messages will have to wait until I get back. You will, of course, be able to see where he is from the tracker!

Still lots of media interest around - Your Dog magazine are putting a piece on their website soon for example. Trying googling Seb Green and you'll find lots of articles now (hopefully there are links to most of them on our media page). If you spot something good that I haven't, do let us know!

Monday 19th May 2008

Farewell to Peterhead this morning - and interesting stopover for a fisherman's son. Seb was impressed by the sheer size of some of the ocean going trawlers in the harbour, especially one which looked pretty much brand new and built to withstand the worst of seas...

A tough day today by all accounts after overnight rain - and I don't think Seb will be sorry to say goodbye to sand dunes for a while. The beach was just soft enough to 'hold' every footstep, and if he headed away from the sea he ended up ploughing up and down the dunes. Slow progress. He said it was how he imagined the Skeleton Coast to be at times - stinking hot and sand in EVERYTHING! There was also an interesting variety of ... yes, skeletons, as it is clearly someone's local 'shoot' - rabbits, birds etc etc. He was very relieved to get into camp at six this evening, and looking forward to a day off tomorrow. Once again he has been fortunate with the campsites - no charge at Peterhead and no charge here at Fraserburgh either, which all adds to the charity pot in the long term. Thank you - all concerned!

Planning is working quite well at the moment and we seem to be sorted for the rest of the week. Life is so much easier now that campsites are open for business, and Seb is definitely happier if he knows he has a proper site to head for. Having said that, however, he is also looking forward to reaching the wilder parts of Scotland with true wild camping, solitude and remoteness.

Seb has again received donations en route - £25 this time for the charities. It's adding up nicely and with a quarter of the walk done he has banked almost a quarter of the target sum.

80 days today, and a thousand miles walked. Well done Seb!

Sunday 18th May 2008

Seb and Flash in cracking form again today having had a very enjoyable overnight stay with Tom and Rosemary and their golden retrievers in Newburgh last night. He was away at 10am after a hearty breakfast and had completed the 16 miles to Peterhead by half three this afternoon. The weather has been kind again and the coast was busy in places, but the walking was easy today with a good path to follow. I'm glad to report that Seb's knee is also much improved - a few twinges on the steeper downhill stretches - but nothing untoward. The easier distances have given it time to repair which is essential with some of the wildest parts of the walk still to come. Although the number of hits on the website have dropped sharply since those two frenetic days of media attention, he is still being recognised as he walks and again today had money pressed into his hand to 'buy himself a pint'. He doesn't like to admit he doesn't drink beer very often....

We had an email from Mrs Phillips at Chester Park Infants School in Bristol today - the full message is on the messages page but I thought I'd include the song they have written for Seb in tonight's blog as they were so disappointed not to hear it on Radio 4 on Thursday. I had the privilege of having them sing it down the phone to me last week when the BBC were recording, and it's wonderful. It's to the tune of 'Daisy Daisy'

Seb Green,Seb Green

Pick up your bag and go

We'll support you

Walking  fast or slow

The  journey won't be funny

but you'll make lots of money

So leave your bike

And take a hike

Just pick up your bag and go!

Fraserburgh tomorrow, followed by a day off to prepare himself for a challenging day on Wednesday - about 20 miles and 3,000 feet of ascent (not to mention the same amount of descent for the twingeing knee...). Back soon!

Saturday 17th May 2008

Fate lent a hand today! Seb had an enjoyable stay in Aberdeen and was quite inspired by Jason who gave him some really sound career advice and encouraged Seb not to lose sight of his ambitions to become a medic. They took a trip out and picked up the dogfood which Dave at Healthy Pets had couriered to Aberdeen, (for new visitors to the site, all Flash's food has been most generously sponsored by Judge's Choice and Laughing Dog, and Dave arranges deliveries) and Seb stocked up for what he thought was going to be a wild camp tonight. This was where fate intervened, because a message appeared in my inbox from a gentleman called Tom who had spotted Seb yesterday as he drove home from work, and recognising him from the telly, had stopped him to make a donation. Tom and his wife Rosemary live on the coast, and had emailed to offer him the opportunity to drop by for a cup of tea on his way past, and to cut a long story short, he is staying with them tonight! Again, the warmth and generosity of people Seb has met along the way knows no bounds.

The weather was kind to Seb again today - patchy blue sky and sunny spells as he made his way north along this much flatter stretch of sand-dune dominated coast, which he described as 'relentless', and he was somewhat bemused during his morning break to observe a crowd of people charging into the surf for a swim fully-clothed! He made excellent time over the shorter distance and reached Newburgh mid-afternoon, and when I rang him for our evening catch-up he was just sitting down to supper. He remains very upbeat and has resolved to take things more steadily on this second half of his odyssey, taking time out to enjoy his surroundings instead of the headlong charge we witnessed earlier in the year which led to illness and injuries. He had originally set himself the task of trying to get back to Dorset in time for the new academic year, but he's come to realise that he'll get more out of doing this walk 'well' and there will be plenty of time for college in the future. He's even muttering about adding in some extra bits like Anglesey!

On to Peterhead tomorrow, then Fraserburgh and a day off. I'm off to track down some of those links to the recent news reports for the website media pages, so if you missed any of them, check the media page tomorrow and hopefully you'll find them!

Forgot to mention that Seb was interested to come across substantial evidence of World War II coastal defences today as he approached his destination - a number of pillboxes and even remnants of the barbed wire which was strung along the beaches. Seb is making a study of coastal defences as he goes round the country to complete the skills section of his Duke of Edinburgh's Award which is on military history.

Friday 16th May

A hard hard day today - as they say, hindsight is 20/20 vision, but setting Seb the task of walking to Aberdeen in one hit simply because there was the offer of a bed from the Royal Marine Reserves was not the best decision. Had I looked at the elevation profile and seen that by Portlethen he would already have climbed 2383'(and descended 2145'), and had we known that he would find very little in the way of tracks, we would definitely have booked the campsite at Stonehaven. As it was my suggestion that he stopped there when he arrived early afternoon was batted away with typical Seb 'up and at 'em' attitude, so I suggested he got as far as he could then hopped on the bus for the last stretch into the city (as his lodgings are actually on the north side of the city by the Bridge of Don). We have always said that pounding city pavements is not what the walk is all about, especially with a dog in tow, so he got up close to Portlethen and did just that (reflected by the grey dots on his map). He has still actually walked over 18 miles so it was a pretty impressive day all round, especially in the sunshine they were enjoying up in Scotland. I caught up with him as he sat outside the Saltoun Arms waiting for Jason, his RMR contact to finish his shift at the hospital where he is a medical student, to find him munching on crisps and downing coca cola bought for him by people in the pub - who also had a whip round and gave him twenty pounds!

Donations have continued to flow in steadily all day and there has been some positive follow-up to the media coverage yesterday - Aled Jones picked out the story when he reviewed the papers early this morning - possibly the nice piece I found later in the Daily Telegraph - and Meridian Television included a short piece in their news round-up this evening (quite an honour really as the programme was mainly focussed on Portsmouth's appearance in the FA Cup Final tomorrow!). The Tracker is proving popular and is working well. There are quite a lot of new references and links to articles on Google - I will try and spend a bit of time adding them to the media page tomorrow.

More soon.

Thursday 15th May 2008

What a day! I thought I'd never get round to writing the blog because I've spent the last hour uploading messages onto the website and reading them all out to Seb as he hasn't got access to the internet at the moment. Not that I'm complaining about all the messages - Seb was so chuffed to hear from you all and to add Uruguay to his list of countries 'reached'!

I thought it was all going to go awry this morning when Paul Greer's piece for the 'Today' Programme was edged out through time constraints - those of you who listened in eagerly will know who was responsible for that, but I'm sure our Prime Minister wasn't aware of how many people were hanging on his every word hoping he'd get on with it so that we could hear from Seb... After much negotiating the piece was moved to the 'PM' Programme and I caught it driving home from work, but unfortunately it was somewhat abridged and so we missed out on the full report - I had been so looking forward to hearing all the children at Chester Park singing, but at least we heard from the school and a lovely poem! I'll trawl the BBC website later and see if I can find it on 'Listen Again' and give you a link.

Seb kept a fairly low profile today having discovered an excellent coast path which wasn't marked on his map (Scotland have wonderful Access Rights but the downside is that, because you can pretty much walk where you like, they don't mark excellent paths on the map). This caused some consternation for 'TVS' (TV Scotland) who were driving up and down the road which runs parallel to the coast desperately trying to catch him for an interview. Because he was pretty much out of credit his phone was turned off for most of the day too which didn't help, but fortunately they got hold of Brenda, the Warden at Inverbervie Caravan Park, who tipped them off when he arrived, enabling him to give them an interview - thank you Brenda! Brenda has been great, receiving parcels and again, organising a free night's stay.

Which brings us on to MORE exciting news, which I've been keeping from you until we got the technology up and running... We have received most generous sponsorship from Nick Farrell of Adventure Tracking and Seb now carries a Yellowbrick Tracker, and if you go to (link removed) you can see where Seb was last 'pinged' by the satellite! I know it currently looks as though he arrived by fast boat from Yorkshire, but that's because we tested the tracker in Yorkshire but have only now been able to fully activate it. This sponsorship has made a huge difference to the Support Group because Seb will soon be entering some fairly remote areas of the British Isles, where mobile phone signal may be 'iffy' at best, and keeping him safe was a concern. Using the tracker we will be able to monitor his progress even if we don't make actual contact, and it also has an alert mode which Seb can activate if he is in trouble and needs help. Amazing huh!

So all in all an exciting day. Seb has a very long day tomorrow, but the weather forecast has improved so he won't get as wet as we feared. I hope he sleeps okay tonight - he ripped a large hole in his thermarest toady (Toady? been watching too much Neighbours...) TODAY and will have to try and buy a new one in Aberdeen which will make a bit of a dent in his Support Fund, so if anyone's feeling particularly generous tonight, please consider making a donation to his Support Fund by clicking on http://www.sebsodyssey.org.uk/support%20fund%20request.doc. Because Seb is unemployed and isn't allowed to claim any benefit during this epic walk he relies on his Support Fund for his day-to-day living expenses - we allow him £100 a week which doesn't go far with campsite fees, meals and replacement equipment when he rips big holes in his thermarest..... (all monies left in the Support Fund at the end of the walk will be donated to his charities).

It looks like you avid bloggers may have a double dose soon - Flash may be starting a blog of his own on a new website dedicated to Border Collies. I wonder what he'll have to say.....?

Wednesday 14th May 2008

Seb's had an excellent day today 'chilling out' in Montrose. The BBC TV crew flew up from Bristol at some unearthly hour this morning and met up with Seb at the campsite to film him walking on the beach and then talking to reporter John Kay. I guess this probably caused a bit of a stir on the campsite and later on the warden decided to have a whip round on the site and presented Seb not only with a full refund for his two nights camping, but also £27 (mostly in small change) which he had collected from other campers (and the BBC cameraman). So thank you everybody at South Links Caravan Park for your generosity, and in particular the Warden who not only organised the collection but who also acted as Postmaster, receiving various parcels from me containing maps and rucksack covers!

So Seb will be on the move again tomorrow, first of all heading to Inverbervie where Brenda, the warden, has also been receiving parcels, then on Friday (with heavy rain forecast) a long, long day, well over 20 miles to Aberdeen and an overnight stay with the RMR. Tomorrow we, of course, will be glued to first the Today Programme on Radio 4, and then to the one o'clock and six o'clock news on BBC Television (sadly the crew are getting back too late to have their footage ready for 'Breakfast'!)

More soon!

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Only one day into part two of his odyssey and Seb has already forgotten the meaning of 'easing' as in 'easing himself back into the walk'... He set off this morning with every intention of walking from Monifieth to Arbroath - a genteel 12 miles - and generally taking it steady, and so I was slightly surprised when he rang at lunchtime to say he'd arrived! (Though actually if I was honest I wasn't all that surprised - this is Seb the mighty walker we are talking about after all). There is no campsite in Arbroath and Graeme Golightly had spent the morning chasing down leads of where he might stay for the night with no success, so I suggested to Seb he wandered on after lunch and found himself somewhere suitable to wild camp. He thought about it over lunch, rang me at 2 and said he was feeling good, the weather was sunny, there was a nice cooling breeze and therefore if it was okay with me he thought he might crack on to Montrose. 'Seb', I said, 'it's your walk, and if that's what you want to do, then go for it'. I texted him the campsite phone number so that he could ring them with an ETA and he reckoned on arriving at about 8pm. However, when I rang at 6.15pm he was just 40 min away from camp, having completed a remarkable 26 miles since breakfast. He's suffering for it though and admits with hindsight that it wasn't the best idea he's ever had as his knee is now very sore, so sensibly he will have a day off tomorrow (which will give his maps time to arrive!).

And now the exciting news! Paul Greer, who interviewed Seb in preparation for the Today Programme (Radio 4 this Thursday coming) was obviously quite taken with Seb when he met him and he wasted no time in getting in touch with BBC TV colleagues when he got back to base. As a result Seb will be joined tomorrow by a BBC news crew for a further interview and, all things being equal, will be featured on the BBC National TV News on Thursday during the day. What more could we ask? So get those videos tuned into BBC Breakfast and BBC News throughout the day on Thursday as we're not sure what time he'll be on - but there's an outside chance it will be more than once!

And it's no more than he deserves. Let's hope it's the breakthrough we need to start cranking up that very static fundraising total!

p.s. Almost forgot! Found this entertaining article in TA100 which has been launched to celebrate the centenary of the Territorial Army. Follow the link and enjoy! http://www.ta100.co.uk/index.php?p=news&s=&aid=313

Monday 12th May 2008

10a.m. update. Seb is on his way by train back to Dundee to restart his epic walk having successfully completed his TA Training Course at Catterick. Flash has enjoyed his holiday and is looking forward to getting back on the road! More this evening.

10 p.m. Well, here we are again, with Seb continuing his incredible journey. He has sensibly decided to ease himself back in to the walk as he is carrying a knee injury as a legacy of his course at Catterick and so he will gradually build his mileage back up to 18+ miles a day. He said goodbye to the Williams family who had hosted him once more this weekend and caught an early train back to Dundee, arriving just before midday. He had a rendezvous planned with Paul Greer from the BBC and, as always, was bang on time. Paul brought him up to speed with his visit to Chester Park School in Bristol and played Seb the song that the children had recorded for him which Seb thought was great - what a brilliant way to start part two of his odyssey! You too will be able to hear it soon on Radio 4 - we'll let you know the details when we have them.

It was only a half day today and Seb stopped for the night at Tayview Campsite in Monifieth just 8 miles into his journey. I'm delighted to report that he was off to a good start with his overnight stay donated free of charge - thank you Tayview! The weather is certainly very different from his previous experiences - overcast but warm when he set off today, but the cloud burnt off by mid-afternoon and he was able to enjoy blue sky and patchy cloud. Those blizzards must seem a distant memory - hard to believe it was only 7 weeks ago. We're hoping the weather holds for a few days because his brand new rucksack cover, beautifully printed for us by Axent in Poole, is too small! Not sure how that happened - I guess we all assumed they were only made in one size, and clearly they aren't........... His original cover has been hastily despatched to catch up with him in Montrose on Wednesday, and we will retrieve the new cover and hastily stitch it onto one of the correct size - can't waste all that lovely free printing can we! Why is nothing ever straight forward? I propose to pretend it hasn't happened, and only remember the positives from today - the song from Chester Park and the free overnight stay. Onwards and upwards!

Thursday 8th May 2008

Well, Seb's course finishes tomorrow and then we look forward to him re-starting on Monday. Flash sets off from Weymouth at midnight tonight with Seb's family to re-join him in Yorkshire, and I hope to catch up with him over the weekend on the phone so that I can relay to you all how the course went, and what his thoughts are about getting back on the road.

More news soon. We hope to tell you how you can track Seb 'live' on the internet shortly - watch this space!

Tuesday 22 April 2008

A good day today. Whilst Seb was back at Glendene School in Easington Colliery for the day (showing the children how to put up a tent) I was opening the first responses to my mailshot seeking sponsorship from local Dorset Companies - and thank you Abbey Life in Bournemouth, and Clarke & Partners Independent, Chartered Financial Planners in Wimborne for being the first two companies to respond with generous donations! I will create a special web page for local companies at the weekend... Added to that we have the results from the Family Fundraiser organised by Seb's Aunt and family last Saturday. Despite the flu epidemic decimating the attendance, the evening raised a fabulous £610, to be split three ways between Seb's Support Fund, Starlight and the Air Ambulance. A brilliant effort - many thanks to everyone who supported the event. We also had a phonecall from Radio Four (You and Yours) who plan to feature Seb later in the year. And permission from the Berwickshire News to share their photo of Seb crossing the border with you all - so here it is!

Flashback to Weds 2 April 2008 when Seb and Flash were met at the Border by Eyemouth Legion and Berwick Pipe Major Peter Craig, as he began the Scottish leg of his journey.

As I said - a GOOD day!

Monday 21st April 2008

A brief bit of news while Seb is on his break preparing for his TA Course. Attended a great fundraising 'do' at Seb's Aunt's house in Weymouth on Saturday evening - great folk music and lots of people making donations and buying raffle tickets. We'll let you know how much was raised when all the money is in. Flash was the star of the show - looking unbelievably well with a gleaming coat (thanks partly to leaping in a trough earlier in the day I understand), but undoubtedly due to Judge's Choice dogfood as well I guess, and supplements... (school dinners, breakfast sausages...). Here's a photo that Seb took when they were playing on the beach.

I also found the article about Seb's border crossing this weekend with a great photo of him with the Piper. Here's the link to the article in the Berwickshire News http://www.berwickshire-news.co.uk/news/Seb-raise-cash-to-thank.3962653.jp and when I have the paper's permission I'll put the photo into the blog as well.

Saturday 12th April 2008 - END OF PART ONE!

Well folks, that's it for the moment! As regular bloggers will know Seb joined the Territorial Army after he left college and was three quarters of the way through his basic training when he set out on his odyssey on 1st February. To complete his TA training he has to attend a two week course at Catterick from 26 April - 10 May, and if he hadn't attended this year he would have had to repeat all his basic training when he completed his walk - not a sensible solution. So it was decided that it wouldn't do any harm for him to pause his walk when he reached Yorkshire, attend his course, then carry on. What we hadn't anticipated was him walking so fast that he had shot through Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland and on into Scotland before the course! So all credit to Seb for actually reaching Dundee today before deciding to turn round and head back south (by train) to give him time to prepare for his course, get Flash off home to Weymouth for a well-deserved rest, and sort out his kit. He had originally hoped to get up to Arbroath, but with more bitterly cold northerly winds and possible snow forecast there didn't seem a lot of point. When he re-starts in Dundee on the 12th May the weather will be warmer, the days longer and actually he'll only be about a week down on the original schedule after virtually a month off - so knowing Seb he'll be back on track by the end of the May........!

I'm hoping that sometime in the next few days we will have the opportunity to post here Seb's own reflections on his journey so far, the highs and the lows, the lessons he's learnt, the people he's met and the places he's seen. And what he's looking forward to in the months to come as he continues his magnificent odyssey around the coast of Britain.

In the meantime read Martin Lea in the Dorset Echo by going to http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.2192224.0.seb_takes_break_for_army_training.php

Stay with us - back soon!

Friday 11th April 2008

A 22 mile day today for Seb, continuing north through St Andrews (of golf course fame) and finally coming in to a wild camp close by Tentsmuir Sands just to the south of Tayport on the River Tay. The coastal path deteriorated markedly in quality today as long stretches were badly poached by cattle, making walking really quite difficult. At one point Seb stepped onto what looked like solid ground and found himself in deep mud over his knees - not impressed. Fortunately, he managed to extricate himself, on this occasion, without airborne assistance....

Tomorrow will see a further milestone (they've come thick and fast recently!) with 900 miles behind him. Martin Lea, reporter for the Dorset Echo who first broke the story of Seb's Odyssey, was on the phone today getting an update for a further piece in the paper. We were calculating the mileage Seb has walked and we reckon that if you take into account all the walking Seb does on his days off, in real terms he will probably have walked his first thousand miles by the time he gets on the train at Arbroath to go back to Durham on Tuesday. Not a bad point to finish part one of this incredible journey. I wonder, therefore, how many miles Flash has walked!

I have started writing out to local companies seeking sponsorship for Seb's charities in the last few days as I think it would be entirely appropriate with almost one quarter of Seb's walk completed if we could notch up one quarter of his £20,000 before he starts back on the trail in mid-May. So if anyone knows a company who might be persuaded to sponsor this awesome teenager, please get in touch by emailing me on mary00harper@btopenworld.com or simply send them the link to his fundraising page which is http://www.sebsodyssey.org.uk/flyermk2.html

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thursday 10 April 2008

Seb stayed put today as forecast to deal with the dog food delivery and collect his post from the Post Office - fortunately both items had arrived safely so he will be able to push on again tomorrow. To pass some time he joined the local library which enabled him to go online and catch up with all the messages etc on his website. As a result he has a message for website followers!

"I would like to thank you all for your continuing support. If you are new to the website then I thank you for taking the time to have a look. I would also like to thank my Support Team for the effort they have put in enabling me to get this far. Seb"

Wednesday 9th April 2008

An uneventful day really for Seb continuing north on the excellent Fife Coastal Path and passing through places with lovely Scottish overtones including Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester before arriving at Crail. Into camp in good time, more pasta and more reasonable campsite fees of £8. Tomorrow he may need to stay put as he has dog food to sort out which has been delivered to the campsite, and items to collect from the Post Office.

Tuesday 8 th April 2008

Seb had planned to stay put today but to his great frustration he found the weather much better than forecast when he emerged from his room in the transit accommodation at Rosyth and so, on the spur of the moment, he hit the road again. He was out of the starting gate like a greyhound as it was already mid-morning, quickly leaving the barracks at Rosyth far behind him. In fact he made such good time on the excellent (and fairly flat) Fife Coastal Path that he had reached his night stop by early afternoon, and decided to push on again, eventually reaching Leven at around tea-time (tomorrow night's planned stop!). The campsite was a little disappointing - no hot water and having to pay £13 for the privilege of stopping over, so despite a 28 mile day he decided to move on a bit and wild camp. More pasta for supper and an early night. Unfortunately for Seb he has mail to pick up at Crail and it may not arrive until Friday, his anticipated arrival date, so he may yet lose the day he gained today (if that makes sense). We'll see.

We did reach one milestone today though - thank you, fans! - 10,000 hits on the website. It's nice to know that our efforts to keep you all updated are appreciated.....

Monday 7th April 2008

In view of the weather Seb has stayed in Rosyth today, curled up in the warm with a good book (military history - his favourite subject!). He plans to move on on Wednesday, and aims to get to Arbroath before he returns to Yorkshire for his TA course next week.

Sunday 6th April 2008

Just a brief update. Snow in Edinburgh this morning, so Seb was pleased to be having a day off. The Williams family travelled up from their home near Durham to take him out for a slap-up carvery lunch and to show him and Flash the sights of Edinburgh. It was appropriate that whilst in Edinburgh Seb's faithful companion Flash should be introduced to another faithful companion, the famous Greyfriar's Bobby who refused to leave his master when he died and sat by his grave in Greyfriars church yard in Edinburgh until he, Bobby, died at the age of 16..

The weather forecast indicates that the cold weather will stay with us until at least Wednesday, and it was bitter today, so Seb will decide in the morning whether or not to move on. We'll keep you posted.

Saturday 5th April

As expected the weather turned colder today and Seb decided to work on his fitness in preparation for his TA course at Catterick later this month, so he reduced his rucksack weight as much as possible by eating all his food and ditching all of his water and YOMPED! Most Dof E expedition groups walk at 3 - 4 kilometres per hour with a full pack weighing, probably, something in the region of 16 kilos. Even lightened, Seb's pack still weighs something like 20 kilos, and yet today he was making approximately 4 MILES per hour - pretty impressive. Flash, who has made a full and spectacular recovery from his recent injury (thanks Graeme for the reminder to update the Flash fans on his well-being!), with the wound completely healed, loves it of course - PROPER walkies!

For James, duty member of the support group trying to organise tonight's stopover and next week's resupply of dog food it was a bit of a hectic morning as he was unable to raise the Marines, but after transmitting a few of what he described as 'thought bricks' in the direction of Scotland, contact was made just in time to confirm the rendezvous with Seb at 2pm. I guess they (the RMR) weren't expecting him to reach the outskirts Edinburgh until tea-time, but his current speed over the ground means he invariably completes his day's distance in about 6 hours. So Seb was successfully intercepted at the western end of Portobello and whisked through Edinburgh and over the famous Forth Bridge to stay at the barracks in Rosyth, saving him a lengthy road bash through the city. It has been agreed in general that wherever possible it is sensible to by-pass city centres for a number of reasons - too much road-walking punishes the shins and feet and increases the likelihood of Seb picking up an unnecessary stress injury or blisters (although his feet seem to be well hardened at last), Flash doesn't enjoy it at all as he hates crowds of people (and traffic) and last, but by no means, least Seb gets treated like a vagrant which he finds quite unsettling! (For information the 'distance walked' total at the top of the page IS the distance walked, not travelled. Any time Seb has a lift of any description the mileage is not included in the total, and if it's more than a couple of miles the map of his route reflects it with grey dots instead of red) (Even if he skips the odd city centre and built-up area he will still walk over 4,000 miles before he finishes, so I don't think anyone will begrudge him the occasional short lift through town - will they?!)

There were a few comms problems today as we suddenly discovered that Seb wasn't receiving texts. The penny eventually dropped that his phone memory was probably full, and a short while after he emptied his inbox the last 3 days worth of messages flooded in! It's the little things which sometimes create the biggest problems, and it was a lesson well learnt not to assume a text has been delivered...

So this evening Seb is out of the cold staying in the transit accommodation in Rosyth. The place is like a morgue as everyone is away on leave, but the Mess is open and he will be able to get his meals while he's there. He will have at least one day off, but in view of the weather forecast the break may be extended if heavy snow moves in. I don't think global warming is Seb's favourite topic at the moment.

Watch this space!

Friday 4th April 2008

Another milestone today - 800 miles walked!

A balmy spring day down here in Dorset, and by all accounts in Scotland too. Seb was up early and away by 8, once again making very good time and by the time we spoke at lunchtime he was once again almost in