To send a message to Seb send it as an email to m.harper@dorsetcc.gov.uk

Friday 1st February 2008

Well, the big day dawned crisp and clear – blue sky and light winds, a miracle after yesterday’s appalling weather! Seb’s Odyssey Support Group all gathered for breakfast at the Oasis Café on the beach at the eastern end of Weymouth Beach, while Seb enjoyed his last morning at home with his family. We were all a bit quiet, aware of the momentous nature of the day with this extraordinary young man about to embark on this mammoth journey. Five thousand miles or thereabouts – the same distance as walking from London to Delhi – unbelievable.

Seb and Flash joined us at 10 and by 1030 a sizeable crowd was gathering, with representatives from many organisations including Seb’s two principle charities, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance. The SW Ambulance NHS Trust, who have provided medical support, had even brought their new ambulance – fingers crossed we won’t be needing it! TV cameras from both the BBC and ITV were filming interviews, and Seb also gave a continuous stream of radio interviews by mobile phone. Perhaps the nicest surprise was when children from Seb’s old primary school at Wyke Regis turned up en masse with his former teacher, Robin Maslin, to wish him luck. The children were all waving wonderful home-made good luck flags and they also presented a large cheque for Seb’s Odyssey Support Fund!

There were a large number of well-wishers present and we were delighted to be joined by HM Lord-Lieutenant for Dorset, Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers. At 11am she gave Seb a few words of encouragement and cut the tape which launched the start of his great odyssey. Flash, his irrepressible border collie and travelling companion, was first out of the blocks and, sporting his very smart hi-viz jacket, almost towed Seb over the start line as everyone cheered and clapped and the children waved their flags. Quite a send-off! Seb was escorted up the beach by his father and a posse of children, and then he was gone.

Apart from the occasional light shower the weather held and Seb made good progress along the coast, taking some stunning shots of Durdle Door floating above an aquamarine sea as he passed. Skirting round the ranges at Lulworth, he pitched his tent for the night near Kingston and yes, we joined him in the pub for a meal. He seemed very relaxed as he sat in the bar and watched himself on Meridian Television talking to Martin Dowse, then stepped outside to give a live interview on Radio Solent’s Drivetime. The adventure has begun!

Saturday 02 February 2008

Another long day today after a bitterly cold night with temperatures well below freezing. Seb passed through Swanage where well-wishers who had seen his picture in the paper stopped to chat and wish him well. He ran into a few problems between Studland and the chain ferry when he decided to cut across the heath to the road as the deep sand on the beach was too much like hard work – I think he might stick to the path next time! But it’s all a learning curve, and he arrived safely at the chain ferry where Phil Ventham met him to drop him off inland at the RNLI College where he was a guest for the night. He plans a bit of a lie in tomorrow (well, it is Sunday!) to make the most of his luxurious surroundings, before hitting the road in earnest. Travel safely Seb!

Sunday 03 February

Received this report from Tim, one of our Award leaders who trained and supported Seb on his Gold expedition in Snowdonia last summer. "Met Seb at 10, just after he crossed from Poole to Bournemouth, then walked with him to Tuckton Bridge, where he had arranged to meet a magazine reporter who wanted to chat to him about his journey - at least that's what he could make out over the high winds we were experiencing on the seafront. Could have been a french guy asking for directions to the nearest shop (magasin) to la pont Tuckton... Anyway - he seemed in good spirits, bouyed (boom, boom) up by the hospitality of the RNLI. Had lots of tales to tell of people driving or walking up to him, and pressing cash into his cold hands - Seb was impressed by this, and had it happen again today. Mark(paddling buddy) met up with us for the last hour to Tuckton, and was suitably awed by the scale of the challenge and the interest that it had engendered. So despite having shot-blasted faces from the wind and sand, it was good to meet up with him."

Once he separated from Tim Seb met up with Sally from the Stour & Avon Magazine and had some photos taken, then off he went to Lymington where he caught the ferry over to the Isle of Wight courtesy of Wightlink who donated his crossing. This put him well up on schedule, and Lee from Connexions met up with him and steered him to a safe spot for the night - our thanks to Carole (IoW DofE) for arranging this!

Monday 04 February 2008

Another good day although Seb was starting to feel the pace around lunchtime when he reached Wootton en route to the ferry at Ryde. Sore feet from pounding along roads! Glorious weather again though. Sebis now some days ahead of the plan so we were concerned about tracking down the owner of his promised accommodation on Hayling Island, but the good old DofE/Scouting network soon produced a phone number and I was able to ring Terry and warn him of Seb's imminent arrival. Seb has now completed 80 miles of his journey and over £1000 has been paid into his charities - what an achievement after just four days! Seb sounded a bit brighter this evening and has promised himself a day off after tomorrow. He's certainly earnt it and we are very proud of him.

Tuesday 05 February 2008

Seb was on his way again at 9.30 this morning after a very comfortable night with Terry and his wife on Hayling Island - hot meals inside him, washing done, and a good night's sleep while the wind and rain howled outside! Terry dropped him 'across the water' because the bad weather might well have snookered the proposed crossing by boat courtesy of Adrian, the moorings officer for Chichester Harbour (I think Adrian was disappointed not to meet him!). Spoke to Seb late morning as he approached Bognor and he was really bright and enjoying himself - feet more comfortable as more off-road today and a day off tomorrow to look forward to. He texted in at 4pm to say he was crossing the River Arun (the inevitable sarky comment from me about 'hope you're using the bridge'), and by 5.15pm he was tucked up in his tent on the Daisy Fields Campsite in Littlehampton where he has been welcomed for two nights free of charge. Lovely site, nice showers.

Flash's feet are bearing up well and he is enjoying his grub too which has all been sponsored by Judge's Choice and Laughing Dog, courtesy of Dave at Healthy Pets in Blandford. His hi-viz jacket (sponsored by Creature Comforts) is the envy of every dog he passes and ensures that he stays warm and snug on this marathon 'walkies'! Fundraising continues and two very generous donations were received today for Seb's personal support fund, as well as a steady trickle of donations to the charities. Thank you if you've sponsored him, and please encourage your friends to do the same!

Wednesday 06 February 2008

Seb had a rest day today and caught up with his domestic duties which included doing all his washing and some shopping - cushioning insoles for his boots were a brainwave! He's not convinced his socks are quite the same size they were before tumbledrying, so further purchases might be needed.... Don't worry Seb - we've all done that at one time or another! We updated him on some of the messages and publicity he is receiving through the office - he was especially pleased to learn that his old primary school at Wyke Regis have posted him on their website, and that some old school friends have been getting in touch. On another note we were amused to hear that he was slightly disconcerted in Bognor yesterday - obviously a very caring town - when, spotting the fluorescent jacket on the dog, people rushed up to him to help him across the road on more than one occasion!

Accommodation is in hand for the next couple of days - more news soon.

Thursday 07 Feb 2008

On the move again after his first day off, and through Worthing at lunchtime and into Shoreham by 4pm. Graeme, an ex Royal Marine, had offered Seb a roof over his head for the night and with a planned rendezvous at 6pm by the disused West Pier on Brighton Seafront I was concerned at the mileage still to go - most expedition groups manage 3 - 4 kilometres per hour, Seb needed to do 3 MILES per hour to make it on time. I shouldn't have worried - as always, Seb arrived pretty much bang on time. Well done again! I haven't had time to catch up with him this evening but I believe he has done another interview today for the Brighton Argos, and there is a possibility of national TV on Monday - watch this space!

Seb with his Thursday hosts, the Golightly family

Friday 08 February 2008

Seb had another very long day today, almost 12 hours, arriving in Eastbourne well after dark, so have decided to leave him in peace this evening and will update properly tomorrow or Sunday. He must have walked nearly 25 miles today including something close to 3000 (yes, three thousand!) feet of ascent, arriving in Eastbourne at half seven.

He had two offers of accommodation - DofE contacts had kindly arranged for him to camp close to Eastbourne College, but Sharon, of Sharon and Graeme who hosted him last night, somehow managed to arrange accommodation for him at the GRAND HOTEL! So he had a choice - thank you all involved - and I wonder which one he chose? A clue below...... (and no, it's not Eastbourne College). He certainly earnt a bit of luxury today!

And there's good news and bad news to finish- bad news is no national telly on Monday (but hopefully in the future) and good news is Seb is in The Week magazine today!

Saturday 9 February 2008

Well, I guess the smooth run was bound to hickup eventually! After a very enjoyable overnight stay at the five star Grand Hotel Seb had a more difficult day as his trusty boots which had carried him all over Dartmoor and Snowdonia started to come to pieces - obviously his marathon hike has taken its toll. He made it safely to Hastings however, but all the campsites were closed and he found himself surrounded by 'no camping' signs. After some discussion with his base support it was decided he might be better off slightly further along the coast so he hopped (probably almost literally if his boots are as bad as we think they are) on a train for the short ride to Rye and rejoined the coast there, managing to find a safe place to camp overnight. After another day of promenade bashing on the concrete Flash was a little footsore tonight so they have decided to have a day off tomorrow to give the feet a rest and to give us time to rush his second pair of boots to him. Saw Seb's dad this evening who is very proud of Seb's progress, and he is putting together a scrapbook of cuttings for Seb. He has also been receiving some interesting communications - a lovely card and poem from Graeme and Carolyn (see messages page and below) which had been simply addressed to 'Seb Green (walking round Britain), Weymouth'. Well done Weymouth Post Office for getting it to the correct address! He also had a bizarre phone call. Caller 'Can I speak to Sebastian Green please?' Mr Green 'I'm sorry, he's not here, he's walking round Britain' Caller, after a brief silence 'Can I ask when you expect him back?' Mr Green 'Yes, around Christmas' Caller 'Oh!' (Pause) 'OK then. Bye!' There has been a steady trickle of donations again to both Seb's Support Fund and to the charities - St Peter's RC Primary in Plymouth sent a generous cheque so thank you to all the staff there, and a number of smaller cheques too which are adding up nicely. Seb is delighted with the continuing support, and is doing his bit by giving as many interviews as possible. If you do send a cheque please enclose a message for Seb which we can display on the website messages page - Seb catches up with them whenever he can and they do give him a lift!

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.

Sunday 10 February 2008

Seb awoke this morning to find sand in everything and decided to abandon his plans for taking a day off whilst waiting for his boots to arrive and ploughed on instead. Flash found the going easier today away from the concrete promenades of the seafronts as Seb cut slightly inland across Romney Marsh to find better going - walking in sand with a heavy rucksack makes your feet slip back with every step. Boots in hand 2 members of the support team met him at Dymchurch and took him off for a pub supper - this was an opportunity to review progress in the light of his experiences over the first 10 days and to agree the best way of planning his daily stopovers from this point forward. Seb was looking relaxed and well and remarkably chirpy considering the battering his feet have taken. He was cheered also by the fact that whilst waiting for him we had had a further donation pressed into our hands - thank you Stephanie! One issue we needed to resolve was phone management in the light of the media attention as whilst it is very welcome, it can also be quite intrusive when you're trying to get on with the walking. Turning the phone off for periods has only resulted in a high volume of messages being left, and retrieving them is immensely costly on 'pay as you go', and so Seb will change his message to inform callers that his phone will only be on between certain hours each day and to please NOT leave a message, but call back during those times. We hope callers will respect this request, otherwise his phonebill will exceed his charity fundraising! Supper concluded, Seb was dropped off at Hythe where he is spending the night with Terry and Shirley. Terry has been a Duke of Edinburgh's Award volunteer for many years and was pleased to be able to support Seb in this way. Seb plans to head for Dover tomorrow and to have a rest day on Tuesday to give him time to get Flash's jacket re-printed with his sponsors details... Oh and by the way, hello to Class 7 and Mrs Phillips at Chester Park Infant School, Fishponds, Bristol who are plotting Sebs progress by moving his photo along the coast! (And Flash says 'woof')

Monday 11 February 2008

Seb opted for a slightly shorter day today as he would be wearing in the almost new boots and it would give him time to explore some of the coastal defences along the way. He was offered overnight accommodation in Dover through the local Duke of Edinburgh's Award Officer and the Kent Youth Service - thank you Norry and Dave! - and was safely in Dover by tea-time. He was going to take a day off tomorrow, but the white cliffs are calling and he took the decision to crack on tomorrow whilst the weather holds and go all the way to Margate where he has booked in at the Youth Hostel. He will detour through Ramsgate where the harbourmaster will hopefully have received the 'dog' boots Seb's dad has sent up from Dorset as a present for Flash, who hasn't been enjoying the concrete promenades of the south coast. This will be a long day - around the 25 mile mark again, but Seb is happy to do that when he knows he has a day off to follow. He has the Thames firmly in his sights and feels that crossing the river will be his first really major milestone 'ticked off'. We still need the dog food distribution network sorted out, so if anyone has good contacts in UPS or TNT do give them a call!

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Seb left Dover around 9 o'clock this morning in glorious spring-like sunshine. 'I'm sure I'll pay for this later!' he observed, unnerved by such spectacular weather in mid-February. And pay for it he did, because the warm sunshine lulled him into powering on at a pace which can only be described as either spectacular or foolhardy and despite having to go and pick up boots for Flash from the harbourmaster in Ramsgate, he was sat on the beach in Margate just after 4pm - 27 miles in only seven hours! His knee, however, has paid the price and is extremely sore this evening, but with a full rest day tomorrow he is confident that he will be fit to move on on Thursdasday. He also mentioned blisters in very peculiar places - on the very ends of his toes! Very uncomfortable. The media i nterest is picking up again and it seems likely he will feature on BBC South East TV tomorrow, and he was also doing an interview for Motorboat and Yachting Magazine. He has settled into the Youth Hostel this evening and is very much looking forward to his rest day tomorrow - I'm sure Flash is too.

Fundraising has gone well today, with a local company promising £250 for the pot, and other donations of £35. It is early days for fundraising for the charities - we plan a big 'push' once Seb crosses into Scotland, but he broke the 200 mile barrier today and that is, in itself, a magnificent achievement. Enjoy your day off Seb - you have certainly earnt it!

Wednesday 13 February 2008

Rest day today in Margate and Seb has spent the day sorting out his kit and generally chilling out. It gave the media an opportunity to catch up with him and as a result he is going to be interviewed tomorrow morning as he sets off by both BBC TV (South East) and BBC Radio York, who want to get a first interview now and then a further one when he reaches Yorkshire. Now that's forward planning! Camouflage Magazine have also done a preliminary interview and hope to catch up with him with a photographer on Friday as he approaches the Thames. Seb hopes to walk abouth 13 miles tomorrow to Whitstable - a not over-ambitious day - to see how his knee is bearing up after tweaking it on Tuesday. This evening I rang him to update him on his messages as he hasn't had a chance to look at the website for a few days, and as always hearing what people have been writing about him gave him a tremendous lift. I enquired after the dog boots - he says Flash looks like something out of Startrek when he's wearing them... we hope to get a photo to you soon!

Thursday 14 February 2008

Seb's day started bright and early with more attention from the media - BBC TV were on hand to film him leaving Margate ready for this evening's South East news, and Radio York also conducted a telephone interview in anticipation of his arrival in York later this year. The Seb was on the road again, still suffering with a bit of a sore knee but glad to be on the move again. The weather has turned grey but we all knew the sunshine wouldn't last for ever at this time of the year. BBC Radio Kent caught up with Seb in the early evening and featured him on their drive time show, and he has settled down for the night just to the west of Whitstable having completed about 17 miles today - an 'easy' day on the knee! I spoke to Seb about his plans for the next couple of days and he anticipates crossing that great milestone - Old Father Thames - on Sunday. I asked how Flash was and was told 'asleep'. No surprises there then! Had a message today from Neville at Wyke Regis Radio wishing Seb luck from everyone there and letting us know that when Seb gained his Amateur Radio Licence (he was still at school) he was the youngest holder ever at the time. Quite an achievement!

Friday 15 February 2008

Well, no sign of him slowing down yet. He's really cracked on again today, leaving his 'wild' camp in Whitstable after a perishing cold night and moving west through Faversham on the Saxon Shore Way to lunch (bacon buttie) just east of Sittingbourne. It has been a challenge trying to identify somewhere suitable for him to stay along this stretch but once again Graeme came to the rescue and suggested trying Woolman's Wood Caravan Park at Chatham - and success. A very kind gentleman there said although they weren't taking tents at the moment they would make an exception in the circumstances and so this evening Seb is tucked up in his tent in Chatham. There was a moment of - I was going to say hilarity but perhaps near-hysteria might be more accurate - when I rang Seb with the news because as he tried to find the site on his map a big gust of wind snatched it out of his hand and blew it over a hedge - a hedge with no gate in! I'm not sure how he retrieved it but he did. Whilst I was talking him through the directions I suddenly heard excited voices in the background and heard a lady say 'Hallo! Aren't you the lad we saw on the telly last night?' - so I left Seb chatting with his admirers................. Seb covered a total in excess of 25 miles again today to make it to Chatham and is nursing fairly sore feet tonight, but we had discovered that the ferry across the Thames doesn't run on a Sunday so he needed to make up some distance to ensure he reaches the river in good time tomorrow. It's going to be a tough day - very built up on the approach to Gravesend and not much respite from road walking. With that in mind we have suggested that once he reaches the other side he takes a short hop on the train to clear the huge area of oil refineries to the north of the river, and the towns of Southend and Rayleigh and gets himself out into a more rural environment before nightfall, otherwise he's going to really struggle to find a safe place to camp. At the end of the day, what's a few miles on a train out of a few thousand still to walk! The other news is we may have a solution to our dog food problem - Dave from Healthy Pets at Blandford has offered to sponsor distributing the dogfood supplied by Judge's Choice and Laughing Dog to campsites and other easily located venues along Seb's from 1st March when more sites will be open. And the other good news is that Creature Comforts have kindly supplied a second jacket for Flash on the condition that Seb resists putting it through the washing machine next time it gets dirty - the jacket came out as good as new, but sadly the lettering didn't! We hope to reunite Flash and his sponsors' jacket before too long... (and no doubt Seb will then start to receive lots of offers of assistance to cross the road again!) All good fun eh!

Saturday 16 February 2008

Seb hasn't had such a good day today. Another very cold night, another punishing route through a very built up area en route to his crossing point on the Thames, and I received a text just after lunch to say he had stopped for lunch about a mile short of the river and really wasn't feeling very good at all. He had had lunch, but was feeling light-headed and nauseous. We had a long talk and it seems likely that he has simply been pushing too hard to clear the south coast and has not been taking an appropriate amount of time-out for rest, food, and taking liquid on board. When you look at the mileage he has achieved in just two weeks he has put himself a whole ten days ahead of an already demanding schedule - he wasn't due to reach Gravesend until 27 Feb. I called in the troops - thanks Sue! - and we decided to suggest to Seb that we put him into proper accommodation for a couple of nights to get some decent sleep and food inside him to give his body chance to recover from the physical demands he has placed on it. As he was on the south of the river, and the ferry doesn't run on a Sunday, he dug deep and made one final push, crossing the river successfully and then, as the only accommodation we could find that would take dogs was in Southend, he caught a train for the last bit of the journey along the north bank of the Thames. He arrived before six and when he had recovered a little we had a long talk about the need for him to heed this warning and to ease up on his daily schedule. I think today gave him a bit of a fright but he was in good form this evening and has taken on board the need to conserve his energy a bit better, and has actually agreed to stay put for two nights - that's a relief! The enormity of the task before him has hit home, and he has recognised that he has a much better chance of success if he just eases up a little and gives himself time to enjoy his surroundings, walk at an easier pace and not worry about clocking up huge mileages. Better to take a month longer and succeed, than burn out before Easter. Even today, a bad day by his standards, he walked 13 miles! I was so impressed with him this evening - despite the disappointment of the day, and really not feeling too well at all, he was incredibly buoyant and upbeat and as determined as ever to complete his odyssey. Well done mate, sleep well!

Sunday 17 February 2008

Not much to report today - Seb still under the weather and staying in Southend until he feels ready to move on.

Monday 18 February 2008

Pleased to report that Seb is feeling quite a lot better today but needs a couple of days to restore his energy levels before setting out again. To this end a friend, Jen, offered to put him up in her flat for a couple of days so many thanks to Jen and Caro for the offer! Seb therefore has made his way by train up to London where he will chill out for a day or two before hitting the road again on Wednesday or Thursday. As Jen was down in Dorset this evening it was a good opportunity to load her up with dog food for Flash (although we nearly lost the lot when her labrador got a whiff of what was in the carrier bags and had grabbed one out of my hand before I had time to say......woof?) and I will also be giving her the next set of maps when I run her to the station tomorrow morning. Starlight have picked up on the fact that Seb is in London and hope to meet up with him tomorrow as they are based near Paddington station. Seb also got some good news today when Starlight were contacted by Gary who runs the seasonal ferry across the River Crouch. Apparently the ferry season hasn't started yet, but Gary offered his services to get him across the river when he heard what Seb was doing - this will save Seb considerable distance and he was very grateful!

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Seb much recovered today and enjoyed his day out in London. He took Flash to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and then met up with staff from Starlight Children's Foundation. Jen trekked back from Dorset with a bag full of dog food, so Flash is happy too! All being well Seb plans to hit the road again in Southend tomorrow with his sights firmly set on crossing to Burnham on Crouch before the end of the day.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Well, the good news is that Seb is on his way again but we're not sure exactly where due to poor reception with his phone this evening. He's certainly done a good mileage today but there were problems on the trains coming out of London and we're not quite clear at the moment where exactly he was able to get off to start walking again. We do know he had to head inland for a stretch and was unable to meet up with Gary to cross the River Crouch because unfortunately the ferries at Mersea and Harwich are both seasonal and not operating until Easter, and unlike the Crouch there were no lifts on offer! This affected his route quite dramatically and we await news of exactly what route he took later. We do know he's found a quiet spot to camp and is tucked up safe in bed for the night. More tomorrow!

Thursday 21 February 2008

Communications re-established in full! It transpires that the problems on the railway network resulted in Seb's train heading to the north of Southend and in view of the fact he would be unable to cross two of the three main estuaries because the ferries weren't operating he decided to train that bit further up to enable him to clear the estuaries before cutting back out to the coast. With hindsight he regrets doing that, but it seemed a sensible decision at the time when he was clearly frustrated with all the delays. So he decided to make up for it with a punishing day, walking right through until after nine in the evening, covering a huge distance and camping south of Southwold. Up at six a.m. he was in Great Yarmouth for lunch where he was able to charge the phones back up and restore full comms. He has camped this evening after a 26 mile day near Caister-on-Sea which means his first stop tomorrow morning will be... wait for it... CALIFORNIA! No, I didn't know there was a California in England either! Well, this blogger is signing off now and handing over to other colleagues on the Support Team back here in Dorset as I will be out of the country for the next two weeks (ish). I wonder where Seb will be when I get back?

Friday 22 February 2008

"The poor lad is confused - didn't even know what day of the week it was when I rang him this evening. Mind you he was in a very noisy pub at Sea Palling, midway between Great Yarmouth and Cromer with his tent pitched 50 yards away in the dunes- sounds the perfect campsite?After two (self imposed) days of 35 miles each, he has taken an easier day today - mere 18 miles from Great Yarmouth- but he did admit that he was paying the penalty for the two previous days. Trying to persuade him that it isn't actually a race and that he might take it a bit easier! We shall see...Hopes to get to Sherringham tomorrow where there is a YHA and should be in Kings Lynn early next week for a rest day - if he remembers to stop..."

Saturday 23 February 2008

He's been under fire today. Apparently camping in a private wood somewhere near Cromer (I didn't actually ask whether he should have been there) when a shoot started nearby. No doubt his TA training stood him in good stead.

Hopes of getting into the YHA at Sherringham were dashed as they do not allow dogs as a matter of policy, although it seems that individual wardens are prepared to make exceptions. This could be a blow as we were hoping to use YHA's for occasional stops.

Anyway Seb is happy and Flash is still smiling. They hope to get to Kings Lynn in 2 days and hopefully have a breather.

Sunday 24 February 2008

Today Seb walked from Cromer to Wells-next-the-sea, a distance of 24 miles which he completed in 8.5 hours, “Not quite marine standard, but I’m getting there”, he said.

“It started raining so I had to get in the tent with a wet dog.” He didn’t sound too impressed by that but tells me that both he and Flash are happy and well. Apparently his feet were blistered and swollen at the end of the day, so he’s having a rest day tomorrow.

Monday 25 February 2008

Seb spent today drying out his wet kit. His phone has been causing him problems – he didn’t specify what these were, but said he got so frustrated with it that he removed the battery and sim card and disposed of the rest. He wasn’t too happy about this as he’s now left with a very basic phone that doesn’t have a camera. Tomorrow’s goal his Holme next the sea (just before Hunstanton) but as this is only around 15 miles away I’m wondering if he’ll walk on by!

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Seb reached Holme-next-the-sea at 4.30 this afternoon and is staying at a campsite there called Inglenook. After arriving there, he walked two miles to a "nearby" pub to charge his phone so he could report today's news. He said it rained last night and a bit this morning, "but that didn't matter because my tent's waterproof!"

He described today's journey as "Horrible - extremely windy, walking on exposed sea walls pretty much all day. There was a blue, cloudless sky with glorious sunshine. Tonight the sky is very clear - everywhere you look you can see a star. It's probably too windy for any clouds to hang around!"

He is still suffering with his blistered feet, but an old family friend in Doncaster has offered to put him up for a week so his feet can recover - thanks Audrey!

Wednesday 27 February 2008

Seb is camping tonight at West Lynn, just outside of King's Lynn, having covered around 18 miles today. He called into King's Lynn briefly to pick up his spare mobile. He has an appointment tomorrow with Graeme, the Marine, at Fosdyke Bridge and needs to cover around 25 miles tomorrow to make the RV. Graeme has kindly got him a solar panel recharger for his mobile which should help solve the problem of re-charging batteries.

The earth didn't move for him last night, despite being fairly close to the epicentre of the quake. He said that it was so windy, he probably would not have heard it anyway. He is determined to press on to at least Skegness, which is about 30 miles from Fosdyke where he hopes to make contact with a family friend and rest for a few days. Also, he pointed out that he has been camping out now since he left London and a bath and an opportunity to wash clothes won't come amiss! Still cheerful....

Thursday 28 February 2008

It's been another long day for Seb. He had to yomp 25 miles to get to Fosdyke Bridge to meet up with Jim, Graeme's friend. He is spending the night at Jim's house in Boston - his first proper bed for about a week. He has caught up with the solar panel charger for his mobile.Thanks to Graeme for the charger and Jim for the hospitality.

He hopes to get to Skegness this Saturday and then take some time off to give his feet a rest with Audry and family in Doncaster. Eddie and Jean from the support team are planning to meet up with him this weekend laden with dog food, spare socks and blister plasters - (and bars of Galaxy?).

To the children of Chester Park School - Seb will try to send you a message this weekend. Flash sends a very big WOOF.

Keep the messages going, they really are welcome and a great boost to him. It's difficult to believe that it is only 28 days since he set off and he's covered 450 miles already - well done, Seb!

Friday 29 February 2008

Spoke to Seb tonight in the middle of a very windy field. He walked 12 miles today having dumped his rucksack with Graeme's friend Jim. He plans to spend another night swapping war stories with Jim (an ex Royal Marine) in Boston, then pick up his route tomorrow where he finishes today and go on to Skegness to make contact with Audrey, a family friend who apparently used to babysit for him ( There, Seb, I've embarrased you !)

Seb's looking forward to his "days off" with Audrey and family - to rest his feet, wash out some clothes and fatten up Flash who is apparently looking a bit thin. Not surprising considering he's probably covering twice Seb's distance.

Seb sounded cheerful, though Flash did whisper to me "whose idea was this?"

Any bets as to how long Seb will actually remain inactive at Doncaster...?

Saturday 1 March 2008 - Tuesday 4 March 2008:

Seb made it to Skegness on Saturday and met up with Eddie & Jean from the Support Team who handed over several bags of dog food for Flash and other goodies for Seb. Seb was met by Audrey, the family friend, and whisked off to Doncaster for a few days well-earned rest. He is spending his time resting his feet, sorting out his kit and fattening up Flash before they move on, probably next Sunday, because, on Saturday, all being well, Seb & Flash will be attending the Doncaster home match and doing a lap of honour to raise more publicity for his venture. He went to the cinema on Sunday to see the new Rambo film - and pick up a few tips from SS? As Seb and Flash are resting for a few days we will not be updating the weblog regularly but will start again as soon as they start walking again! These pics were taken in Skegness - Flash's coat sports the logos of the companies that have sponsored his food - looks like he needs it, he's lost a lot of weight!

Wednesday 5 March 2008:

Things are happening in Doncaster... Seb is staying with an old family friend, Audrey, who has already managed to raise a total of £130 for Seb's charities!

Seb says he's feeling refreshed and ready to get going - but there's something else afoot that's keeping him in Doncaster. Watch this space tomorrow!

Thursday 6 March 2008

Things were afoot... today Seb met with Doncaster Rovers thanks to team manager Sean O'Driscoll who, after twenty years as manager of Bournemouth AFC, still has loyal supporters in Dorset who are also rooting for Seb! The team treated Seb to lunch in their magnificent stadium with its glass fronted restaurant overlooking the pitch. He was given a shirt signed by the team and understandably hasn't yet been able to decide whether or not to auction this.

Seb took the opportunity to 'flash' one of his publicity fliers past a local radio journalist who was interviewing the players - not being one to let a chance for potential fundraising pass him by. This led to a radio interview with Trax FM - [no pun intended].

On a more mundane level, Flash took Seb to the vets to get some wormer and Seb (ever with his eye on a bargain) took the opportunity to invest in some buy one, get one free walking poles. Having researched and tested outdoor equipment for his Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award, Seb is well aware that using walking poles correctly lowers stress on the knees when carrying heavy loads. It turns out his 23kg rucksack in fact weighed 28kg! A wet tent didn't help, of course. Some of the contents have been sent home, so it's now weighing in at 24-25kg including 3 litres of water.

Seb tells me Doncaster is "interesting" but that he hasn't yet quite worked out exactly why. It's grey and cold, and he'll be moving on soon...

Seb appreciates the messages people are sending him and all the efforts to support his odyssey. Thanks to Sally and the community of Elmstead for spreading the word by featuring Seb's odyssey as their 'website of the month'.

Friday 7 March 2008

First 'blogger' back on station, spoke to Seb today who seems in good form and champing at the bit to be on the road again. His feet are much improved and he has been hardening them off with surgical spirit - sounds painful to me but he says it's done the trick. He plans to set out again on Sunday and proposes to make Mablethorpe Sunday night, somewhere near Cleethorpes on Monday and Barton-upon-Humber on Tuesday night. It occurs to me that Sunday will be some milestone as he will 'break' the 500 mile barrier and we'll all be singing his song '... and I will walk five hundred miles' in celebration. Can't believe he has walked so far in such a short time. Took delivery today of his 'sea safety' cards from the RNLI - they look superb so we will be sending them on to him as soon as possible to hand out as he heads north. Seb also emailed the children at Chester Park today to thank them for their support, he is enjoying reading their regular messages!

More on Sunday when Seb 'hits the road' again.

Sunday 9 March 2008

HE'S WALKED FIVE HUNDRED MILES! Seb arrived back in Skegness mid-morning laden down with dogfood, ipod, solar charger and has somehow managed to get his rucksack weight up even higher than before! I think he has snuck in some tins for Flash so I suggested he made sure he was only carrying enough to get him to Hornsea where his next re-supply awaits him. He is rested and raring to go again after attending the Doncaster match yesterday and receiving his shirt signed by all the team. Unfortunately his knees don't seem to have appreciated the lay-off and the back of his knee swelled up today causing him some diiscomfort, but this could be due to a very tiring day walking largely along the CROWDED beaches! His Sea Safety Cards arrived safely so he has been handing those out today too. With a storm brewing in the west Seb hopes to make contact with relatives in Grimsby tomorrow and avoid a night in a tent in heavy winds. More tomorrow!

Monday 10 March 2008

The only word Seb could find to describe today, in the first instance, was HORRIBLE. After a stormy night with the tent collapsing in on itself, little sleep and a far from happy dog, to add insult to injury Seb nearly lost the tent in the morning as well. He'd packed all his gear, leaving the tent pegged down as well-trained campers do, when a huge gust of wind picked it up, ripped the pegs straight out of the waterlogged turf and hurled it into the air. It could have been a disaster, but fate intervened and the tent caught itself on a conveniently placed touring caravan which arrested its flight, giving Seb an opportunity to grab it. A close escape!

With storms lashing the south-west of England, the east coast also got its fair share of inclement weather today and Seb found himself struggling along sea walls all day battling against the elements. His Dad caught the brunt of Seb's frustration when he rang, and Seb announced 'This walk was a mistake - my knee's sore, my tent's a mess and I've just about had enough....' And in that phrase Simon spotted the clue - 'just about had enough ' - not ready to give in yet then! So his Dad simply pointed out that weather like today's is extremely rare and can't last for ever, and tents can be replaced, so why didn't he get himself to Grimsby, take a couple of paracetamol, and it would all seem a lot better in the morning. And I have to say that by the time I rang him at half six this evening, things were obviously already seeming a bit better, because his focus had returned and he was already talking about his next milestone - the Scottish border! The tent, apparently, has survived relatively unscathed from it's little escapade this morning, and Seb is staying with family friends tonight so will hopefully get a good night's sleep. Progress over the next two or three days will depend on the weather - the Humber Bridge could be quite exciting in these winds!

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Spoke to Seb this morning and again this evening. Some spectacular weather today as he continued to trudge along sea walls - thunder and lightning and again the howling winds. His knee is still very painful and after another twenty miles today he is going to give it a rest tomorrow to see if it improves - no bad thing with strong winds again forecast and the infamous Humber Bridge to be crossed. He is camped almost in its shadow and says it is an awesome view. Humber bridge

He plans to spend tomorrow getting some gentle exercise without a pack to see how the knee feels - he thinks he's actually torn something this time. If there's little or no improvement he will try and see a doctor when he has crossed the bridge on Thursday before heading up the Trans Pennine Trail back to the coast at Hornsea. Considering how low he was in spirit yesterday he seems to have gained a second wind despite the pain in his knee, and is already starting to mutter names like 'John O' Groats' and 'Cape Wrath' under his breath when he thinks I'm not paying attention. His sights are set firmly on the Scottish Border for the present and at the current rate of progress he could be there in early April, but I'm trying to convince him that easing up a bit now and giving the knee time to repair might pay off in the long run. Apart from anything else the weather might improve and walking become enjoyable again!

Thursday 13 March 2008

As planned Seb spent yesterday resting up his knee after a painful couple of days on the move after tweaking it. The campsite he used had been a good choice, providing much-needed shelter for his tent despite the high winds of the past 48 hours and it enabled him to chill out a bit and enjoy the occasional glimpses of the sun. This morning he was on his way again bright and early - and what a way to start the day, crossing the magnificent Humber Bridge on foot. He was mightily impressed with the engineering of this magnificent beast and although he had crossed it on a bus yesterday on his rest day, he said that walking across was 'something else'! He certainly sounded in good spirits when I caught up with him on the phone mid-morning - he had used his rest day well and had spent some time exploring Hull, giving his knee sufficient exercise to prevent it from stiffening up, but not exerting it unduly. The results were good and today it feels much easier, enabling him to enjoy the walking once again. He said he had found the architecture of the buildings in the centre of Hull 'very interesting' - I'll explore that with him later! He sounded in much better spirits and had already done a radio and newspaper interview before I spoke to him. I caught up with him again in the afternoon when I rang to let him know that his next campsite at Burton Constable Caravan Park had kindly offered him a free stay overnight - check out the website, it looks worth a visit! (http://www.burtonconstable.co.uk/leisure.asp) At the time we spoke he was on the Trans Pennine Trail and he was enjoying the easy walking which had enabled him to knock off today's seventeen plus miles in very good time. His knee was still in good shape which is excellent news too. He will be pleased to be back on the coast again tomorrow though, I don't think city centre walking is really his cup of tea!

Friday 14 March 2008

A remarkably cheery Seb on the phone both this evening and earlier in the day. After a comfortable free night at Burton Constable Caravan Park he made his way back onto the Trans Pennine Trail and was in Hornsea in time for lunch. The walking on the Trail had been very easy going and was probably exactly what the doctor would have ordered for his knee, had he consulted one! Apparently Hornsea was manic at lunchtime - excited schoolchildren everywhere. I can't help but wonder if perhaps they had just broken up for Easter? Fate intervened at Hornchurch because as Seb was queuing up in the Post Office to collect the dog food delivery which had been organised by Dave at Healthy Pets in Blandford, he fell into conversation with Simon Kench, a professional photographer, who was intrigued by Seb's adventures. Seb is never one to miss an opportunity, and the two of them adjourned to the beach for a photo shoot in the glorious sunshine which had accompanied Seb all day.

Simon emailed me the photos as I was talking to Seb on the phone later that afternoon, and has kindly given us permission to use them on the website. Hopefully he will also persuade a few of the local papers to publish them as well. Seb is pleased to be back on the coast and is once again enjoying the sea air and the views of spectacular white cliffs, although as the wind dropped later in the day the clouds started to roll in again and rain is forecast for tonight. He's had a slight problem with his tent (donated by Cotswold Outdoors) as during the storm the point on the inner where it is attached to the outer ripped out. Being a practical type Seb has taped it up with duct tape which has made a good repair. On a further practical note Seb is considering purchasing some panniers for Flash so that he can carry his own food and water (I'm not sure if he's consulted Flash on this but looking at the pictures he doesn't exactly look like a dog on his last legs, does he?!). I have been tasked to do some research this weekend, mostly in the Cotswold catalogue, and then no doubt I'll be tasked to try and persuade them to donate them as well. As they've already been very generous with the tent, I'll have to see what I can do... I was wondering how we would manage to measure Flash up for this latest fashion accessory when Seb came up with the idea of using a guy rope and the measure marks on his walking poles - ingenious. (This was shortly after a discussion on his Dolimio pasta meals during which I'd had an interesting lesson on how a microwave works. I have to say that talking to Seb has its moments and I think I probably learn something new every day!)

Seb had opted for a shorter day today and is camped this evening at a campsite on the cliffs in Atwick where once again he negotiated a generous discount for his overnight stay. He had a long chat on the phone this evening with Nige Tuffley who gave him lots of help with sorting his kit out before the walk - I think Nige is quite jealous actually and would dearly love to be out there walking alongside Seb (or paddling close by)(in his canoe, I hasten to add, not with his trousers rolled up....)

We had a bit of a finacial review today and it would appear that our estimate of £15 a day to keep Seb fed, watered and accommodated may have been a little on the optimistic side, so a big 'thank you' to Richard Drax and the many other supporters who have donated most generously to his Support Fund - and if you'd like to help keep him going, please visit the 'How you can support Seb' page! Don't panic though, we have enough to keep him going for a few more weeks yet. (Sorry, Seb, you've got to keep going a bit longer!)

All in all an excellent day - I can't remember when I last heard him so cheerful. More tomorrow!

Saturday 15 March 2008

Seb set off this morning at 9am after handing in his key at Skirlington Campsite. It was possibly, I believe, his first real experience of walking in that famous North Sea fog this morning, but he soon found a track that ran along the top of the cliffs heading in the right direction. By the time he reached Bridlington at lunchtime the fog was lifting, and once again he found himself in a bustling town centre so, not liking crowds at the best of times, he hurried on through. He has had some interesting encounters in city centres and his thoughts on people's reactions to man, dog and rucksack are an interesting read in an article in yesterday's Yorkshire Post . He said that Bridlington was followed by a steep hill, so I pulled up the profile of today's route on the computer just now and discovered that he has in fact climbed a total of 1500 feet today, and yes, the profile for the last few miles resembled the New York skyline of skyscrapers! Steep up, and steep down. Flamborough Head was a disappointment after all the hype - grey and breezy - so Seb headed on into camp and is tucked up tonight, free of charge (thankyou!), at Thornwick and Sea Farm Campsite just north of Flamborough Head. I don't know if any of our regular readers have noticed, but I was struck by how incredibly well Flash is looking in the photographs that were taken yesterday. I mentioned this to Seb and curiously he has had the same reaction from passers-by who have stopped him and commented that the dog looks well enough to be shown at Crufts! Certainly the bloom on his coat is quite extraordinary, although to be fair Seb has always kept him looking well.

So off to Scarborough tomorrow. The RNLI Sea Safety cards have been a great hit and Seb is down to his last two, so I'll have to hot-foot it down to the Post Office on Monday with my crystal ball to try and work out where to send another batch... Any guesses where he'll be on Tuesday afternoon? Answers on a postcard please...

Sunday 16 March 2008

Another cracking day and the 600 mile barrier smashed with another 22 miles on the clock. Seb's weather has been slightly better than here and he didn't get the heavy rain which we have had in Dorset over the last 24 hours - in fact, when we spoke at tea-time he even had a small patch of blue sky overhead. He has hugged the coast again today passing Hunmanby and Muston Sands, rounding the corner at Filey and heading north-west again until eventually reaching Scarborough. The weekend crowds were out in force and again he found a bustling town centre, so he passed on through and is camped this evening at the northernmost of the two sites in Scalby. He did stop at the first but they weren't able to offer him free accommodation so he moved on and was successful at the next one, Scalby Close Park so thank you, Scalby Close!

Seb is settling into a better routine now and has discovered that shorter days are much more enjoyable so with encouragement from his Dad he is trying shorter days and toying with the idea of actually dropping full rest days. The fact that the campsites are now open has made life much easier for all involved and with his Dad on board doing a lot of the booking ahead when other accommodation hasn't been offered it has taken some of the pressure off the rest of the support team (thank you Simon). The downside of that is that Seb's obviously having too much time for planning ahead and he's got me on the job of trying to guesstimate when he will arrive in John o'Groats and Simon tells me he has been tasked to start organising the homecoming party!!! But hey, it's never too early I guess because, believe me, it's going to be some party, and if thinking about the party keeps him going, then all's well.

Monday 17 March 2008

Robin Hood Bay

Well, where to begin? Perhaps it was inevitable as Seb headed north towards Robin Hoods Bay where Bram Stoker set part of his famous Dracula novel that we should have a day of dramatic events. It began with dramatic scenery, cliffs and waterfalls, which inspired Seb sufficiently for him to ring me to tell me that it was so stunning that he's already decided he will come back here one day to camp (when the sun is shining), followed by dramatic weather when he rang to tell me he was in a virtual blizzard of first hail squalls rapidly followed by SNOW showers, and then this evening a dramatic turn for the worse when he rang to say that Flash had gashed himself badly high up on the inside of his back leg after an encounter with a barbed wire fence. I have to confess to feeling somewhat helpless sat here over 600 miles away, and I'd like to thank Tony (the newly arrived locum I understand!) and everyone at Beck Veterinary Practice, Higher Stakesby near Whitby for being incredibly helpful, arranging to see Flash at 9 o'clock this evening, helping us to to find a taxi that would take dogs and generally reassuring Seb who was understandably upset at Flash's injury. It was all a bit like something out of 'All Creatures Great and Small' but the good news is that it isn't too serious, and although Flash has been tucked up in the veterinary hospital overnight, and will require a minor operation, he should be fit to leave after his wound has been stitched tomorrow. He will, however, be on 'light duties' for a few days so Seb may well have to stay put for a while. All I can say is thank heavens for Google and incredibly helpful people who rally round when they understand the problem of a young man with an injured dog who's 600 miles from home with no transport.

So tonight Seb is spending his first night alone in his tent, and it's bitterly cold, so he will miss his furry hot-water bottle (who is tucked up, no doubt, in a nice centrally heated bed at the vet's!) More news tomorrow.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

What can I say? Wonderful, warm Whitby - Seb has been given so much support and kindness over the last 24 hours by everyone he has come into contact with that he is quite overwhelmed by it all. The people at Hooks House Farm Campsite where he stayed last night ticked him off for not knocking on their door last night when he needed to get Flash to the vet because they'd have given him a lift, the taxi firm (T Vees Taxis) who have run him around have made a donation AND organised a photoshoot with the Whitby Gazette, and tonight he has been accommodated at Beacon Farm in Sneaton where he has been given the barn for a couple of days to save him putting up his tent (and a barn adjacent to an ice-cream business, what more could a boy ask!!)

The picture of Flash by Raggy Rat which you can bid for after the walk.

But the biggest thank you must go to Sue Beck and the team at Beck Veterinary Practice (and yes, the vet this afternoon was also called Sebastian - much confusion!) who have sorted out Flash for Seb.The good news is that the wound is not too serious, but to be on the safe side a drain has been inserted to ensure the wound doesn't develop a build-up of fluid which could cause more problems if not attended to. This means that Flash needs to rest over the next five days, so Seb is staying put in Whitby until at least Saturday when he will go back to the vet's to have the drain removed. Flash is sporting a trendy little 'lampshade' as Seb described it to prevent him tampering with the excellent work done this afternoon. A very big thank you to all involved - Seb has much appreciated the kindness shown by everyone. We'll keep you posted.

p.s. For the record Seb walked into Whitby from Robin Hoods Bay this morning to pass some time so we've been able to add six miles to his total today, but as you will see from the route map he wasn't due in Whitby until the 12th April anyway so a few days R & R won't adversely affect his schedule........... The other good news is that we have heard from some students at New College Durham who'd like to help Seb carry his rucksack somewhere between the Tees and the Tyne - an offer he is happy to accept!

Thursday 20 March 2008

Apologies for the silence yesterday - I didn't get home until after 10pm and actually there was very little to report. Seb had an anxious day with Flash not being the most co-operative of patients and he came very close to undoing all the vet's good work by wriggling out of his restraining collar and trying to undo his stitches. After a hasty consultation with fellow Support Group member Sue, who as luck would have it was on holiday in Edinburgh and much closer geographically to Seb than any of the rest of us here in Dorset, it was decided that Sue would go and pick up Seb and Flash first thing this morning, take him back to the vet for a check-up (Flash, not Seb) and then take him back to Edinburgh to while away the time until Flash was fit to start walking again. So Seb bid a temporary farewell to his very kind hosts at Beacon Farm and headed north by car, but he will be back in Whitby at the weekend to pick up the trail where he left off. He did manage to squeeze in an interview with the Whitby Gazette before he left, so those of you who live in the area, make sure you get a copy on Tuesday!

The good news is that offers of support are flooding in for the next stretch of the walk and we hope that Seb will be able to adjust his timing to accept the kind offer of meeting with the Mayor of South Tyneside, Councillor Tracey Dixon, followed by lunch with the Deputy Mayor Councillor Alex Donaldson in Colman's Fish Restaurant before he crosses the Tyne (possibly in the company of members of the local Royal Marine Reserve). Our thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award 'family' for contacting the Mayor, and Seb hopes that we will still be able to organise this despite the delay in reaching you.

Finding campsites looks a little daunting in places but we also have a Coastal Ranger on board to advise on the Hartlepool to Seaham leg, not to mention the students from New College offering to carry his rucksack (I wonder if they've read how much it weighs?). And more offers for the stretches farther north are coming in too - Seb's Odyssey seems to have captured your imagination out there - thank you!

Seb would also like to thank his Silver Expedition Assessor who sent in a donation specifically for Seb to treat himself to a slap up meal at Easter - what a lovely gesture. He certainly had a 'down' day yesterday, but the support and encouragement he has received from everyone has enabled him to re-focus and he is once again completely committed to getting on with his walk as soon as possible.

We'll keep you posted.

Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008

As I type this, Seb is on his way back to Whitby by car after a short break in Scotland which has given Flash's wound time to heal. The weather doesn't seem too bad at the moment but they are only just approaching the grey skies having set out under wall-to-wall blue. Seb hopes to start walking again tomorrow morning, weather permitting, with a short hop (sorry Flash, that was a bit unkind wasn't it?!) to Runswick Bay to settle himself back into walking mode, before increasing his daily distance back up to about 18 miles a day again. There is a further update from Martin Lea in Friday's Dorset Echo - - Martin 'broke' the story of Seb's Walk initially and continues to keep Dorset residents in the picture. Seb sounds refreshed and upbeat and fully back in 'no problem' mode, so I look forward to reporting on his first day back on the trail tomorrow. Happy Easter to you all!

Easter Monday, 24 March 2008

When Seb arrived back at Whitby yesterday afternoon he found the campsite very busy and decided to move on to Runswick Bay, so that is where he started from this morning after a bitterly cold night. The wind is blowing straight out of the polar regions at the moment and walking head-on into it was extremely unpleasant, although Seb did find time to enjoy the spectacular sight of snow squalls out to sea. Despite the inclement weather he made good time today and covered 16 miles, arriving in Redcar at 5pm where he was met by Cath and Mick Williams, members of the local Duke of Edinburgh's Award family, who have whisked him back to their place to stay overnight. Cath runs an Award Group at Glendene School in Easington Colliery, and has kindly offered to support Seb as he walks northward through that area, so he will be staying with the family again tomorrow night. Flash appears fully recovered from his recent injury which is excellent news. Oh yes - Seb ran into a group of ramblers from Dewsbury and District Rambling Club when he was out today who were enjoying a very bracing walk in the wintery weather, and they had an instant whip-round and presented Seb with something like £17 in odds and ends of loose change that they had on them, to give to his charities. So many thanks to them!

More tomorrow.

Tuesday 25 March 2008

What a day Seb and Flash have had! After a very comfortable night with the Williams family just outside Durham, Seb and Flash set out once again this morning from Seaton Carew, just south of Hartlepool. It was a rare day for Seb, as his 25kg rucksack was abandoned and he had the pleasure of walking with a day sack for the first time since he left Weymouth 7 weeks ago. This was, no doubt, a huge disappointment to the students from New College Durham, who joined Seb en route today specifically with the aim of carrying his rucksack for him, but I'm sure they'll forgive him (and were probably secretly relieved......). It was a pleasant change to walk in company, and as the wind had eased considerably Seb, Flash a nd their companions made good time during the morning and arrived at Glendene School in Easington Colliery in time for the second sitting of lunch. Not only did Seb have a special meal cooked for him, but so did Flash - what an honour! How many dogs do you know who have sat down to a school dinner?

Sue Turnbull, the local Development Worker for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, also joined Seb for lunch - and a host of media were queueing up for interviews (and Seb had done one photo shoot before he even arrived!). Look out for Seb in the Sunderland Echo, the Northern Echo, the Shields Gazette, the Newcastle Journal and on local television over the next few days, and you may have heard him live on Radio Newcastle this evening too! After lunch and interviews, not necessarily in that order, Seb and Flash visited the children in class and they were truly amazed to find their hero from the Seb's Odyssey website actually in their midst. Seb really enjoyed meeting the children, and Flash had a wonderful time as the children made a huge fuss over him, but eventually Seb had to drag him away as he was on a mission to reach the River Wear before tea. And reach it he did - ten miles in something like two and a half hours, much of it jogging rather than walking as he took advantage of the light daysack to put in some extra training in preparation for his TA course in 4 weeks time. (He's been told he will need to complete a Combat Fitness Test before he can go on the course - I suspect he may pass with flying colours!) Our thanks to Cath Williams and the Headteacher, staff and children at Glendene School for their amazing hospitality today, and for putting up with the invasion at lunchtime.

Tonight Seb is back at home with the Williams family sorting out the dogfood that Cath kindly picked up from Hartlepool today, and they will put him back on the road by the River Wear first thing tomorrow morning. Flash will enjoy one more night with his new friends, the Williams' cats, and both our travellers are looking forward to another day of media attention as they make their triumphant way into South Tyneside tomorrow... We are overwhelmed by the support we have received in this area - you are truly amazing, all of you.

P.s. Seb was pleasantly surprised today to hear that he had received his first donation from Hong Kong!

Wednesday 26 March 2008

A busy day for Seb with the focus very much on meeting with supporters and talking to the media. He set off from the north side of the River Wear at 9 o'clock this morning and as he approached Whitburn he was met and formally welcomed across the border by the Mayor of South Tyneside, Councillor Tracey Dixon, resplendant in her chains of office. This recognition was very much appreciated by Seb - his first civic reception! We are indebted to the Mayor for taking time out of her busy day to meet and chat with him. The formalities completed (and hopefully his passport stamped) Seb then met with and walked with a group of Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award participants who had been brought along by Walter Hudson, Award Co-ordinator for the area, and Alex, a Gold Award holder. Seb was delighted to be relieved of his rucksack for this part of the walk, and whilst Alex coped with it easily, it has to be said that the Bronze participants struggled somewhat when they too were invited to have a go. As the group headed up the coast they were intercepted by a crew from Tyne Tees Television who interviewed Seb and filmed him and Flash for tonight's programme. Eventually they all arrived at Coleman's Fish Restaurant, one of the UK's top fish and chip shops, where they all lunched with the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Alex Donaldson. Seb may have only completed ten miles today, but the publicity generated in the last 48 hours has been fantastic and I think we have voted the north-east 'top spot' for warm welcomes and overwhelming hospitality! Once all the excitement was over Seb was whisked away by Lt Andrew Dye from RMR Tyne who are hosting Seb overnight, and he is looking forward to a slightly later start tomorrow when he will be joined by other members of the Royal Marine Reserve who will walk part of the day with him. Let's hope they are gentle with him tonight!

I spoke to Cath Williams from Glendene School this evening who has hosted Seb for the last two days, and she tells me there has been fantastic coverage in the local papers and that everyone who has met Seb has been bowled over by his commitment to this incredible journey. I have no doubt that the last couple of days will have renewed his enthusiasm for whatever the future may hold. Well done Seb - you continue to amaze us all!

Thursday 27 March 2008

No great excitement today but another good day of steady progress with a further 18 miles added to the total when Seb arrived in Newbiggin-by-the Sea this evening. It was a late night last night at the RMR Mess in Newcastle - something to do with football on the TV I gather! so it wasn't the earliest of starts this morning, but eventually Seb and Flash were on their way accompanied by six members of the Royal Marine Reserve in uniform - we look forward to receiving the photos guys! Seb set the pace and it must have been quite fast because I had a text from him to say he was in Newbiggin well before 4pm (having parted from the Marines at Blyth), and as they didn't set out until 1030 that wasn't bad going.

Mid-morning they passed Seaton Sluice lighthouse and Seb's spirits soared when he saw a sign saying 'Berwick, 77 miles' because the Scottish border is just 2 miles the other side. He can smell the heather and taste the whisky already! However, he's in no rush because he's really enjoyed staying with the Williams family and surprise, surprise, he's back there again this evening - I think he's been adopted... (or maybe Flash has a thing going with the cats?). Anyway, rather than drag Mick and Cath and the children out of bed early to drive him all the way up to Newbiggin before school tomorrow, he's been persuaded to stay an extra day and start walking again on Saturday so that they can see him off properly. I think he's prolonging that feeling of anticipation which he must be feeling with the Scottish Border so close - not to mention the fact that he will break the 700 mile barrier four miles into his next walking day as well.

Our thanks to the RMR for escorting him as far as Blyth today - I've no doubt he enjoyed your company. And we have another first on messages today too - Australia and Hong Kong in the bag, New Zealand added this afternoon. (See the messages page)Where next I wonder?

As Seb won't be walking tomorrow I may not update now until Saturday evening, but he's had a lot of media cover in the last few days so I will be trawling Google and adding any new links to the media page. His references run onto three pages on Google now which is quite an achievement in itself!

Saturday 29 March 2008

Well, Seb set off again this morning with the entire Williams family turning out to send him on his way. He made such good time that he was at his planned destination in Warksworth just after lunch, and as we had failed to find a campsite within a reasonable distance any farther north, he found himself sitting around with nothing much to do in the pouring rain - so a quick SOS to the Williams and he's back there for the night...! The Mason's Arms, his intended hosts, were very understanding, and he'll pick up his route again tomorrow from just north of Warksworth, heading up past Bamburgh Castle to camp at Budle Bay. He completed his first 700 miles today - what an achievement!

Friday 28 March 2008

Seb was on a rest day today but I thought you might like this stunning picture which was taken by the Northern Echo as Seb headed north through County Durham on Tuesday.

I think there is a clue to Seb's speed over the ground in the picture, as Flash is quite clearly towing him along at a considerable pace! The vets in Whitby commented how well the dog was keeping - obviously his current daily intake of Judge's Choice dog food (topped up with the occasional school lunch...) is suiting him!

Sunday 30 March 2008

Seb has cracked a good distance again today and is safely into camp at Waren Mill close to Budle Bay. The weather hasn't been too bad, just a few showers (including one from a passing motorist), and he's made good time. He's passed some spectacular spots today, including the famous Bamburgh Castle, but a lot of the day was sand-dunes - not his favourite walking at all, but he's on target for crossing the Scottish border on Tuesday morning - how exciting!

On the fundraising front Seb has been receiving donations 'on the hoof' - £17 from the Ramblers, £10 from - not an Englishman, not a Scot, but a NORTHUMBRIAN! donor, and on Wednesday the Bronze DofE Group he was walking with gave him £20. This was money given to them by a very grateful lady whom they rescued after she had got her mobility scooter stuck in the sand on the beach, and they chose to pass it on to Seb for his charities.

I'm proposing to write to some local companies in the next week to ask them to support Seb by making a donation to his charities - crossing the Scottish border is a significant milestone, and one surely worthy of recognition. If anyone reading this blog knows of a company that might be persuaded to make a donation, please contact me by emailing mary00harper@btopenworld.com with the name of the company, their location, and if you have a contact name, that would be very useful. I think it would give Seb such a boost if we could crank up the charity total at the top of the page, and I think 750+ miles is a major achievement in anybody's book - don't you?

So, Berwick tomorrow night and the Scottish border on Tuesday morning. Well done Seb (and Flash!)!

Monday 31st March 2008

It seems incredible, but here we are, exactly two calendar months of the walk completed and tonight Seb is camped within sight of the Scottish border. It is a moment to pause and reflect on what he has achieved so far, and he intends to make the most of it by having a day off to explore Berwick before moving on. So Wednesday will be The Day. He'll make an early start and arrive at the border at 9.30am where a piper will meet him to welcome him to Scotland in an appropriate fashion. How good is that! So, if you live in the area, why not head off up/down the A1 to send him on his way....

He enjoyed today although he spent a very cold night at Budle Bay and woke up this morning to a tent dripping with heavy condensation and wet boots - not the best start to the day! However, a cooked breakfast and a refund of his campsite fees (thank you, Budle Bay!) soon restored his feeling of well-being and he set off in good spirits having already decided to treat himself to another day off tomorrow to get his washing done and a chance to dry his boots. The thin cloud cleared eventually and as he passed Holy Island the sun broke through warming up the day very nicely. Light winds was an added bonus - butting into the recent northerlies has been energy sapping and, by his own admission, harder to cope with than the rain, sleet and snow. He made good time to Berwick, and was in a very chipper mood when we spoke this evening. Phase One complete, Phase Two about to start!

Incidentally, having spoken to a few well-wishers on the phone, it has become apparent that a lot of people assume that Seb's Support Team are trundling along in the rear, close at hand. Can I assure you that we are not! We all met this evening for our regular update and forward planning meeting at the Botany Bay Inne at Winterborne Zelston, down here in deepest, darkest Dorset. He really is on his own up there, picking up maps and dogfood at random Post Offices on the way and relying heavily on the goodwill of people he meets along the way through our support network and the website for the occasional overnight stay in somewhere more comfortable than a tent. Quite a daunting prospect when you think about it, some achievement!

Tuesday 1st April 2008

Not much to report today as Seb was having a day off to prepare himself for the great border crossing tomorrow. His washing is all done, he's re-supplied himself with gas, and he has rested up after exploring Berwick this morning. His campsites are all sorted for the next three days too, so we can all relax and put our feet up while Seb prepares himself for Scotland. His one concern is route-finding as Scotland doesn't have public rights of way as we do in England, so map interpretation may be quite challenging until he gets a feel for where he can and can't walk. It might make life easier, it might make life more difficult, only time will tell. You will see the charity total took a nice jump upwards today too - many thanks to those responsible. And Seb's family are organising a cheese and wine fundraiser in Weymouth on Saturday 19th April, so if you'd like to attend or donate a raffle prize please email us. We are also looking for items to auction when the walk is over at a special event somewhere in Dorset. We have two superb 'lots' already - the original picture of Flash (as seen on the website) and a framed prize-winning photograph of stormy seas by Simon Kench. I will set up a page on the website when I get a mo and 'display' the auction items for you all to see. Perhaps we could start taking some on-line bids even at this early stage - watch this space! I think Seb is thinking about auctioning off some of his gear, so if you know anyone who'd like to purchase a pair of very well-worn walking boots, do get in touch.........

Watch this space for our first report from Scotland tomorrow.

Wednesday 2nd April 2008, 11a.m.

Seb has crossed the border! Greeted by the Press and a lone piper, and a month earlier than expected, he's done it. He's in Scotland. What an awesome achievement. Lost for words. More later.

Wednesday 2nd April, Part Two

Truly a day of ups and downs, a real roller-coaster of a day, and not just because Seb has climbed 2,600 feet today and descended 2,200 feet as well!

It started badly when, today of all days, he overslept. A frantic text at 8.20 saying 'I'm not going to make it on time' was sent and then he rolled out of his tent, threw everything into his rucksack, skipped breakfast and hot-footed it out of the campsite and headed off up the A1 towards Scotland - not what he'd planned at all! Speed walking on roads is not good at the best of times, and his shins were burning by the time the fluttering flags which mark the border came into view, and, running half an hour late, Seb was convinced that the reception party would be long gone - but they weren't. The local press were there, and, resplendant in kilt, so was the piper. And so it was that this extraordinary young man completed part one of his odyssey and crossed the border into Scotland....

Twice. Because when the ceremony was complete and the photos all taken, Seb nipped back across the border to the refreshment wagon parked in the Car Park on the ENGLISH side to snaffle a bacon butty for his breakfast. And only then did he realise that in all the excitement his own video camera had remained in his rucksack and he had failed to record the moment for posterity. Ah well.

After his belated breakfast - yes, you've guessed, Seb re-crossed the border (no piper) and was soon back on the magnificent coast path, heading north under a searing blue sky, with just a light breeze accompanying him as he walked along the clifftops. Next stop was Eyemouth, and a rendezvous with the Postmaster to collect his next batch of maps, and on a day of ups and downs its predictable really isn't it....? Correct, it's Wednesday, and as we all know, Post Offices close early on a Wednesday, so Seb arrived to collect his maps exactly 52 minutes after the Post Office shut for the day, not to re-open until 9am the following day. Our map deliveries are jinxed, and there is now a trail of uncollected maps up the east coast of the UK! So once again, Seb purchased a map, and was soon on his way again.

It was a relatively short day today and so Seb's next 'up' was arriving at his designated campsite really early which was a great relief after the rather chaotic day, but fate wasn't finished with him yet. Despite the neat little tent marked on the map, the campsite doesn't take tents, so more phone calls, rucksack back on and off he goes again, fortune on his side this time as there are actually TWO campsites in Coldingham and the second one does take tents... At £13 a night! Was this day never going to end? But hey, his outgoings were negligible last week thanks to the hospitality of the Williams family so he gritted his teeth, paid up and is safely esconced in his SCOTTISH campsite for the night. Well done Seb - what a day!

Another long one tomorrow, so lets hope the weather holds and the gremlins stay in bed tomorrow (or are they trolls in Scotland?) Whichever, let's hope they give the guy a break!

Thursday 3rd April 2008

An 'interesting' day today! Having overslept yesterday Seb was on a mission again today and was away from his campsite before 7.30am this morning, 'power-walking' to make up for lost time. When I spoke to him just after 10am he had already completed about 12 miles and was almost in sight of the proposed campsite for the day - unbelievable! However, this was causing havoc for Myra Galloway, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Officer for East Lothian (my equivalent - hallo Myra!) and her Development Officer ('Jaws' Seb tells me but I expect it's spelt Geors? (Georgia or Georgina I believe)) who were desperately trying to catch up with him having retrieved his maps from the Post Office at Eyemouth... Having persuaded him to slow down a bit and perhaps take a break, they eventually rendezvoused at the picnic site near Skateraw Harbour - well done ladies! What a stunning family the Award is - and what a small one too! It transpires that Geors did her DofE in Dorset with none other than James who is another member of Seb's Support Group - what were the odds on that I wonder?

Well, the rest of the day seems to have involved a lot of flying around all over the place because not only did Seb manage to reach a campsite on the western side of Dunbar, but he also managed to spend some time at the DofE office charging up phones and catching up on all your messages on the website, whilst consuming assorted Mars Bars, crisp and coke (I have been worried about Cola withdrawal, but it appears he has had a good intake today so that should re-energise him after his strenuous day!) And to top up I believe he and Geors rounded off the day with fish and chips - Nige in our office did comment last week that Seb didn't seem to have lost as much weight on his travels as he'd expected, now we know why! He (Seb) was describing some Scottish delicacy 2 days ago which I believe is two beefburgers with a slab of cheese in the middle deep fried in batter.......... Oh yes, that reminds me. Thank you to the burger van that started his day today with free breakfast rolls - one egg, one bacon, and lots of bacon fat for the dog. (probably a good job you speed-marched 12 miles today Seb - a few calories burnt off was undoubtedly a 'good thing' after that lot!)

So a day of blue sky and sunshine only marred by the dog tipping his dinner bowl upside down inside the tent this evening - don't think Seb was too impressed with that. Tomorrow he will end up west of North Berwick, and Edinburgh Saturday, hopefully staying over with the Royal Marine Reserves once more. Seb was very upbeat this evening and appears to be enjoying life north of the border. Must be something to do with all that lovely healthy food he's eating?

Again thanks to everyone out there supporting him, particularly the East Lothian DofE Team today. You are all superstars!

p.s. A message for Chester Park Infant School in Bristol. As I suspected, Seb was tickled pink by your 'border crossing' ceremony on Wednesday (see Messages page) and he and Flash are looking forward to meeting you all later on this year. However, I do know that you have spent a lot of your lessons recently replicating things that Seb has been doing, like learning to weigh in kilograms and gradually adding weight to your Seb Rucksack which you then tried to carry round the playground.... Can I suggest that trying to persuade Mrs Phillips and the staff to let you have a go at Seb's menu today is NOT a good idea? Because if you eat as many calories as Seb has eaten today you will all have to go on a 12 mile run with a very heavy schoolbag tomorrow to burn them all off again. Not a good idea. Seb does enjoy the messages you send though, so do keep them coming in!

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 sight of camp at Aberlady and enjoying lovely sunshine and spectacular cloud formations - an omen of things brewing to the north perhaps, because the weather forecast is not good. However, he was enjoying the sunshine for the time being, and was also making good use of Scotland's open access laws. Nick Morgan, Access Officer for East Lothian Council has told us 'You will probably be aware that there is a right of responsible access in Scotland for the public to walk on most land, (other than private gardens or farm steadings).You are also allowed to wild camp as part of your walk, again as long as you are responsible.' This has been music to Seb's ears, who has always been very conscientious about sticking to public rights of way or roads, but who has yearned to make best use of the land before him. Today he was able to cut south around North Berwick, avoiding the town but never straying that far from the coast. It gives him a sense of freedom and is something he would love to see replicated in England.

Diet a little improved today - Mars bars for lunch and pasta for tea. He was into camp nice and early, appreciating his half-price deal, and looking forward to reaching Edinburgh tomorrow. We have been inundated with offers of accommodation in Edinburgh, so a big thankyou to all who have been so generous. Seb's opted to stay with the Royal Marine Reserves again and, if they'll have him, will have another day off on Sunday in view of the rather grim weather forecast which predicts biting winds hurling themselves out of the north bringing snow and - even worse - hail showers.

Winter, it would appear, is not done with him yet..........

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday 8th 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.....

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.

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"

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. I look forward to hearing from you!

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.

Stay with us - back soon!

Tuesday 22 April 2008

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 Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. and when I have the paper's permission I'll put the photo into the blog as well.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

And wasn't the telly good! Four lead stories at 6pm - China, Burma, football hooligans - and Seb! It took four hours filming to complete the report with John Kay but it was all worthwhile, because I thought Seb came over really well. What a star! It's a shame they weren't able to include the website details as we have had lots of messages from people tonight saying it took them ages to find out how to donate, but they obviously got there in the end or we wouldn't have received the messages (or the £500+ in donations - whow). If you go onto the BBC website and search on Seb Green you'll be able to watch the video over and over again - I'll put a link in later.

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. 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.....?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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. 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...................

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!

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.

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 group 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 and 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 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.

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.

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..........'

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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! JOGPICTURE

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.

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...

Sunday 15th June 2008

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 e ver 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 and B for the night.

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!

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!

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).

Saturday 21 June 2008

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!

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.

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................

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!

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!)

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!

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.............

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............. APPLECROSS

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.

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'!

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.

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.........

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.................

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!

Saturday 5 July 2008

Today Seb met up with Ashley and climbed Ben Nevis (with Flash of course). More details when we receive the photos. They had good weather for the climb and enjoyed great views from the summit (and were surprised at the amount of snow still lying). They rang us from the top so that we could 'be there too'. Well done guys. Ash tells me it was exceedingly cold too!

Seb also met up with Colin Snook at the campsite today and they chatted about their respective walks and the challenges each of them still has to face. Colin is going the opposite way round to Seb and is raising money for CLIMB. I wonder if they are the oldest (72) and youngest (18) round Britain walkers?

Apologies for the brief update - been out with expedition groups in the New Forest all day and another early start tomorrow. More soon!

Monday 7 July 2008

Seb took an extra day off today making two in a row! He confessed he is still suffering somewhat from his exertions on the mountain and his thigh muscles are giving him grief so he thought he'd chill for another day in the shadow of the mountain before setting off again tomorrow. This has given us a chance to get maps and sim cards in the post, and dog food is on its way also. It has also given him a chance to plan his route over the next few days - and re-plan - and re-plan again. I think we are on Plan 'C' - or is it 'D'? - at the moment, so who knows where he'll be tomorrow night! It all adds to the fun though and it's good that he feels he can just go where the mood takes him.

Have a look at the messages page where we have an exciting update from Chester Park School who are about to perform - wait for it - 'Seb's Odyssey - the Musical'. More details on the message page. Move over Andrew Lloyd-Webber!

Had an excellent Support Group meeting tonight and we all collected our 'I'm Supporting Seb' hoodies and polo shirts. They are really great and although they won't raise a fortune as we have attempted to keep them reasonably priced, they will be a great way of publicising the walk. Mel has done a great job organising this new venture for us,and she looks forward to receiving you orders!

James and Pat from our Support Group would also love to see you at the Tarrant Valley 10 - this year's Tarrant Valley 10 is a multi terrain 10 km race starting at 10:30am on Sunday 20th July and a separate 1 mile children's race starting at 10:35am on roads and tracks in the Tarrant Valley, near Blandford in Dorset. Visit Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. for full details. Monies raised will be shared between Starlight Children's Foundation, the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and a third charity which I've forgotten - sorry! I'll amend this with the correct details tomorrow.... We will have a fundraising stall there so come and see us.

Plans are also well under way for a fundraising stall at Weymouth Carnival on 20th August.

Tuesday 8th July 2008

Seb hit the road again today after an extended stopover in Fort William and headed back down the dreaded A82 to Ballachulish - not a pleasant experience. Substantial roadworks were resulting in long queues forming so that Seb was actually making progress faster on foot than those in cars - a phenomena which didn't go unnoticed by some drivers who seemed to hold Seb entirely responsible for the long delays and proceeded to gun him down when they eventually got moving. On more than one occasion he had to leap off the road to avoid being mown down and he was unsurprisingly not happy!

However, there is always some little event which turns a bad day into a good day and today this event took the form of Davina Melton who owns the Glencoe Independant Youth Hostel - an historic west highland croft in the heart of beautiful Glencoe. She passed Seb on the road , thought it looked like the lad on the TV, rushed home to check the website to see if it was him, then rushed back to offer him a free stopover at the Hostel! Seb was only too pleased to accept the offer and is staying there tonight. Visit http://www.glencoehostel.com/

Having settled in Seb then walked into the village of Glencoe to top up his phone credit - he hasn't joined up with his new sim card yet and is set to do a local radio interview as he approaches Oban, so wanted to make sure his communications system was fully functional.

Ashley arrived back today and with him came photos of Seb on Ben Nevis and visiting the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge. I'll put them in here for now and then move them down to the correct day later in the week. Real snow!

I have now attached the order form for Seb Supporter clothing at the top of this page. The garments look really good and we have pegged the price to make them affordable whilst making a small profit for the charities, so get ordering now!

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Seb was back on the road this morning after a very late night sat up talking to two guys of a similar age to him who are on holiday from Uni and cycling from John o'Groats to Lands End just for fun. They are taking it at quite a leisurely pace - in fact Seb seems to cover almost as many miles a day on his feet as they do on their bikes! They are obviously having a good time and the three of them enjoyed some of the local tipple by all accounts...

The weather in Scotland today was much better than the torrential rain we had here in the south and Seb only encountered an occasional very light shower, but it was so warm that he had to stop walking when it rained as he simply overheated in his waterproofs! He's aware he had some narrow escapes though because he could see huge rainstorms drifting across the landscape in the distance with walls of water cascading out of the sky - really impressive. It turned out to be one of those days where fate lent a hand too, because just as his spirits hit a low, something happened which completely changed the day and he was positively chirpy when he rang up. It began as he reached the end of his 22 mile day which had been quite pleasant walking after yesterday as much of the route was on a dismantled railway. There were 2 campsites marked on the map so he made a beeline for the first to be greeted with a sign which read 'Tents and Tourers not welcome'. Okay, he thought, let's try the next one. 'Camping and Caravan Club Members ONLY'. Somewhat despondent now he resigned himself to a wild camp when he stumbled upon a third campsite - Sea View Caravan and Camping Park. Somewhat relieved, he booked himself in, handed the elderly lady owner one of his cards which she didn't read, assuming it was a business card, and paid his eight pounds fee. He then turned to walk away and pitch his tent at which point she spotted his rucksack cover with the Seb's Odyssey information in bold print. Two minutes later she rushed across the campsite to him, thrust the eight pounds back into his hand - and added a very substantial donation on top! I have since googled the campsite and read reviews and I understand the lady is called Violet and will always go out of her way to help people out, even baking them cakes in exchange for a small donation to charity. Thank you Violet - you are a legend!

You may remember Seb's exciting ride in a helicopter last week - here is a photo he took on the day. I have included it as we have received a donation and message from the Countess of Cromartie today as follows: “I was one of the helicopter team in Applecross. We were all very impressed by you – you completely upstaged the helicopters! Well done and good luck with your journey”

Tomorrow Seb moves on to Oban and will probably take a day off on Friday to enable him to attend the local radio station to do an interview. There is also another dog magazine on Flash's trail (or should that be tail?) so many thanks to Suzie at Starlight for taking on the publicity role for us - it's working well! There has been a significant leap in the website hits too - all very gratifying. It's good to know Seb is getting the recognition he deserves...

Thursday 10th July 2008

BLOG PAUSED! Sorry everyone but I am on Dartmoor for the next five days assessing Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award ventures - back late on Monday 14th. Think of me in my little tent in the torrential rain - at least I'll be able to empathise with Seb!

Monday 14th July 2008

Just to let you all know Seb is taking a short break/ holiday to recharge his batteries thanks to the generosity of the lovely caravan and camping site in Oban http://www.obancaravanpark.com/ who have been most generous with their support and have offered him a caravan for a few days to chill out free of charge! His journey over the last couple of weeks has been both physically and mentally demanding with long days and lots of wild camping and it will do him good to put his feet up for a few days to chill out.

Oban Camping and Caravan Park - I can think of worse places for a holiday, can't you?

He had a great time at the local radio station who pre-recorded the interview last Friday for transmission on Sunday morning. I spoke to Col the presenter who said it was a great piece and they had all much enjoyed meeting Seb and Flash. Seb asked for a request to be played for him - no prizes for guessing which one! Yes - The Proclaimers 'I will walk 500 miles', his theme song. Only now we need to update it to 'and I HAVE walked 500 miles'.... and the rest!

We'll let you know when Seb is back on the road, batteries charged. Watch this space!

Thursday 17 July 2008

How do I begin to tell you about today? It has been the most amazing day for me and somehow I have to put it into words so that Seb can read all about it and be uplifted too, and know what an inspiration he is to the children at Chester Park Infant School in Bristol whose school leaving concert I attended today. Well worth a day off work! The production was entitled 'Seb's Odyssey - The Musical' and the children from Year 2 narrated the story of Seb's journey from the very beginning when he left Weymouth on the 1st February this year, following his travels around the coast of England and up into Scotland, and all 'illustrated' with songs and dances. They were word perfect - not a single prompt or 'script' to be seen, with everything clearly spoken and not a missed beat in song or dance. The costumes were stunning and we have a new 'strapline' - 'Walking the Walk' which I'm tempted to add to our front page... T-shirts were decorated with Seb's name and stars, the football team representing Doncaster Rovers were all smartly turned out in their football strip, we had waistcoats and botas as the cast sang ' Oh we do like to be beside the seaside' and the surfers (representing the final leg of Seb's trip which will be around Cornwall) had lovely 'Hawaiian' shirts. And Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers eat your heart out - you were totally upstaged by the group doing 'Singing in the Rain', twirling their umbrellas while the 'rain' (more children)drummed and thundered on the stage to represent the awful weather Seb has experienced on his travels. We had Scottish dancing and fitness training, and of course Flash got a mention too as the children s ang about 'my four-legged friend'. And that singing........... the singing was simply heavenly - an extraordinary performance by each and every child, and not a wrong note from the obviously well-rehearsed orchestra who played their instruments beautifully. It was a good job Mrs Phillips had slipped me a box of tissues before the start - it was real lump in the throat time when they talked about loneliness and how they hoped they had supported Seb with their messages to keep on going when the going was tough and when those voices lifted and sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' - well, I'll never hear that song again without a large lump in the throat I can tell you.

To all the children in Year 2, Mrs Phillips, Mrs Stoves, Miss Johnson and the many other staff involved - thank you for an inspirational concert and a truly memorable experience. Seb's Odyssey the Musical starred (in no particular order!):

Singing In the Rain - Keely, Abigail, Ida, Tiegan, Melissa, Annie, Khadijah, Noah, Kwame, Mia, Joshua, Zachary, Jake, Naima, Edan and Joe

Fitness - Kayce, Eloise, Lauren, Sophie, Maya, Renae, Shinaid, Jade, Lauren, Nicole, Maisha and Katie

Surfers - Shannon, Kyra, Zerya and Curtis

Scottish Dancers - Sophie, Julia, Kiara, Alina, Alana, Tashinga, Hannah, Charlie and Talia

Seaside Rendezvous - Mae, Laurel, Matthew, John, Lily, Chloe, Katie, Matthew, Jay, Miles and Rais

Footballers - Tenaka, Conor, Abirisak, Simran, Hamza, Daniel, Keiran and Donaldo

Orchestra - Laura, Christopher, Fatima, Carlos, Maxwell, Ellie, Charlie, and Aidan

I hope you will all stay in touch and keep supporting Seb on his journey - I know he and Flash are already looking forward to meeting you when they eventually arrive in Bristol!

Friday 18 July 2008

Confession time... have had to be a bit devious over the last 48 hours or risk blowing the big surprise! As Seb is having a break at the moment we decided it would be amazing for the children in Year 2 at Chester Park Infants who have supported him so brilliantly this past six months if we could organise a surprise appearance of Seb and Flash at their leavers concert today. So, in cahoots with his Dad and Hazel, and many of the teachers at Chester Park, it was all arranged. Seb had to get up at crack of dawn yesterday and get on a train in Oban and then spent the rest of the day changing trains and wending his way steadily south until, eventually, he arrived in Weymouth late last night. Then up early again this morning, into the car with Flash and heading north again, but this time only as far as Bristol. They nearly didn't make it and had to be smuggled into the school through the Junior School next door as all the parents were queued up ready for the concert outside the gates when they arrived, but make it they did and needless to say the children were ecstatic to meet their heroes in the flesh. And I have it on good authority that despite the great excitement they still pulled off a faultless performance - well done Year 2! I hope Seb and his family enjoyed it as much as I did yesterday. Once again Thank You, Year 2, and we hope you will all keep in touch!

Monday 21 July 2008

Just to keep you updated, Seb is taking a short break for about two weeks to recharge his batteries after some very long days as he headed in to Fort William and then on down to Oban. He has actually been away from home for six months and it seemed an appropriate time for him to take a couple of weeks out to chill out and relax before setting out on the next stage of his Odyssey. He is back home with his family for a few days and actually volunteered to come out on expedition this weekend as an additional supervisor! It was good to see him and Flash looking so well and he has grown up so much in the last six months!

He plans to be back walking again by the end of the month - I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

Apologies for the silence! I've been down on Dartmoor again and with Seb having a break I got a bit behind with news....

Three bits of news today. First and foremost Seb has relocated to Durham to join the Williams family on holiday to round off his break, and they will deliver him back to Oban on 9th August after their trip to the Black Isle to start back walking on Sunday 10th. Just what the doctor ordered! Once again many thanks to Cath, Mick and the family.

The second bit of news is that Seb received a letter of support today from....... (drum roll).... David Cameron! Yes, the David Cameron, Leader of the Opposition, wishing Seb (and Flash!) all the very best on his journey. A nice touch and much appreciated.

And finally we heard from James on our Support Group that the Tarrant Valley 10 race here in Dorset raised over a thousand pounds towards the charity pot - what a result! I know they were blessed with good weather but Jill, also on our Support Group, ran the race and said it was really enjoyable and a lovely course so thank you to James and Pat and all the other event organisers. Sue, Jean and Eddie (I think) from the Support Group also went along on the day to promote Seb's Odyssey - another great team effort.

Offers of support are trundling in from the Award family in Scotland too so we hope to get Seb off to a flying start when he puts his boots back on - many thanks to all involved. He is looking forward to re-visiting the Black Isle and this time he will have time to enjoy the scenery (and the dolphins!).

More soon.

Monday 11th August

Seb is back on the trail! He told me tonight that he feels just as excited now as he did at the very beginning. It was good to hear him sounding so enthusiastic and cheerful. Support group members Mary and Michelle have travelled to Oban to do some walking with Seb during the next few days. Today’s leg of the journey was relatively short for Seb, who has sensibly opted to ease himself back into the journey following his holiday with the Williams Family. Michelle walked with Seb today (and had to jog in order to keep up) while Mary looked after his backpack. I hear that Flash is also happy to be back on the road. They travelled from Kilmore (just south of Oban, which Seb reached in July) to Arduane, a mere 15 miles. It was good walking weather, overcast and not too hot. The scenery was beautiful and they spotted a heron as well as many birds of prey.

Loyal supporters from Chester Park Infant School telephoned to wish Seb good luck for the rest of his journey. They have excelled themselves by raising £400 for Seb’s charities through their end of term musical and sales of cakes. They also sent a message by email (see messages page).

Seb, Mary and Michelle were not only provided with free accomodation tonight but also treated to a BBQ – thanks once again to Judy at Oban Camping and Caravan Park.

Tuesday 13th August

Today started well. This morning Seb and Michelle reached Kilmartin where they had lunch next to the sixteenth century Carnassarie Castle, then in the afternoon Seb continued on his own to Lochgilphead – today’s total distance being just short of 18 miles. However, despite close study of the map, the marked track disappeared into a sea of waist-deep bracken, so Seb and Flash had a tough afternoon wading through the thick vegetation.

When he finally reached Lochgilphead, Seb met with the leader of Argylle and Bute Council, Councillor Dick Walsh, who oversees the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award groups in the area. He was very interested to meet Seb and to hear about what he has achieved.

Tonight Seb is staying with Aisa, a volunteer D of E leader who is also a local beach warden.

Wednesday 14th August

Hot sunny weather for Seb today, so no problems reaching Tarbert, a distance of 13.5 miles. He’s now tucked up in a nice warm caravan belonging to Heather, a local youth worker while Mary and Michelle are on a campsite overlooking the isle of Jura watching a beautiful sunset (wish I was there too!)

Thursday 15th August

I spoke to Seb this afternoon - it sounds like yesterday evening was fun – Heather’s husband is a deer stalker so Seb enjoyed looking at his rifles and also got the opportunity to go quadbiking! Today’s weather has been reasonable and Seb walked most of the way on a single-track A-road. He’s been listening to the soundtrack of Braveheart, but is scornful of the film’s historical inaccuracy. We arranged to speak later this evening but I'm guessing there's no phone reception as I can't get an answer from him or from Mary. More tomorrow...

Monday 18th August 2008

Home at last and Seb is on his own once more, although today he had great fun because Joey, Cath & Mick Williams 'middle' son walked with him all the way from Gourock to Largs before Cath treated them to a slap up lunch in The Lounge which Cath tells me is her all-time favourite eating place. They covered the 15 miles in some ludicrous time like 3 hours (no dog and no pack as Cath had taken them with her) so well done Joey - I'm impressed! Seb is now tucked up in Irvine with Laurie who is the local DofE Co-ordinator for the night before returning to Largs tomorrow to walk back again to Irvine (as you do on these sort of walks...).

So back to last week... Great to catch up with Seb again and Michelle hadn't seen him since the 'off' in Weymouth so she was especially pleased to catch up with him and hear about his adventures. I set them on their way at Kilmartin, shot off down the road to find somewhere for a snooze after the long drive and decanted most of the contents of the boot down the road behind me... Can I publicly thank the nice guy in the van who blocked the road while I ran back picking up rucksacks, sleeping bags, walking boots etc etc, and can I apologise to Michelle for reversing back over her pillow... Ah well! We all had a good laugh at my expense at the barbecue with Judy, Howie and the Team in Oban that night - once again, many thanks for their hospitality!

Seb burned Michelle off pretty much on the Tuesday on the way to Lochgilphead where he stayed the night with Aisa and Alec, (both DofE volunteers and great company) so on the Wednesday they took the scenic route to avoid the traffic and we all had a really enjoyable day in blazing sunshine. Michelle walked all day too - what a star! We dropped Seb with David and Heather and family outside Tarbert and we all enjoyed a wonderful evening - Seb hurtling around on a quadbike with the family who made him so welcome, and Michelle and I cooked our supper by the sea whilst enjoying the most awesome sunset.

Thursday morning found us hot-footing it for the ferry and we were welcomed to Tarbert by Janie who supports Heather with the local Youth Group (and Janie's 3 lovely dogs) and Cllr Anne Horne who came along to welcome Seb to the area and give him a ticket for the ferry across to Portavadie (thank you!). The ferry crossing was uneventful - no porpoises although we'd been told to look out for them - and Seb was soon on his way again. Michelle walked with him for most of the day and I met them for lunch at the viewpoint at Tighnabruaich where we managed to 'nobble' two coachloads of tourists and hand out cards, and Seb had quite a chat with them. Then he and Michelle powered off down the hill once more and I picked Michelle up an hour or so later, leaving Seb to take the back road into camp while we went and sorted out a pitch. Lovely campsite at Glendarual and we only paid a nominal sum for the night as they were keen to support the walk. There were red squirrels on the campsite which Seb encountered on his way in, but sadly I missed them. While Sue was trying to contact us that evening we were having an excellent supper in the pub at Otter Ferry - no reception, sorry Sue!

Friday was our last day with Seb on the road and Michelle, worn out by her exertions over the previous few days, hitched a ride with me. We went off to get lunch and Seb cracked on at a stonking pace reaching the one o'clock lunch stop at about half eleven - having stopped along the way to give an interview to the local paper as well! We arrived in Dunoon after lunch, had time for a quick coffee then waited for Seb on the sea wall where Martin Turnbull, our local contact, also found us. Once Seb joined us we headed back to Martin's house where we were made most welcome by the whole family - wife Jackie and children Joanne, James and Rachel. Rachel kept us entertained with her bug collection while we dried tents and sorted out the car in preparation for the trip home, then we all had supper together which was great fun. And a very comfortable night was spent in the mobile home - REAL beds!

We had a great send off in the morning - breakfast, donations, spoons, mapcases, ferry tickets.... AND an invitation to return and then we headed for the ferry.

In Gourock we were met by Laurie who will be Seb's 'minder for the first couple of days this week and he offered to keep him company until he got on the ferry to Helensburgh where he was spending his day off with Sue's relatives, Janette and the family (John, Charlotte and Lucy). Quite sad, Michelle and I said our goodbyes and headed south.

The week in Scotland was a heartwarming experience for us all. It was good to see Seb fit and well and really focussed on his walk, and Flash is in great form too, and I hope he enjoyed having Michelle's company 'on the road' for a few days. But how can I do justice to the generosity and warmth of the welcomes that Seb, Flash - and Michelle and I - received along the way. We were made so welcome, received such hospitality, and made real friends. It was a privilege to be a part of Seb's Odyssey for the week - thank you all for your amazing support.

I'll sort the photos out and add them in later this week. To keep you entertained here is another video clip I found from May!

Tuesday 19th August 2008

Brief update as frantically preparing for our stand at Weymouth Carnival tomorrow! Seb had a bit of a lie in this morning - not sure if it was intentional or otherwise but as he has Laurie running him round it wasn't an issue and he was stomping along at quite a speed when I first spoke to him today. He arrived back in Irvine (having been re-positioned at Largs) in reasonable time having endured not the torrential rain I had imagined but bursts of hot sun!

Might have an interesting report for you tomorrow but not going to pre-empt it in case it doesn't go quite as planned.... watch this space!

Thursday 21st August 2008

Well, not sure what the severe weather warnings for Scotland were all about over the last 2 days but again Seb walked in sunshine today so someone's looking out for him! Having spent another night with Laurie in Irvine, today he walked to Ayr which os approximately 17 miles. He was able to avoid main roads, but most of the route was tarmac again. His feet must be taking such a pounding. Laurie once again whisked him back to Irvine for the night, and will put him back on track in Ayr tomorrow morning. After that he will be on his own again and I'm chasing down accommodation desperately. Michelle and I counted up the takings from the Carnival yesterday and thanks to the appalling weather after I left we only made about £100 after we had paid for the pitch etc. However, we met some lovely people (including a young man called Louis who did exactly what Seb is doing and backpacked round Britain at the age of 18 - 'just for fun'!) and local sponsors had been most generous with the prizes - our thanks to them. Here is a list of the prizewinners:

T8 Pauline from Weymouth - 2 tickets to Athelhampton House and Gardens

S32 Bob from West Sussex - 5 person ticket to Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park

B11 Rachel - Family Ticket for Lulworth Castle and Park

F29 Dave from Slough - £20 GAME Voucher

K22 Roz from Broadwey - 2 tickets for Weymouth Sea-Life Centre

016 Amy from Warwick - PS2 Game

J23 Liam - 2 Tickets Weymouth Mini-Golf

031 Carol from Weymouth - 4 Tickets for the Blue Pool and Tea House + complimentary Cream Tea

R21 Jack from Weymouth - Family Ticket to Abbotsbury Swannery

Congratulations to them all and thank you for your support - shame about the Blue Pool and Cream Teas - I had my eye on that one!

Wednesday 20th August 2008

Seb took a day off today as he and Flash had been invited to visit the Search and Rescue Flight at HMS Gannet at Prestwick Airport (thanks guys!) with a routine training flight on one of their three Sea King helicopters as the highlight of the day. He arrived at 12 noon for pre-flight briefing and training, and they took off at half past one for a two hour flight down to Stranraer with a variety of exercises en route - winching, landing etc etc.

As you can imagine, a good time was had by all!

Meanwhile, back home in Weymouth, members of the Support Team and Seb's family were manfully manning his charity stall at Weymouth Carnival, trying to persuade the public to part with a £1 and to have a guess at where Flash had buried his bones! We had a number of superb prizes from local attractions (list tomorrow) and hopefully will have raised a good sum for the charities. I was on the early shift when we had the best of the weather (overcast and windy) but the valiant few who took the second half of the day got stronger winds and torrential rain. Many thanks to Simon, Hazel and Gemma (and Owen for being sooooo good!), Sue, Mel and family, Michelle and Rob.

Friday 22nd August

Really 'back on the road' now having said a final goodbye to Laurie in Irvine who has been a fantastic support over the last few days. He was sat in the sunshine near the beach when he rang midday to see if we'd managed to find him a campsite - fortunately we had and tonight he's staying free of charge (thank you!) at Culzean Castle Caravan and Camping Park which sounds rather splendid. Still struggling for tomorrow night so he may end up camping wild, but I'm working on it. He sounded in good form tonight, focussed on his next major objective which will be crossing the order back into England. It seems incredible that he has come so far - what an achievement.

Will put some photos up over the weekend - ones we took when Michelle and I were up in Scotland last week. I also have lots of messages we took at Weymouth Carnival to post up on the message page. Busy weekend!

Saturday 23rd August 2008

Mentally challenging day for Seb today, but dogged determination and commitment to the task have kept him motivated and upbeat despite foul weather and steadily unravelling plans! Today we played the game of 'hunt the campsite' - and lost. Two campsites in the Girvan area failed to materialise and as the wind got up and the rain came down Seb plodded on south desperately seeking somewhere with enough shelter to erect a tent. He called me late afternoon to say he had taken shelter in a ruined house but it had no roof and wouldn't provide enough shelter for the night. The surrounding landscape wasn't looking promising either - open and windswept with fences but no walls. I could hear the wind howling down his phone! After consulting over our respective maps he decided to plough on and review the situation in Lendalfoot, and was considering pushing on to Ballantrae, still ten miles away, where there WAS a campsite. He also rang Alan McLachlan, his host for tomorrow night in Stranraer, to see if he had any suggestions. So plough on he did, but Alan obviously took pity on him and rang him back to say he'd come and pick him up - what a star, and yet another example of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award family rallying round. So tonight Seb is tucked up in Stranraer, but Alan will put him back out at Lendalfoot tomorrow morning to complete the journey 'properly'. What I found particularly encouraging was that despite the foul weather and aggravation of it all Seb remained upbeat and philosophical throughout, and was actually able to see the funny side of it! He is just amazingly resilient. Good man.

Sunday 24th August 2008

Oh how I hate technology at times! Whilst we were in Scotland an email arrived from a lady in Lendalfoot (Seb's final destination last night) offering support from the village when he passed through. I responded to the email after I got back on Wednesday this week saying 'yes please' and had been watching desperately for a reply as Seb drew closer and closer to the village in question. Isn't it just my luck that my email didn't arrive, and today poor Maureen in Lendalfoot was upset because we hadn't taken up their lovely offer, and I was upset because I HATE missing an opportunity for Seb! Well, I've checked my sent box and it definitely left here at 1908 on the 20th August addressed to Margaret, so heaven only knows what happened to it. Anyway, Alan put Seb back on the road at Lendalfoot this morning and without a full pack he made good time and had an altogether better day in much more pleasant weather, and managing to stay off the main road for a good few miles. He stopped a bit short of Stranraer as tomorrow he has quite a reasonable day heading east again towards the campsite in Glenluce, and is back with Alan this evening. Due to the Bank Holiday weekend here in England (but not in Scotland I gather) we have played safe and sent his maps to Newton Stewart, so he's navigating off the road map again for the next couple of days. Sorry Seb!

Monday 25th August 2008

Brief update - delighted to say Alan took pity on Seb again and despatched him this morning without his rucksack to walk to Glenluce - where he was going to camp but Alan picked him up again at the end of the day so that he can enjoy one more night in Stranraer. Brilliant. He only caught one shower of rain today and appears to have enjoyed the walk.

More tomorrow!

Tuesday 26 August 2008

Wet wet day today but fortunately light drizzle rather than heavy rain. Seb was again without pack as Alan's wife delivered it for him to Newton Stewart and so he was able to take to the backroads and covered the 17 odd miles in good time. He has opted to take a day off tomorrow as he is staying on a farm with Isabel who is the local Award co-ordinator.

More good news is that Jill, our 'treasurer' has done a rough update on funds pending receipt of the breakdown from Starlight and puts the provisional total at £10,035.81 - which means Seb has passed the halfway mark! Stunning news - well done that man. Perhaps we should run a sweep on what the final total will be - I'm hopeful it will way exceed the £20,000 he was aiming at. What a fantastic achievement... So keep the sponsor money coming in people - it's a long way to go yet!

Thursday 29 August 2008

Seb had a break yesterday and caught up on some sleep, but also had the opportunity to try out some country sports..... But don't panic, all you animal lovers - it would appear his expertise with a rifle is not matched by his expertise with a shotgun and the wildlife around Newton Stewart is unscathed and the pigeons remain undisturbed.... (well, disturbed possibly but Undamaged)(much to Seb's disgust).

So back on the road today with his kit for the day stuffed into jacket pockets - he'll have forgotten what it's like to carry a rucksack soon! Another morning of gentle Scottish drizzle but it dried up this afternoon and he covered about 16 miles, finishing the day at Anwoth having enjoyed staying off the main roads and exploring the old military roads. Tonight he is back at the farm with Isabel preparing to move on properly tomorrow, and his hosts will be John and Jean whose grandson appeared - no, starred I'm sure - in Chester Park Infant School's 'Seb's Odyssey the Musical'! They will see him through the next couple of days and then - great excitement - it would seem likely he will cross the border into England late Sunday or early Monday (possibly Tuesday - our planning is not exactly a precise art these days...)

Oh - forgot to mention. Flash took up hunting today - obviously bored with all this road walking - and when I rang Seb he was in hot pursuit of Flash in hot pursuit of a rabbit - very unusual apparently!

Obviously Scottish rabbits are tastier than their English cousins.... But don't worry, animal lovers - Flash was no more successful than his master!

Friday 29 August 2008

Well, the good news for me is that Seb plans to cross the border before I disappear on holiday which is great news. He reached Castle Douglas today and to be honest I forgot to ask about the weather so I'm not sure what sort of a day he's had other than he's made good progress, is back with John and Jean tonight, has been resupplied with maps and dog food, and has plans in place to take him across the border - beyond Dumfries tomorrow, Annan on Sunday then across the border during Monday. I hand over to Sue and Phil on Monday evening so there is a deep satisfaction in handing him over on English soil - it seems another huge milestone has been reached. Well done Seb!

Saturday 30 August 2008

Grey and overcast in Scotland today and Seb resumed his journey along the old military road which runs from Castle Douglas towards Dumfries, ending the day by a large lake in the village of Lochfoot. The problem for him with relatively straight backroads is the horrific speeds which people get up to, and with blind summits they have no chance of seeing anyone in the road, and yet they still come by at 80 odd miles an hour. Fortunately today he anticipated that one blind summit was particularly dangerous and climbed over the fence into an adjoining field to preserve life and limb - and was very glad he did as some lunatic came hurtling over the top. Not a happy chappy when I first spoke to him this evening back at John and Jean's, but he cheered up as we talked through tomorrow and his imminent arrival at the border on Monday morning - he says he's going to head straight for a pub to celebrate!

Sunday 31 August

Seb made really good time from Dumfries to Powfoot, just short of Annan, today despite the persistent light drizzle and although he was on roads again they were much quieter than yesterday. He was in the launderette tumble drying his wet things when I spoke to him this evening - he says it's a cracking campsite and lovely showers!

When he got back to his tent we went through his route options for the next few days and things are looking fairly straightforward for at least a week. Thanks to the generosity of his hosts for the last few days, John and Jean, he's going to celebrate crossing the border by having a night in Band B in Longtown rather than do an excessively long day to get to a campsite - eminently sensible and very well-deserved. New month, new country. New kit too before the end of the week - his rucksack is giving up the ghost and he needs a new pair of trousers - so it's a good job we have a Support Group Meeting tomorrow! Lots to look forward to really, because he will also pick up the Cumbria Coastal Way on Tuesday which will give him some relief from the road walking - I've no doubt Flash is looking forward to some time off the lead too (so look out, you English bunnies!)

So if you are in the Gretna/Longtown area tomorrow look out for a border crossing late afternoon - and send me a photo!

Monday 1st September 2008, 2.30pm

Welcome back to England Seb and Flash!

Another major milestone passed and what an achievement to be back in England 19 days ahead of the original schedule, bearing in mind he's had two breaks of a month each! Okay, the original route was planned around every lump and bump on the coast of this island, but an early decision to stick to paths, tracks and roads was a sensible 'upgrade' to the plan and has ensured success - and kept Seb and Flash a lot safer than if they had attempted some of the wilder, remoter stretches away from habitation and road. Whatever way you look at this walk, it's a remarkable achievement already, and it just gets better all the time. Well on target to raise the £20,000 he pledged to raise for charity, and now likely to exceed that target by a considerable amount. Talking to him this morning as he trudged along a busy road in pouring rain, his clothes soaking wet as much of his equipment needs replacing, really brought home the day-to-day grind of this walk. Nearly 2000 miles under his belt and another couple of thousand to go. What a star!

It looks like ITV might catch up with him tomorrow - so keep a lookout for him on the telly!

I'm logging off now and disappearing across the big pond for a couple of weeks in Canada so Sue will be taking over the blogging. Bulletins may not be daily, but we will be keeping you updated.

Email address remains the same as Sue will be intercepting my mail. Don't go away - we'll be back!

Tuesday 2 September 2008

Seb taking a day off and has been filmed by ITV - could be on at 6pm this evening!

Also Radio Solent are chasing down an interview.

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Yesterday’s ITV Borders interview went well and Radio Solent broadcast their interview with Seb this morning. ITV Meridian also broadcast an interview with Seb at lunchtime. Unfortunately he had a pretty miserable day today as it was very, very wet. He phoned me at lunchtime to say his rucksack had almost fallen apart but that he thought he could make it last till he goes shopping for new kit this weekend. Due to the poor weather and an offer of accommodation from the Durham-based Williams family, Seb opted to walk from Longtown through Carlisle, then down the A595 to Mealsgate. I imagine this 24-mile stomp down dangerous main roads in the pouring rain must have been pretty miserable. He said it was boring, wet, and hard to keep going. He’s developed a blister – the first he’s had in ages – an indication that new boots are sorely needed (forgive the pun).

Fortunately for Seb, the Williams family whisked him off to Durham where he had a good night’s sleep. He’s spending the weekend with them and will be purchasing the items on his expensive shopping list – new rucksack, new boots, new waterproof trousers. So many thanks to all who have contributed to his support fund. Seb will resume his walk from Mealsgate on Monday.

Sunday 7 September

Evidently I misheard Seb, as he in fact resumed his trek today, heading across to the coast and down the coastal path to just north of Workington where he was met by Janet, an assesor for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Cumbria. While in Durham, he purchased a new rucksack, walking boots and trousers. Thanks once again to the Williams family who made another generous donation towards the cost of his kit.

Seb also wishes to thank Neville Bridle for his continuing financial and moral support.

Seb didn’t say much about today’s journey – simply that the brief spell of reasonable weather was very welcome!

Monday 8 September

Today Seb took it easy, walking only 9 miles to Whitehaven. He had a hearty and delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs, thanks to Janet his hostess. His new rucksack is very comfortable and it’s much less of a struggle to pack everything in to it. The boots feel nice and springy, despite the sodden ground, and he’s enjoying being back on coastal paths at last. The weather was reasonable – patches of blue sky and even some sunshine.

Apparently the only interesting thing he saw today was some wind turbines. Let’s hope tomorrow’s a bit more interesting.

Tuesday 9 September

Today Seb completed 14 miles between 10.30 and 15.30, ending at Seascale. He didn’t have a lot to say about it, though he passed Sellafield. So I asked him what he’d been thinking about whilst walking. He’d been thinking about home – specifically the proposed Weymouth ‘relief’ road, a 3.75-mile road north of the town intended to ease traffic congestion. This has attracted much opposition locally, as it will pass through the Dorset Heaths and Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and irreplaceable ancient woodland owned by the Woodland Trust. Costs for the bypass have increased by 45% during the last five years. In Seb’s view, there are far better ways of spending 84 million pounds - if people weren’t so lazy, they’d walk or cycle instead of using cars for short journeys and in any case, the proposed bypass won’t solve the traffic bottleneck. He thinks it would be better to widen the Broadwey section of the road. Apparently he spent the entire day thinking about this – he evidently feels quite passionate about it.

Wednesday 10 September

Today Seb walked a massive 25 miles (40.225 km for those who prefer metric) including a climb of 1300 feet! (396m) The weather was mainly fine with just a few showers. He followed the coastal path out of Seascale, passing the site of an early second-century naval fort, Glannoventa. The remains of the fort’s bath house are among the tallest Roman structures surviving in northern Britain: the walls stand almost 4 metres (13 feet) high.

In order to reach the campsite he was booked into, Seb left the coast path at Newbiggin and took the old Fell road up Corney Fell then down Thwaites Fell, taking the footpath past the eighteenth century ironworks at Duddon Bridge.

From here he went across to Broughton in Furness where he headed south to rejoin the Cumbria coastal way, finally reaching at Askham in Furness around 7.15 pm only to find the campsite closed due to flooding. He retreated to the train station where the stationmaster kindly unlocked the waiting room so that Seb would have somewhere safe to spend the night.

Thursday 10 September

Seb and Flash didn’t sleep all that well and started walking again at 6.00 a.m., following the coastal way to just north of Barrow in Furness. Here, they picked up the Cistercian Way passing Dalton Castle (whose 14th Century tower was a refuge for monks fleeing Scottish raiders). They then rejoined the coastal way, reaching Ulverston at 3.15p.m. having walked an impressive 18 miles (28.96 km). However, Seb’s feet were now extremely painful – a bad case of ‘trench foot’ caused by the cold and damp conditions.

The picture is not of Seb’s feet but illustrates their condition. Since this infection can become serious if left untreated, Seb has sensibly decided to rest for a couple of days to give his feet a chance to heal (no pun intended). He hopes to get going again on Sunday.

Monday 15 September

Seb’s feet are making a slower recovery than he’d hoped for so he’s decided to stay put till the weekend. He’ll be doing a few very short walks locally, to encourage his new boots to adapt to him. He’ll also be taking the opportunity to do some route planning and to line up potential camp sites.

Wednesday 17 September

Seb sounds cheerful and says his feet are a lot better.

It’s now time for me to hand back to Mary who has been on holiday. Before logging off, I thought I should (belatedly) introduce myself – Sue Craxton, the youth worker with Dorset Youth Offending Team who got Seb started on doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. I feel very proud of Seb’s achievement and his commitment to completing this enormous challenge. I have enjoyed my stint of blogging and hope to visit Seb en-route again soon. I’ll never forget camping alongside him at John o’ Groats and the wonderful views from Dunnet’s Head across to the Orkney Islands. And of course I’m looking forward to a massive celebration when he gets back to Weymouth…

Friday 19 September 2008

Hi all - good to be back and thanks to Sue for very ably holding the fort in my absence, and to Phil for accommodation duties. And of course the Williams family who seem to have acquired a lodger for the week once again! Canada was awesome but I reckon Seb would need to haul a sled between 'manned' campsites over there as the coastline is wild and remote and he would need weeks rather than days of provisions. And of course he'd have to hoist his food up a tree every evening to prevent the bears from stealing it!

I've spoken to Seb twice in the last couple of days and he seems upbeat and ready for the 'off' again on Sunday. His feet are all dried out and the aroma has improved so all being well he should clock up his (first) two thousand mile landmark mid-week. It's been quite wet up north while we've basked in wall to wall sunshine down here, so let's hope he gets a few dry days to get him going again. His fundraising total has been updated (above) and he continues to creep towards the magic £20,000 total. I'll be back on Monday evening (or very late Sunday night) with our next update. Have a good weekend!

Monday 22 September 2008

Well, the good news is that Seb is well on his way again and tonight has reached the slightly magical 2,000 mile mark - 3,200 kilometres - walked. This is actual distance walked and does not include any distance covered by car or train - some achievement. And Flash, of course, has walked every mile with him (and probably a few more chasing rabbits!). He set out again on Sunday with Mick Williams giving him a lift back to where he left off, and by Sunday evening he was tucked up in his tent at the Youth Hostel in Arnside, glad to be on his way again and - great relief - no problems with his feet. Tonight, in fact, he is back at Arnside having walked to Lancaster and caught the train back as there was nowhere to camp in Lancaster - a sensible move for less than a fiver! Unfortunately the proposed stopover in Lancaster fell through as the people involved are away on holiday - such is life. Tomorrow he will hop on the train back to Lancaster and soldier on towards Blackpool, where Jim Egan, will pick up the reins for the next two nights as he heads on down towards Lytham St Annes. Great to see him on the move again, and we expect him to be in Wales at the beginning of October - his next great landmark.

Autumn is approaching and the nights are drawing in and the weather will, no doubt, start to deteriorate quite soon. Certainly the nights will be getting colder. Will he be home for Christmas? Well, you'll have to keep on following the story to find out!

Back soon.

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Apologies for an unplanned silence yesterday - had a little problem with our server and it wouldn't let me in to edit! Our wonderful 'host' - the lovely Ian (ian.henson@hosted4peanuts.com) had been updating his firewall and it would appear the firewall may have decided I was an undesirable.... no comment. Many thanks to Ian for sorting it out anyway - our first glitch in 9 months which is pretty good in my book.

Seb has had a good couple of days covering a little over 15 miles each day, starting at Lancaster on Monday morning and finishing at Lytham St Annes today. The weather has been pleasant but the walking, today especially, pretty punishing on those feet with 15 miles on rock solid seafront to endure, and his heels are badly blistered again. However he seems fairly philosophical about it and says it kinda stops hurting after the first ten minutes of each day...

He witnessed a pretty spectacular near miss today in the middle of Blackpool when a heavy plank was dislodged off some scaffolding on the opposite side of the road and bounced on the pavement right in front of couple walking underneath it - unbelievable! However what Seb found most unbelievable was the fact that no-one on the scaffolding appeared to make any attempt to apologise to this couple who they had nearly killed. Bizarre world.

Seb also did a newspaper interview in Blackpool today so if you are in the area keep your eye on the Gazette.

Seb is back with Jim Egan and family tonight - Jim stumbled across Seb's Odyssey when browsing the internet after an enjoyable holiday in Weymouth and decided to get involved - thank you Jim (and family!). Tomorrow he goes solo again and we have a few issues with the next couple of campsites so fingers crossed he's not back on a railway station bench when I next communicate with you. However had an interesting conversation with Dan of Liverpool Fire and Rescue Service (Marine Rescue section) who had been contacted by our DofE contact in Wirral, and it looks likely we might have a fun crossing of the River Mersey lined up for Monday morning involving Search Dogs and small boats. Watch this space!

Thursday 25 September 2008

Not a lot to report today other than that as this was his last day without a full rucksack Seb made a big effort to crack off a good mileage today to enable him to get within striking distance of Liverpool for tomorrow night as unfortunately the proposed campsite is fully booked due to it being the weekend and good weather! He is back with the Egan family tonight due to tonight's proposed campsite (Riverside) being unable to accept a solo backpacker. Not the easiest part of the world for round Britain walkers! I have to say that Chris at Willowbank (Ainsdale) was very apologetic at not being able to squeeze him in tomorrow but apparently they are jam-packed, and she did have the courtesy to phone me in person and explain and apologise. And would have squeezed him in tonight but it was a stretch too far mileage-wise. Seb's very philosophical about it all still, says his feet are a bit easier, and is looking forward to meeting the Fire Service crew in Liverpool, David in Wirral - and most exciting of all, entering his last country (Wales) a day earlier (30th September) than he hoped.

Friday 26 September 2008

Well, Seb has finally bid farewell to the Egan family in the Blackpool area (see message page) and this morning caught the train over to Southport where he picked up the trail again. He's had a really good 'yomp' today and covered about 20 miles, much of it, I think, on the disused railway which brought him into Liverpool via Aintree Racecourse where the Grand National is held . He had an interesting experience in one of the big underpasses once he got into the city, when not one, but two people approached him, asked him if he was homeless (despite having his charity cover on his rucksack) and offering to direct him to the nearest homeless shelter! Obviously a kind city at heart - apparently rucksack + dog = homeless here, and the residents responded accordingly. I think Seb was quite touched.

He rang me from the Albert Dock area on the edge of the great Mersey river and was startled to witness a vehicle suddenly drive into the water - but he relaxed when he realised it was obviously an amphibious car taking people on a sight-seeing tour of the waterfront. He didn't think it looked over-safe however so unlike when the helicopters landed at Applecross I don't think he was minded to rush over and blag a lift!He says Liverpool appears to be a very modern city - European Capital of Culture of course - and I think he's looking forward to having a couple of days to browse round the city before reporting to the Fire and Rescue Service on Sunday evening.

He rang again once he was safely tucked inside the TA compound and has access to loos and showers, and the forecast is good, so he's all set for a relaxing weekend before heading over to the Wirral on Monday. Many thanks to the Egans for the last few days, to the TA and Fire and Rescue Service in Liverpool, and to our man from the DofE in Wirral, David Decorte who has been a mover of mountains over the last few days. Also thanks of course to Phil from the Support Group who now hands the baton on to James on Tuesday for the Welsh adventure which looms across the water from the Wirral. And Dave from Healthy Pets in Blandford for despatching the next bag of dog food - this time sponsored by 'Laughing Dog' - and all the Support Team!

Spoke to Martin Lea, our champion at the Dorset Echo today who will be bringing the local readership up to date shortly. And hopefully we will soon have some good photos of the famous Mersey crossing on Monday morning to share with you, as the Fire and Rescue Service dodge the Isle of Man ferry to get Seb and Flash safely across the river....

Have a nice weekend everybody!

p.s. We are having a fund-raising stall outside M and S in Dorchester next Saturday (4th October) so come and meet the team and let us part you from your money!

Sunday 28 September 2008

Seb's had a relaxing weekend in Liverpool spending Friday night with the TA and Saturday and Sunday as a guest of the Fire and Rescue Service. Apparently they had a photo shoot tonight and I gather he was hoisted aloft by 2 strapping firemen, while Flash posed in a fireman's hat... sounds like a good time is being had by all!

More tomorrow.

Monday 29 September 2008

Well, after a relaxing and enjoyable weekend in Liverpool as a guest of the Fire Service, Seb is on his way again after a spectacular crossing of the River Mersey today and he was greeted on the Wirral by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service - and their Search Dogs! The Service not only use dogs to find people, but some are trained to detect accelerants at fires where arson is suspected - clever stuff. David Decorte, Wirral DofE Adviser was also there and Seb was soon whisked away to continue with his walk (via the office to do some bits and pieces of route planning...). Tonight he is tucked up in the Guides Caravan for his last night in England for a while, as he heads across the estuary to Wales tomorrow morning. And for those of you in earshot of BBC Radio Wales he will be live on the lunchtime programme talking to Richard Evans soon after 1.20pm tomorrow.

Some other good news today was a stunning cheque received from Linda Tull (visit the justgiving page for Seb and you will see that Linda is a mover and shaker!) who raised over £400 for Seb's Charities by doing a sponsored swim - what a great idea, doing a sponsored event to sponsor someone else's sponsored event...! Thank you Linda! Also I have been in touch with a company which has developed a revolutionary blister prevention aid and have persuaded them (without any difficulty I might add) to 'sponsor' Seb with a number of packs to trial on his walk. When I get the package tomorrow I'll give you the product information and we'll let you know how Seb gets on with them. His feet are much recovered at the moment, so now is a good time to try them out.

I hope to get some photos from the Fire and Rescue Services who have been supporting Seb for the last 48 hours and will post them on the website when I do. Watch this space!

Tuesday 30 September 2008

Brief update as I failed to make contact with Seb this evening - first I left the phone in the car at the 'usual' time, then I had no reception. Sorry - can't win 'em all! However, fortunately I had spoken to him at lunchtime just after he did a live interview on BBC Radio Wales and I know that he felt the interview went really well, thanks to Richard asking him all the right questions. (Thank you Richard!). He was quite chirpy when we spoke despite the fact that the weather looks like it is deteriorating over the next few days - it was already windy and rain was on the way. His plans today were to soldier on to Prestatyn then he was being 'returned' to Greenfield just outside Holywell to take advantage of an offer of accommodation for the night, before restarting in Prestatyn tomorrow. I have put Prestatyn on the map making an assumption that he made it - he always has so far.

More news on today tomorrow if that makes sense. You may notice a bit of a hike in the mileage - I'm pretty sure I forgot to add it on yesterday, but if anyone knows different please let me know. One day pretty much blurs into another after nine months - what it must be like for Seb I cannot imagine, but at least he had the 'buzz' today of reaching Wales AND a live radio interview to boost his morale. All we need now is a corresponding surge in his charity funds and he really will be a happy man!

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Autumn arrived with a vengeance today and Seb has battled against howling wind and torrential downpours making the prospect of a night in a tent not particularly appealing, but fortunately Jo Seddon from Merseyside Fire and Rescue has come up trumps and Seb is tonight tucked up in another Fire and Rescue Station, this time in Rhyl! He actually walked 16 miles today to Colwyn Bay, and was then 'rescued' and taken back to Rhyl, from where he will catch a train back to Colwyn Bay in the morning to start walking again. He says that tonight any tent would have blown away in minutes flat, and after his experience in Ullapool he's not too keen to go down that route.

Media interest has flared again and yesterday and today we have seen hits on the website soar to dizzy heights which is fantastic if it translates into sponsorship coming in too. After BBC Radio Wales yesterday, he has again featured in the Dorset Echo (Martin Lea keeping up the awareness there) and this evening was interviewed live on BBC Radio Solent by Steve Harris. It looks like this might become a regular feature on Solent as he nears home which is great news.

So he's in good form tonight and James and Pat from the Support Team are heading up to Wales at the weekend so he will have some company too. Suddenly it's all gathering momentum and hopefully winter won't set in too early.

Stay with us!

Thursday 2 October 2008

Seb rang at about 4pm today to say that he had arrived safely in Llanfairfechan (I have to say life would be a lot simpler if he'd stop in places with shorter names - as you can see if you go to the map page I'm struggling to fit some of these Welsh names into the available space!). It was bucketing with rain and he had decided to abandon his plans to crack on to Bangor (much shorter name, Seb, would have been a lot simpler to plot on the map!) and was awaiting a lift from Rosie (I think) from Conwy Youth Service? (sorry, didn't get my facts from James written down) having completed about 14 miles. He was huddled in a shelter trying to keep out of the rain - I suggested he found a cafe but I keep forgetting that life isn't that simple when you have a soggy border collie attached. He was pretty upbeat all things considered despite bashing the full distance on concrete today. James is taking the new blister patches up to him at the weekend which attach to the BOOT, not the foot, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on with them. We'll let you know!

As I'm typing this I'm frantically running off flyers to hand out in Dorchester on Saturday when we are running our fundraiser in South Street, so do come and find us if you're in the area. We have filled a rucksack with a weight similar to that which Seb is carrying, and we will invite members of the public to pay a pound to guess the actual weight. We have some brilliant prizes on offer, so come and have a go! You can also have a go at guessing where Flash has buried his bones during the trip - more great prizes on offer. Do come and introduce yourselves as well - we are always interested to meet our regular 'visitors' to the website.

Anyway, here's what you've really been waiting for - photo's from Merseyside Fire and Rescue. Thanks to Jo-Anne Seddon for the lovely pix!

Friday 3 October 2008

The weather dragons are brewing up mischief in Wales and today Seb made a sensible decision to sit tight and let them do their worst. He called me mid-morning as he sat watching what he described as a 'black wall' approaching across the valley and the summits of the surrounding mountains were gleaming white with the hail which has been dumped out of leaden skies on a bitter wind. His hosts, the Evans family, live in the heart of the forest below Moel Siabod and Seb just loves the solitude. He rang again this evening sat outside to get better reception beneath a sky full of stars and only a single light gleaming through the darkness in the distance. I guess he has fond memories of the area anyway because it was only last year that he successfully completed his DofE Gold Expedition on the summit of Snowdon, but he certainly seems 'chilled'

He has made good use of the day thanks to a taxi service from his hosts, Mr and Mrs Evans (who are celebrating their wedding anniversary today - many congratulations!) and paid a visit to the nearby Cotswold store to sort out his tent which has shown undue wear and tear on the groundsheet, and they (Cotswold) kindly replaced it for him. However his well-worn waterproof trousers didn't have a such a good day and as he clambered up into the 4x4 there was a resounding ripping sound and ... well, lets not dwell on it. I bet Flash had a big grin on his face!

Suffice to say I'm hot-footing it into work tomorrow (en route to the fundraiser in Dorchester) to extricate a pair of overtrousers from my exped store to send up to Wales on Sunday with James. If I can find them. I have to confess it's not quite as neat and tidy in there since my volunteer storeman took off on some crazy round-Britain charity hike in February.... but please don't tell him!

Anyway he's back on the road tomorrow heading from Llanfairfechan to Caernarfon where he will once again be accommodated in a Fire Station. The weather forecast is appalling yet again, but at least he'll be able to get a hot shower and not have to spend the night in his tent. James will link up with him on Sunday - he has spent all today working on finding accommodation for Seb and has been tremendously successful I believe, so well done Wales, your support is much appreciated!

Saturday 4 October 2008

What a horrible day for Seb weather-wise today - horizontal rain for 20 miles as he headed for the warmth and safety of the Fire Station in Caernarfon for the night having left the warmth and safety of the Evans household in Conwy. He rang from Bangor at lunchtime and I could hear the wind whistling in the background so loud that I could barely follow the conversation. He started walking at 9.30am and got in just before six - a long old day in those conditions, with some real hill-walking thrown in on the North Wales Path. When I spoke to him again this evening he was looking forward to a hot shower and Flash was fast asleep!

Members of the Support Team had a good day too today (and very similar weather). Mel and James, her son, Nigel, Jill, James and Pat, Shannon, Michelle and I sent the day on South Street in Dorchester rattling buckets to collect money for Seb's charities, and we met some lovely people. Many didn't know anything about Seb but a great number had read about him in the paper, or seen him on the telly, and we met a number of you who follow this blog on the website on a regular basis which was really great! You'll all be pleased to hear we raised OVER £500 which was fantastic. The total at the top of the page won't go up until Jill has banked it all and sent me confirmed figures, but I think I can safely say we are well over the £11,000 mark now which is fantastic. I'd like to say a special thankyou to the gentleman who saw us in the morning, went home and looked at the website and was so impressed he came back to give us £20. We also discovered that a number of people we met are already running little fundraising schemes for Seb and so we look forward to loadsa money coming in towards the finish.

And just to get the date in your diaries Pauline and... I've forgotten already - Christine? - from Weymouth are planning to organise a sponsored bike ride around Portland on the 6th December to raise funds for Seb, so let us know if you'd like the details.

Well, James and Pat, having helped out today in Dorchester, are on their way to North Wales this evening in their campervan to give Seb some support for the week. Safe journey!

Sunday 5 October 2008

A good day for Seb today - his weather came down to Dorset and he somehow ended up with a lovely day in Wales with wall-to-wall blue sky and sunshine and so he made the most of it and put a solid twenty miles behind him. He cut inside the Lleyn Peninsula and followed the cycle route south-east straight into Porthmadog where he is once again tucked up in a Fire Station. James and Pat have arrived and they are parked up close by and Pat served Seb up with a large helping of spaghetti bolognese for tea. He now looks forward to a few days without a full pack and some company on the walk, so expect to see the mileage creeping steadily up.

My brain was in neutral yesterday and I need to correct all the rubbish I wrote about the event on 6th December on Portland (at least I got the date and place right) which is being organised and run by Pauline and LINDA! And it's a sponsored walk, not a bike ride (where on earth did I get that from?). So put your bikes back in the shed and get your walking boots on.... The good news is the Support Fund looks as if it will last out till Seb gets back, barring dramas, so ALL the funds from this event can go into the charities and help him towards that magic £20,000 figure.

If you look at the Index page of the website you will notice a major change and can I say thank you to James, Mel's son, who came up with the idea of putting a fundraising barometer in a prominent position to encourage people to dig deep for the charities. I have moved the picture of Seb at John o'Groats onto this blog on 5th June. Seemed a sensible place! Hopefully it will encourage any new visitors to the site to think about making a donation.

And finally apologies to any of you who found the website 'down' this morning - apparently the data cable fell out of the back of the hard-drive.... Once again it was swiftly rectified once I noticed so thank you Ian at hosted for peanuts.com!

Monday 6 October 2008

Not much to report today apart from Seb having a run-in with white van man who practically mowed him down as he headed down a single track road past parked cars on his way into Harlech to see the castle. He spent most of the day on back roads however which were pretty quiet, and knocked another 17 miles off quite comfortably as he didn't have to carry his pack. He had a couple of good ascents, but is so fit that he barely noticed them! He finished his day in Dyffryn Ardudwy and James and Pat ran him into Dolgellau for another night in a Fire Station (Such a big thank you to the Fire and Rescue Service who are being incredibly hospitable!). His most interesting event of the day was finding a dead buzzard on the road which was obviously hit by a car as it ate lunch, because when Seb turned it over it had a small bird clutched in its talons. There's a moral in that story somewhere... (probably 'don't eat lunch in the middle of the road'!)

You may not get an update tomorrow as I have a very long day at work starting at 9 and finishing around 8, followed by Camera Club, so I may be too jet-lagged to hit the computer when I eventually get home. However if I can at least update the map I will, depending on whether or not I have time to call Seb. As he's got James and Pat for company I know he won't feel totally abandoned!

Wednesday 8 October 2008

A tough day for Seb yesterday in high winds and torrential rain and a good solid climb through wild country as he travelled south from Dyffryn Ardudwy, over the estuary south of Barmouth then up into the hills, passing between the summits of Trawsfynnyd and Pen y Garn. It was a climb from sea-level to 1300 feet, almost straight up, and in the conditions, not pleasant. He has come to the conclusion that there isn't a waterproof out there which will keep him really dry in those conditions, and he has taken today (Wednesday) off to dry out his clothing.

Thursday 9 October 2008

A good day for Seb today after his day off yesterday which he spent helping James and Pat in their little piece of Snowdonia - a woodland. He had great fun heaving logs around and worked really hard according to James. He certainly enjoyed himself.

Today he set off from Brycrug where he stayed the night before last with Chris and Nuala Moon thanks to one of our DofE contacts, Matty Bowman. Thank you to all of them! He headed south through Tywyn which brought back memories for me as it's where I did my ML training when I was in the Army more years ago than I care to remember ... in fact scarily it was 34 years ago this week but we won't dwell on that! His next obstacle was the River Dovey which has an exceedingly wide estuary and could have resulted in a HUGE detour inland for a day and a half, but James had been working his magic and a great big thank you to Outward Bound at Aberdovey for ferrying boy and dog and humungous rucksack across the river. I gather he got slightly damp feet leaping ashore as there isn't a jetty, but be assured he is unbelievably grateful for the miles saved!

No, they didn't put him on a raft but being Outward Bound, they might have!

Anyway, safely across, he was soon on his way again and tonight is once again the guest of the Fire and Rescue Service, this time in Aberystwyth. He was just feeding Flash when I spoke to him just now but I'll spare you the details - lets just say the tin of dog food (supplementary rations from the local shop) he'd just opened exploded in his hand with an impressive bang when he pulled the ring, nearly took his fingers off and was, to put it mildly, OFF! Fortunately he appeared to be seeing the funny side of it so I rang off and left him to it - rather him than me...

And so that you can all get the date in your diaries we are provisionally anticipating his return to Weymouth being on Sunday 14th December. Watch this space!

Friday 10 October 2008

Meg the Sheepdog (see message page) has been giving me grief so here's todays update from Flash's perspective and a bit of a catch-up for all avid Flash fans.

We'll start with today which was dog-heaven - coastal path for most of the way which means I was off the leash and able to run around and explore to my heart's content without horrible lorries and cars whooshing by six inches from my nose. My man was complaining a bit about the height gain which apparently was in excess of 2,700 feet but to a fit dog like me it was no problem at all. My feet are really hardened now and I have no foot trouble at all, unlike the boss who is experimenting at the moment with something called Engo blister patches. I don't think he's read the instructions properly because he seems to have applied them to the insides of his boots, not his feet, so we'll see how he gets on.... He tells me they are 'the biz' and he's been given them by a nice man to try out as they are 'revolutionary'. I hope he's right because he does slow me down a bit when his feet are really sore.

Exploding dog food aside I have been well fed all trip and of course my food has been sponsored all the way. That's what we dogs love about you Brits - it was easy to get me sponsored but my man has had to rely on kind and generous people to feed him! I spent the first few months on Judge's Choice and now I'm on Laughing Dog (no wisecracks please) and I have to say it's all very yummy and my coat is positively blooming lovely as you can see in the photos. My friend Dave at Healthy Pets in Blandford sends me food parcels at regular intervals, a nd my man mixes in the occasional tin or pouch so that makes it a bit more exciting.

Life was quite tough at the beginning and I got very sore feet, and there there was the nasty incident with the barbed wire fence which was very unpleasant indeed, but here we are 9 months into the trip and I can almost smell the seafront at Weymouth we are getting so close. We completed a goodly 17 miles today and are staying with more nice people tonight having been picked up from a place called Aberaeron. Life has been fun I must admit - boat rides not included. How many dogs get to do a three thousand mile walkies?

Anyway, I hope this little update from me has reassured my doggy friends that life on the road is great fun and that I'm about as fit and well as a dog could possibly be. (p.s. message for Meg. Haggis? YUM!)

Saturday 11 October 2008

Just a brief update today. Seb had a slightly delayed start as it was hoped some DofE participants were going to walk with him but the usual paperwork nightmares proved an obstacle so he eventually set off around half ten. He had another wet day although enjoyed some clear intervals and eventually made it to Aberporth just before it got dark. Having stayed with Suzanne last night he is with Lawrence tonight - the DofE family in Wales (I believe) rallying round in support. So many thanks to them all! Seb tucked 20 miles or thereabouts under his belt today, a fantastic distance, some of it on a steep and slippery coast path, and seems very upbeat again this evening. It's all this home-cooking he's enjoying!

Hopefully you will have noticed an advert above for a sponsored walk which will take place on Portland the week before Seb gets back (all things being equal). The walk takes place on Sunday 6th December and is being organised by Pauline and Linda. Distances range from 2 miles to 8 and a half miles, and all monies will be donated to Seb's charities. This could give his fundraising efforts one last boost so why not go along! A registration can be found at the top of this page. It's only £2 to register and if you don't want to collect sponsors you can make a donation instead.

Sunday 12 October 2008

Summer's back! Or perhaps it's just arrived... A hot day for Seb today as he made his way along a new stretch of coastpath which runs between Aberporth and Cardigan, and again nearly 3,000 feet of ascent as it twisted and turned along the edge of the sea. Once again he is being hosted in a home, and this evening he is with Miss Smith somewhere near Cardigan, resting up and enjoying a good meal before tomorrow which will be a challenging day if he decides to walk the world-famous Pembrokeshire Coast Path - 186 miles of spectacular coastal scenery and more climbing than ascending Everest from sea-level (35,000 feet).

He needs to bash right through to Fishguard tomorrow with a full pack, and according to my rough calculations if he sticks to the coast path that will be in excess of 22 miles and almost 5,000 feet of climbing. I've suggested he considers taking the cycle route which runs slightly inland, is a little bit shorter and has much less uphill climbing. Watch this space!

There is a most generous donation on Seb's Justgiving page tonight from a lady in memory of her son. With Seb already more than halfway to his target of £20,000, it is good to occasionally reflect on just how many people will benefit from Seb's Odyssey, both through Starlight Children's Foundation and the Air Ambulance. Have you persuaded your friends to donate yet? If not, please do!

Monday 14 October 2008

I was only able to snatch a quick word with Seb last night as I was in meetings all evening but I hope to have a proper catch-up tonight. Suffice to say he walked the Pembroke Coastpath in preference to the 'softer' inland option so completed a staggering (probably a good choice of words) 25 miles which included over 6,000 feet of ascent (and bearing in mind of course that what goes up, must come down if you start and finish at sea level, so add to that the same amount of steep descent with a full (26kg pack)which is probably harder than the going up) and you have some idea of his achievement. An awesome day by anyone's standards. However, he made it safely to Fishguard and is once again accommodated in the local Fire Station.

Tuesday 15 October 2008

Seb sensibly had a day off today after his herculean effort yesterday, but wants me to correct the record because since he got the new rucksack he tells me it now weighs ONLY 18 kilos (without rations for man and dog) so that is a vast improvement - but still a fair old weight! Tomorrow he hops along to the next fire station at St Davids - well over 20 miles again. Let's hope the weather holds!

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Seb seems to have struck lucky with the weather at the moment with another overcast but dry day today and much of the same forecast for the next few days, with possibly a hint of sun! He was off on his travels again today and set out on a somewhat underused footpath to cut across to the Coast Path which resulted in a tussle with overgrown stiles and brambles - not the greatest start to a long day! After that he stuck pretty much with the Coast Path and rolled into St David's this evening where he is being accommodated by a firefighter who conveniently happens to run a B and B right next to the Fire Station! Can I also mention the crew at Fishguard Fire Station who have made a very generous donation to Seb's charities through the Justgiving Site - their message was "Well done Seb, very good thing that you are doing, Flash is a wonderful companion, best of luck to you both. Any problems in this area gives us a ring"....Let's hope he doesn't need to!

We've also heard from the Head at Chester Park Junior School and of course the children who have moved up there from the Infant School (who performed 'Seb's Odyssey, the Musical' in the summer) are getting very excited at the prospect of Seb calling in on the way through Bristol. I understand they will be starting a project after half term on coastal features, and will be following Seb's journey very closely to support the project work. Sounds like FUN!

The website seems very busy at the moment so WELCOME to any new visitors. If you like what you find please email the link to all your friends and encourage them to sponsor Seb as well.

More tomorrow.

Thursday 16th October 2008

He's motoring now! Another 20+ mile day today with over 4,000 feet of ascent and 4,000 of descent, making the most of the weather which continues to hold. He stayed on the Coast Path as f ar as Little Haven then headed inland as there was the promise of a bed in Milford Haven - yes, you've guessed! Those lovely Firefighters again. They also relocated his pack for him so he was able to make good time. Thanks guys. The firestation in Milford Haven lies close to the huge oil refineries and Seb was interested to know how they would tackle a blaze amongst some of the largest storage tanks in the UK. Apparently the answer is they wouldn't - they would deploy instead to evacuate the area of all the residents as fast as they possibly could. Sounds like a common sense approach to me!

Friday 17th October 2008

Only had chance for a brief chat with Seb today - I think he stopped in Pembroke Dock as he had an excellent accommodation offer involving a cottage and an outdoor education centre or similar. The plan was to have a proper catch-up later but I was working this evening and it didn't happen! So I'll update you farther tomorrow. Oh, and the important bit was that he was filmed again by the BBC today and the report featured on BBC Wales Today at 6.30pm this evening. Sadly it doesn't appear to be available on the iplayer.... I'll try and do better tomorrow.....!

Saturday 18th October 2008

Seb was fortunate to miss the rain which was forecast for parts of Wales today and finished a shorter day just north of Tenby. This was because he wants to make the most of the accommodation offered by the Activity Centre in Pembroke Dock so he cught the train back for the night and will have a day off tomorrow. Then he intends to start pushing up his mileage because he is keen to cross back into England at the end of the month.

He was keen to know if there were any donations today following the piece on BBC Wales Today yesterday, but sadly there don't appear to have been any which may be a bit demoralising for him. Keep pestering your friends!

Sunday 19th October 2008

Monday 20th October 2008

Seb bid farewell to the activity centre in Pembroke Dock this morning and hopped onto the train back to Saundersfoot to restart his trek by putting in a massive day and yomping all the way to Carmarthen on the cycle route, a massive 25 miles in deluging rain bless him! One stop off en route to pick up his next bundle of maps, and tonight he is staying with another member of the DofE 'family' in Carmarthen - hi Alison! He is soaked to the skin once again, but putting a brave face on it and remarkably cheerful this evening all things considered. His next few days could be quite challenging as he heads through the built up areas of South Wales, but not long now before he swings across the Severn estuary and back into England, with the South West Coast Path beckoning him home....

Tuesday 21 October 2008

A better day weather-wise for Seb today as he had no rain at all, and he made good time across country by a meandering back-route on non-existant footpaths (very frustrating) in the general direction of Swansea. He made it as far as Gowerton, then hopped on a train into Swansea where he is - yes, once again - the guest of the local Fire and Rescue Service! They will run him back out to Gowerton in the morning to continue on his way.

The website had its highest daily hits for a very long time yesterday for some obscure reason - Seb thinks it might be the outcome of hoofing it along an unbelieveably busy (and lethal) stretch of dual carriageway a couple of days ago with his hi-viz rucksack cover on full display with the website address 'writ large' across his back. There must have been lots of bewildered motorists wondering who this madman with a collie was dicing with death on the side of the road, and perhaps they then rushed home to look him up! Whatever the reason, the hit rate has been good. Hopefully we will see a rise in sponsorship follow suit. The total is up to date this evening bar the last donation on Justgiving, so we are about to break the £12,000 barrier. I know Seb is worrying we won't crack the £20,000, but we will, WON'T WE!! He's come too far to fail now!

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Very brief call to Seb tonight as signal was poor and he was just arriving at Atlantic College, St Donats Castle, for an overnight stay. He was being chauffered by Sue from the Support Team who has whistled up to see him for a couple of days. He is being inundated with offers of accommodation at the moment so I think Sue and James are working flat out trying to keep everyone happy! Today he walked from Gowerton, west of Swansea to Pyle which is west of Bridgend and north of Porthcawl, approximately 20 miles. I would guess most of it was on roads looking at the map. He was going to call back later with an update but I guess he has been distracted! I do know that he was delighted to receive a further cash donation today from someone near Bridgend. I think this may have been the Jones family whom Seb called in on so that they could meet Flash in person (see messages page). I'll tell you more when I hear from him or Sue tomorrow!

Thursday 23 October 2008

Something of a momentous day for me personally today because this evening I had to switch maps for about the tenth time to plot Seb's progress and suddenly found myself back on the map that he started on - UK (south west) and will remain on of course until he finishes. So when I sit in front of my computer now the end REALLY IS in sight! It was a bit of a showstopper for me, that moment in time when the enormity of what Seb has achieved hit home big time...

And actually it's been quite a special couple of days with the lad surrounded by warm Welsh hospitality! Tonight he is the guest of the Amelia Farm Trust just outside Barry, a community farm which works with approximately 90 young people from a variety of backgrounds each week on a proper working farm. The young people cooked Seb and Sue supper this evening - a fantastic meal I gather - and they also organised a collection during the day which resulted in £130 being added to the charity total. Yesterday's large gift was also sent through, and with one other online donation through Starlight the total added today was £280! (This won't reflect in the total at the top of the page until it has been processed through the accounts by our treasurer)(but I might creep the barometer up on the index page a bit when she's not looking tomorrow...)

Here's a photo from Seb's visit to Atlantic College yesterday. Michelle writes

'At the College, Seb met Duke of Edinburgh Award students who gave him and his dog Flash a bed for the night and breakfast the next morning before he continued his walk east through South Wales. The students are learners at Atlantic College’s Integrated Development Programme (IDP), which provides basic skills training and vocational qualifications to young people living in South Wales with mild to moderate learning difficulties. The two-year programme, a mix of classes at Atlantic College and on the job training, is delivered free thanks to funding by the Welsh Assembly.

Each year Atlantic College students train and serve as RNLI inshore lifeboat crew members, providing round the clock sea rescue for the Llantwit Major area. In 1963, an inshore lifeboat (ILB) station was established at Atlantic College, and was one of the first nine ILB stations established by the RNLI. Experimental work on the development of fast rescue boats for the RNLI was carried out at Atlantic College during this time, and the College was the pioneer of the first B class Atlantic 21 lifeboat, which was named after the College, and entered RNLI service in the early 1970s.

One of twelve United World College campuses worldwide and the only one in the UK, Atlantic College admits 170 students a year, aged 16 to 19, from more than 75 countries, with the aim of fostering respect for diverse cultural, social and religious backgrounds. Students from diverse nationalities live together for two years in South Wales, and study for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a pre-university qualification which was developed at the College.'

Thanks Michelle!

So a big thank you to everyone who has supported Seb over the last 24 hours - the Jones's, Atlantic College AND Amelia Farm Trust (and Sue of course who is playing chauffeur to get Seb to and from his walking route which ended by Cardiff International Airport today.) More messages on the message page, further update tomorrow. Good night all!

Friday 24 October 2008

Not a lot to report today as Seb powered on through Cardiff, ending the day in Newport, other than the fact that tomorrow, high winds permitting, HE WILL CROSS THE SEVERN BRIDGE BACK INTO ENGLAND! So if you happen to be crossing the old Severn Bridge tomorrow, keep your eyes open for Seb and Flash (unless Sue takes Flash in the car) on the footpath which runs beside the M48 motorway.

Goodbye and thank you Wales!

Actually there was a bit of excitement today, because as Seb was trudging along a cycle path past a children's playground he found a live distress flare propped up against the playground fence, close to where the children played. Somewhat alarmed, he scooped it up and, as he was the first to admit with hindsight, did the honourable but perhaps slightly foolish thing and carried it into Cardiff where he handed it in at the police station....

Wales has been good to Seb, and the support he has enjoyed over the last few weeks from the Fire and Rescue Service, DofE colleagues, and numerous other organisations and individuals, has been truly phenomenal, so many thanks to key individuals who have engineered it - you know who you are! Tonight he and Sue are back at the Amelia Farm Trust because they so enjoyed themselves there yesterday, and I think they took Ann who organised it all down to the pub for a meal.

Seb will take a short break after crossing into England tomorrow and will start walking again on Wednesday morning, 29th October. We hope he will be interviewed by Radio Gloucester that morning, so keep your ears tuned!

Saturday 25 October 2008

At approximately 4pm this afternoon Seb and Flash braved the wind and crossed the River Severn, arriving back in England for the last time on this trip.

Well done boys, we're really proud of you! They are having a couple of days off now to draw breath before commencing the last leg - Aust to Weymouth, on Wednesday 29th. They have about 73 miles of random routefinding, then they will pick up the South West Coast Path for the majority of the route from Minehead. A mere 669 miles to go, and a height gain approximately equivalent to climbing Everest 4 times from sea level...

And to commemorate this momentous day I'm delighted to report that some kind person has donated a hundred pounds online today - thank you very very much. The perfect end to a perfect day.

I'm away from my computer for a couple of days now so we'll pick up the story again on Wednesday, when Seb returns to Aust for the final push. See you soon!

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Slight change of plan - Seb will re-start TOMORROW instead of today from the English side of the Severn and will walk to Portishead on his first day back. He will be interviewed on BBC Radio Gloucester hopefully between 8.30 and 9am before he sets out. Stay tuned!

Thursday 30 October 2008

And he's off again!

After an overnight stay at RMR Bristol it was back to the Severn Bridge and the England/Wales border for Seb to start the final leg of his epic journey - Bristol toWeymouth via Lands End. It's hard to believe he has come so far, and there is a tangible sense of excitement about the whole project now as he sets out on this final part of the journey. Only six weeks to go - ish. How extraordinary to think that 12 months ago it was still a half-baked idea, with sleepless nights and lots of agonising about whether he could really do it and could we find enough support for him en route and and and..... And here we are, with just one big question left unanswered. Can we raise the £20,000 he set out to raise? Oh how I hope we can, because there is this niggle at the back of my mind that if he hasn't reached the £20k total by the time he gets to Weymouth, maybe he'll start a second lap. Anyway, personally I think we'll achieve the target with pounds to spare!

He had a good day today and was in Portishead by mid-afternoon where Sue picked him up to transport him back into Bristol to spend the night with some of his fans from Chester Park Junior School - namely Naima, 7, Isaac, 12 and Joel, 9.(And mum Denise who is apparently cooking him a lovely roast dinner - see messages page!). The weather is pretty chilly but Seb was glad to be on the move again and ticking off those final miles. I heard a few hilarious tales about his overnight stay with RMR Bristol last night and I understand the interview with Radio Gloucester went well this morning - if not at the planned time due to communication difficulties - despite various attempts to get Seb to crack up by his overnight hosts. Reminds me of my days with BFBS Radio in Cyprus when various silly pranks would unfold as some hapless newsreader endeavoured not to 'corpse' whilst reading the news...

Tomorrow he heads for Weston-super-Mare, then Bridgwater and Watchet at the weekend. Lets hope the weather holds!

Friday 31 October 2008

All Hallow's E'en - Seb's out on a pub crawl tonight with his overnight hosts touting for sponsorship in the local pubs - lets hope they don't think he's trick or treating or he could be in for a nasty surprise! He's had a good day today, reaching Weston-super-Mare. Weather fine but cold and not really a lot to report other than he had a lovely evening in Bristol last night carving pumpkins with the children and tonight he's with Martin and Karen near Bridgwater. They are experienced long distance walkers and have done the South West Coast Path so will undoubtedly be able to offer some sound advice as he starts the path when he passes through Minehead early next week.

On a fundraising note don't forget you have the opportunity to complete a sponsored walk on Portland at the beginning of December - details at the top of the page. And I think we can now safely announce that Seb's anticipated return to Weymouth is likely to be Sunday 14th December, mid-morning, so if you plan to come down and stay for the weekend to welcome him home get your bookings in early - I understand a number of people are booked in already!

We are also getting some collecting tins off Starlight so if you own a local pub, post office or shop and would like to have a collecting tin for Seb's charities, please let me know! Email by clicking here. Every penny counts...

Saturday 1st November 2008

I'm pleased to say Seb managed to avoid the rain if not the cold today and made it to the agreed pick-up point just before the first spots of rain started to fall. When I spoke to him this evening he was sitting counting the takings from the recent fundraising trawl around the local areas pubs and firework displays and had almost a hundred pounds in notes and a huge pile of coins still to count! Sue will bank that in the next couple of days and we hope to see his charity total take another leap upwards. A pleasant surprise for Seb today was Phil, another key member of the Support Team, dropping in at lunchtime to wish him well. I expect we'll all manage to see him at some point now that he is within easier reach of Dorset. I managed to get the master plan for the South West Peninsula completed today (can I just say to whoever runs the South West Coast Path Official Website that your distance calculator is absolutely fantastic!) As we have already said Seb will climb the equivalent of Everest four times by the time he completes the leg from the Severn Bridge to Weymouth, and he has some SERIOUS walking to do. If anyone would like to find out more about this fabulous long-distance path here's the link to the website.http://www.southwestcoastpath.com/index.cfm . He's probably not going to see it at its' best at this time of the year, but possibly at its' most awesome...

Tomorrow's task is a mailshot to westcountry businesses to try and attract some sponsorship. If your employer might be persuaded to allow a collection or make a donation, please let me know!

Sunday 2 November 2008

Haven't spoken to Seb himself this evening but did receive an update late afternoon from Sue to say that Seb had been joined by Dave and Shirley from Healthy Pets in Blandford for a walk along the beach at Kilve. Dave was instrumental in securing the dog food sponsorship from Judge's Choice and Laughing Dog, and has been studiously packing up 'food parcels' for Flash on a regular basis and couriering them off to all points of the British mainland, so it was good for them to meet up in person as it must be nine months since Dave has had a chance to see Flash! They took time out to enjoy a cream tea together in the Chantry which I gather serves excellent food, and by the time Sue rang she was already esconced in the Windmill Inn where the landlord is allowing them to do some collecting for the charities!

Seb ended his day at Watchet where he is guest of the 1st Watchet Sea Scout Troop for the next couple of nights thanks to Simon, the Scout Leader. I believe he will take a day off tomorrow to visit the pre-school group in Combwich (which he has already passed) who have done some fundraising for him, and to take up the offer of a free meal at the Anchor Inn in the village. At this rate he'll be piling on the weight, but with those steep hills to come it's no bad thing to build up his energy reserves - he's going to need them!

Monday 3 November 2008

Caught up with Seb this evening. He had taken a day off as planned and used it to visit the Otterhampton preschool class in Combwich (where he enjoyed a free meal in the Anchor Inn last night thanks to the generosity of Matt the landlord!) to meet the children who had raised some money for him. Norah, who organised it all, took her dog Nellie in so that Flash wouldn't feel left out, and also donated 12 tins of dog food to supplement Flash's rations. These were donated by Sian from the Animal Feed Shop in Wylds Road, Bridgwater - thank you Sian! The children were very excited to meet Seb in person, so a good time was had by all.

Seb is staying overnight again in the Sea Scout HQ in Watchet, and will crack on to West Porlock tomorrow. Some big hills to climb I believe!

Thursday 6th November 2008

Another tough day which Seb described as 'interesting' with once again over 5500 feet of climbing and a similar amount of descent, taking him from Hunters Inn to Mortehoe just north of Woolacombe in Devon. Tonight he is back with Lyn and family at Combe Martin, and tomorrow he has a very early start because he has a rendezvous with the Royal Marines at Braunton Burrows at 1030am to cadge a lift across the Taw estuary in a DUKW amphibeous vehicle - not sure what Flash will make of that! He has an 11 mile yomp to get there on time, so it will be best foot forward all the way. He will finish the day at Westward Ho! and will be the guest of the Royal Marines at Chivenor on Friday night.

On Saturday he is making a star appearance at a sponsored walk in Bristol being organised by Chester Park Junior School to raise money for his funds. He'll be really pleased to catch up with all the children who starred in Seb's Odyssey the Musical in the summer. He has a rest day on Sunday and I'm sure he's going to be well ready for it after all the climbing he's done this week....

Wednesday 5th November 2008

A tough day today but Seb seems to have taken it in his stride - 17 miles and over 6,000 feet of climb and an equally punishing amount of descent. Perhaps fortunately the weather was overcast which probably made for reasonably comfortable walking conditions. He eventually made it safely to the Hunter's Inn where he was picked up by Lyn from the Combe Martin Guides who is hosting him for the next couple of days.

Tuesday 4th November 2008

A busy person today! After his day off yesterday Seb took a while to get himself going this morning and so it was mid-afternoon before he arrived in Minehead from Watchet to start the final leg of his odyssey - the infamous South West Coast Path. The compulsory photocall at the start resulted in him setting out quite late on the final stretch for the day with dark rapidly approaching, but he made the 7 or 8 miles down to Porlock Weir in just 90 minutes! There are a couple of people planning to walk with him next week - I wonder if they really know what they're in for...?

This evening Simon took Seb along to meet the Cubs and he had the great privilege of judging their Guy Fawkes competition after chatting to them all. Then he met up with members of the local Coastguard team, and spent nearly an hour with them. I bet they've got a few hairy tales to tell about events on this wild coast, for it was Watchet that inspired Coleridge to write 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'... Here's an extract.

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold:

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen:

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--

The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound!

Brrrrr. Let's hope it's not an omen of bad weather as winter approaches....

Friday 7th November 2008

Well, what an exciting day! Seb had a very early start and was off and walking at about 8am in a mad dash to try and catch his lift across the Taw Estuary (known to many of you no doubt as the place where Tarka the otter was born and raised). Heading south through the surfing hotspots of Woolacombe and Croyde eventually Seb and Flash came upon the world famous Braunton Burrows, the largest sand-dune system in the United Kingdom - seventh heaven for Flash no doubt due to the large number of rabbits which gave the place its' name! Here they were greeted with a sudden downburst of rain, but undeterred soldiered on to the deferred rendezvous with the promised DUKW from the Royal Marine base at Instow. I've no doubt some of the mid-morning dog walkers were somewhat bemused to see this strange craft come along to scoop one of their number off the beach and off across the estuary to Appledore on the far side. In fact I'm surprised local radio weren't receiving calls about alien abductions!

Built in 1942, the designation of DUKW is not a military pun - the name comes from the model naming terminology used by GMC; the D indicates a vehicle designed in 1942, the U meant "utility (amphibious)", the K indicated all-wheel drive and the W indicated two powered rear axles. Seb was even allowed to steer - or is it helm? - the DUKW which had seen service in WWII. Certainly an event to write about in his military history project! Many thanks to the Royal Marines at Chivenor and Instow for this spectacular river crossing experience.

Seb walked on today and finished at Westward Ho! before heading off to RMR Chivenor where he is accommodated tonight and Sunday. Early tomorrow Sue will drop him off in Bristol for the weekend where he is supporting the children from Chester Park on their sponsored walk.

Which reminds me - received this lovely picture today from the Little Otters Pre-School Group in Combwhich which was taken outside the Anchor Inn when they met up with Seb and Flash to present their fundraising cheque. (Pre-School/Anchor Inn? Pre-Schools have obviously moved on since my two were at school...) Seriously though, many thanks to Norah and the staff and children at the school, and Matt at the Anchor Inn for his hospitality.

All in all a memorable day.

Saturday 8th November 2008

What a smashing day we've had today! Today was the day of the Chester Park Junior School's sponsored walk which was organised as a follow-up fundraising event after their very successful - and quite brilliant - 'Seb's Odyssey the Musical' in the summer. We all met up next to the 'Fishpond Fish' which I thought was probably a fish and chip shop but which turned out to be a rather nice statue and there were HUNDREDS of children and parents and staff there all ready for the walk. Well, I say hundreds but maybe I exaggerate a little - but at least a hundred! We were so lucky with the weather - after torrential overnight rain there was a four hour gap of blue sky, sunshine and glorious autumn colour which probably explained the brilliant turn-out. Seb and Sue, unfortunately, were delayed on their long journey to join us from North Devon, so we decided to set everyone off as there was a Press photographer ready and waiting, knowing that Seb wasn't far away and would be able to catch everyone up very quickly at the speed he walks...

Off they went, a great long crocodile of children, staff, parents, pushchairs, scooters, dogs and toddlers on their sponsored walk, two miles along (and back) the old railway line towards Bath. Goodness knows what the mid-morning cyclists and dog-walkers thought as they weaved their way in and out of children and banners! Seb arrived when they'd been gone about 20 minutes, so he legged it along the path with Flash then sat on a bench to meet them as they came back. What was quite funny was that the banner carriers at the front were so engrossed in their task of keeping the banner 'flying' that they walked straight past him without noticing him or Flash, until their headteacher, Mr Phillips, coughed loudly and pointed at Seb! Seb then disappeared under a pile of excited children (and fairly excited staff and parents I have to say!) as they all rushed to greet him.

Order was eventually restored and the walk was duly completed, and we took some more photos of Seb with the children for the scrapbook.

Meanwhile, I had hi-jacked a Fire Engine in the Morrison's Car Park.... Jo Seddon from Merseyside Fire and Rescue had been trying to organise Avon Fire and Rescue to deliver Seb to the walk, so when a Fire Engine appeared in the car park I put 2 and 2 together and threw myself in front of it, waving frantically. Two very bemused firefighters screeched to a halt and when I said 'Are you here for Seb's Walk?' they said '...Who?' Oh dear. So I explained and after a brief conversation with the Fire Station they gave up the next hour to show scores of very excited children around their Fire Engine whilst Seb and Flash posed for endless photos in front of it with individual children. So many thanks indeed to Avon Fire and Rescue and Gary and Paul in particular for the perfect end to a truly heart-warming occasion.

After the fire engine had gone (bet they wished they'd never popped in to Morrison's for that packet of crisps now!) everyone dispersed and Sue and I helped Seb decant his 'life' - rucksack, tent, dog food, walking poles etc etc into the Hudson family's car who are looking after him for the next 24 hours, and who will return him to Chivenor to continue his walk on Monday. Thankyou Jenny and Maxwell! I'll put one or two more photos from Chester Park on the site tomorrow cos they're all LOVELY!

And finally a very very big thankyou to Mr and Mrs Phillips from Chester Park Infants and Junior Schools for everything they have done to support Seb's Odyssey.

Sunday 9th November 2008

Remembrance Sunday and a day off for Seb. Am waiting to hear if he plans to walk tomorrow as the weather forecast is pretty awful. Anyway, I'll just take the opportunity to introduce you to a couple of key young people from Chester Park School.

Here we have from right to left, Naima, who looked after Seb when he walked through Bristol a couple of weeks ago. Then Seb and Flash. Then Maxwell who looked after Seb this weekend in Bristol, and finally Maxwell's friend Charlie.and on the left here is Mitchell. Mitchell has a key role to play at school as he has the job of checking the website every day, working out where Seb is on the map, and then he updates the large map of the United Kingdom which is displayed in the school hall plotting Seb's progress for all the children to see.

Important people! Once again, many thanks to them and everyone at Chester Park Infant and Junior Schools for their unwavering support, including staff and families.

Monday 10th November 2008

Well, today was one of those days we could well do without if Seb is to get home before Christmas! The driving rain and strong winds beating up the English Channel drenched Dorset from hilltop to sea in a constant stream of water and it was with some trepidation that I waited to hear if Seb had started walking, as we agreed yesterday that if it was too bad or too dangerous he should stay put. However, late morning I received the call to say he was on his way - a delayed start which was sensible in the conditions, and as a result he cut short the day at Clovelly. It appears the wind wasn't quite as strong in north Devon, possibly because it was beating up from the south west and the land mass of the peninsular may have given him some shelter. He was, however, already soaked to the skin and had taken a couple of tumbles - the first when his walking pole suddenly retracted up itself, causing him to overbalance under his full pack and hit the deck with a resounding thump. His first fall on the trip - sorry, journey - and not pleasant. His second fall, however, he seems to have found highly amusing as basically, as he descended a steep slope which had no steps, just mud, his walking boots became skis and he was away - straight into a substantial gorsebush at the bottom! No harm done on this occasion, but a huge lesson on the potential dangers of this part of the walk. This evening he had been rescued from Clovelly by Vicki, an Award colleague from Cornwall, and tomorrow he will have company on his walk as he has been joined by local Dorset landowner Richard Drax for a couple of days. Richard has been a great supporter of this venture and was determined to join Seb at some point on his journey to experience the reality of life on the road. I suspect he set out from Dorset this morning wondering what on earth he had let himself in for, and I can only hope he's packed enough foul weather gear to last the next two days!

Here's hoping they have better weather tomorrow....

Tuesday 11th November 2008

Much better weather today although the wind was so strong that the waterfalls which usually tumble over the cliff edge after heavy rain were actually dancing like fountains with the water going upwards, not down! Seb made me laugh when I asked what the walking was like - 'up and down' was the reply.... and he wasn't kidding. According to my calculator it was 5628 feet up and 5757 feet down, so a fraction more down than up. Scary stuff. He managed to stay on his feet today (no pack) so that was an improvement, and he enjoyed the company of Richard walking with him. I asked him if he'd made any concessions for his companion by slowing down a bit, but he said not. Oh dear - I guess we'll have to ask Richard for his account of the 2 days when he gets back, but I would imagine even for a fit person (which he is) today would have been tough. I suspect he'll be suffering tomorrow morning!

Anyway, despite all the ups and downs the pair made Bude safely and Seb seems to have enjoyed his day. Let's hope the weather holds!

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Having said goodbye to Vicki in Bude who has looked after Seb for the last couple of days - thank you Vicki! - Seb and Richard made cracking progress today and knocked off 17 miles on a day of rolling ups and downs with just one or two really steep parts - but still an impressive 5269 feet of climb and 5150 feet of descent. The wind had dropped and there was even some sunshine, and they made good progress to reach Boscastle before 4.30 bearing in mind that Seb was back under full pack and Richard was suffering a little from his exertions the previous day! Now, you might find this odd but I'm sneaking this in mid-text as I'm hoping himself is less likely to read it if I bury it mid-paragraph... we'll find out now how many people actually read this nightly penance! Anyway, on the last day of this month it's his birthday and we'd love to deliver a big pile of cards, so if you'd like to send him one send it to me at the address on the contact us page and we'll get it to him on the day. Same goes for the finish - if you can't be there in person, send a card. Please annotate your card in the top corner of the envelope with 'birthday' or 'finish'. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes... We had a nightmare sorting out the accommodation as nowhere wanted to take a dog, so in the end we were bailed out once again by a DofE colleague, Wendy, who drove all the way up from Helston after a day at work and then back to Hayle with Seb for the night (and back up to Boscastle again tomorrow morning of course). THANKYOU Wendy! Richard, meanwhile, hopped in a taxi which took him back to Bude to collect his car, and when we spoke he was wending his way wearily back to Dorset. Many thanks to Richard for giving up his time to keep Seb company - a braver man than most! We look forward to receiving Richard's account of life on the 'road' with Seb in the next few days, and we'll put it on the blog for you all to read.

Boscastle, of course, was the scene of the great flash flood in 2004 when a summer storm washed out the whole village and many were snatched to safety by helicopter. I must remember to ask Seb if there was much evidence of the flood remaining today, although it must have been pretty much dark by the time they arrived.

Thursday 13th November 2008

On his own again and battling the rain again today. Seb tells me it was easier walking (still over 5000 feet of ascent though!) but even so he got in after dark which was a bit hairy! However when I caught up with him on the phone (as my husband and I dashed off to Weymouth to watch WOW's performance of the Pirates of Penzance which was BRILLIANT!) he was esconced in the Crow's Nest Pub on the cliffs at Port Isaac, had been made very welcome and was enjoying a free meal! I've looked at the Crow's Nest website and gather it features in Doc Martin (which I don't watch... but perhaps I will now).

Tuesday 11/Weds 12 Nov 08 - Richard's story

'STROLL ROUND THE CORNISH COAST' It had been some nine months or so since I’d seen Seb and his dog Flash. Then they had strolled off into the distance at the start of their great adventure. At the time, Sebastian struck me as a rather shy and gawky teenager, but I never doubted his resolve.

On Tuesday morning, I met a very different person. He looked the same, but sounded very different. He’d matured enormously and there was an inner confidence that he certainly did not have before. We were dropped at Hartland Point by Vicki, a charming lady who ran a youth centre. She’d kindly put Seb up for the night. The wind was howling in from the sea which I thought wasn’t going to help our efforts particularly. And so it proved as we put our shoulders down and climbed up the first of many hills.

Now, you’ve got to remember that Seb is 18 and has walked some 2,500 miles or so. He’s fit, very fit. I am 50 and fit for my age, but the muscles soon began to ache and complain. My admiration for Seb grew by the minute, as I watched him stride across the hills like a young gazelle.

The coastline is stunning and on this windy day the sea was an angry grey, green colour, crashing on to the rocks below us. In fact, the wind was so strong that in some spots sea spray was being blown uphill and across the cliff tops. We had to run through these occasional showers to avoid being soaked.

Flash made us both look old and tired. He bounded in front of us with seemingly endless energy. Sometimes he’d pick up a piece of wood and wait obediently for us to catch him up. On other occasions, he’d cast a wary eye over the few sheep we passed. Clearly his Collie instincts are very much alive! But one firm word from Seb, and Flash sank to the ground, waiting for the command to move on.

As we walked, Seb and I chatted. And the more we talked, the more I admired this young man. He came across as clear-headed and articulate, probing me on many issues, not least my political aspirations.

After walking for about three hours, we stopped at a small hut near Higher Sharpnose Point. It was made entirely from wood collected from the beach below. Inside we rested our limbs and tucked into some rather good Swedish chocolate. Countless other walkers had inscribed their names and initials on the wooden walls, although we did not add ours.

And then we were off again, the wind still doing its best to blow us into the sea. Conversation was sporadic at this point, as we each concentrated on battling the elements and keeping to the track, where there was often only room for one.

At about 4pm, we descended down into Bude and I have to say the seaside resort was a most welcome sight. Shoulders and calf muscles were beginning to complain and I needed something warm inside me. So, while I drank two cups of tea, Seb called his father on his mobile. Refreshed, I strolled back to my hotel, while Vicki took Seb back to her home for a bath. Seb and I then met for dinner and we had chance to chat some more and this time without the wind drowning out our conversation. Seb’s a quiet, thoughtful man, but he’d loosened up by the time we’d wolfed down our first course, and I much enjoyed hearing his life story, before Vicki came to collect him. With plans to start at 9am the following day, I fell into bed and slept like the dead.

The morning came all too quickly and it felt like only minutes before I was dragging my body down the stairs to meet up with my young, gazelle-like friend. And sure enough, there he was, bright as a button, with his faithful hound by his side.

The next leg was from Bude to Boscastle, which you may recall was severely flooded quite recently. This was some 17 miles, although the terrain was going to prove testing. Walking the coastal path is not some easy jaunt. I can now testify to that.

It’s a very arduous and challenging test, which would break most people. The cliff tops don’t extend from point A to point B, where you can saunter along the top and maintain a reasonable pace. Every mile or so, you find yourself at the mouth of some river or valley which has to be crossed. And to do that you first have to descend – testing on the knees – and then climb out the other side. In military terms, it’s rather like a line of sandhills, although without the beastly instructor yelling obscenities at you as you struggle up and down.

Throughout it all, Seb maintained his humour and determination to complete what he’d set out to do. He may have had periods of doubt in the past, but now so near to home his tail’s up and he can smell success.

As we walked, we passed well known landmarks, like Widemouth Bay, Dizzard Point and the small village of Crackington Haven.

It’s all picture postcard country and you could not fail to take in the sheer beauty of this stretch of coastline. But, I have to say, that for me, the sheer beauty of my surroundings began to pale, as we plodded on, hour after hour.

And it wasn’t until 4pm that Boscastle came into sight and I began to dream of food and warmth. I kept looking at Seb to see if he was thinking along the same lines, but he was indifferent to hardship it seemed, toughened by months of walking alone and in all conditions.

My taxi arrived at 4.30pm to take me back to Bude to collect my car. Seb was going to wait for another kind soul (Wendy) who was going to put him up for the night. I gave Seb what remained of my chocolate, which he accepted gratefully. And then we shook hands and I wished him well for the remaining journey.

His only real concern was that he still had to raise another £7,000 to reach his £20,000 target. The money’s going to two charities. So, if anyone’s reading this, please consider donating some money and helping Seb achieve his goal.

He is by any stretch of the imagination a remarkable young man and a credit to himself and his family. He is also an example of what can be done if the will is there. He’s considering joining the Royal Marines, where he would do very well indeed. In fact, whatever Seb decides to do, I’m sure he will prove a success.

It was a genuine pleasure and honour to walk with Seb and it’s a couple of days in my life that I shall not forget. I look forward to welcoming Seb home next month. He left a young teenager a nd will return a young man. Richard Drax 13 November, 2008

Friday 14th November 2008

Seb had company today as a friend, Sam, another DofE Award participant from Dorset, had travelled down to join him last night. Traffic, however, had delayed her arrival and once her dad had dropped her off she had to resort to a Band B for the night - not what was planned at all, but unavoidable in the circumstances. Anyway, they met up successfully in Port Isaac this morning and set out for the day, both under full packs as Wendy has relinquished the reins (for the time being - what a gem she has been as she wasn't due to accommodate Seb until late next week!) and they were in 'new' accommodation tonight.

It was a long day again although slightly less climbing this time - a mere 3,500 feet - and the weather was fine to begin with although mist and drizzle moved in late afternoon. Seb, being the gentleman that he is, slowed his pace a little in deference to Sam, but to cover 18 miles which included a ferry crossing at Padstow in about 7 hours was still going at a cracking place.

Sam, however, is a tough cookie and appears to remain expedition 'fit' after her venture this summer and obviously coped, as when I rang their 'hosts' in the evening for a report they had both just finished an evening meal. Many thanks to Chris and Rosie for accommodating the intrepid pair. Chris runs the DofE at Truro School and is a colleague on the Dartmoor Expedition Panel. Tomorrow Seb and Sam move on to Newquay and I think Sam heads back to Dorset either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Seb will take a well-deserved day off in Newquay on Sunday and needs to do some essential shopping - I gather his trousers have pretty much disintergrated in the last few days! He will have completed over a hundred miles thi

Saturday 15th November 2008

Chris returned Seb and Sam to Trevone this morning and they set off for Newquay on a grey, damp day. Sam struggled a bit today with keeping up the pace - hardly surprising after yesterday, but insisted Seb walked on because he gets stopped so many times by people wanting to chat that she always catches him up! And stopping and starting is not a good idea when you're really tired because all the aches and pains have time to kick in. It was a slightly easier walk today with less steep climbing, and so the two of them made it into Newquay in good time. Sam returns to Dorset tomorrow on the train and Seb will take a day off in the surfing capital of Cornwall. I wonder if the surf's up and he fancies a go?

Monday 17th November 2008

Goodness, he must have set a fair pace today after his day off because he completed the 20+ miles to Porthtowan from Newquay in 7 hours which is a superb pace taking into consideration over 5000 feet of climbing... does this coastpath never let-up? I guess it must have been the new trousers which Rob, his weekend host, kindly sorted out in Truro yesterday, adding speed. And of course he was on his own with just Flash for company which may well have aided his progress. I gather the weather wasn't as wet as we had here in Dorset, although when I spoke to him just after 3pm I understand the stormclouds were gathering out over the darkening sea.

At this rate he will make Lands End before dusk on Thursday - the final landmark milestone before he turns south-east then east and heads directly towards Weymouth for the first time since he left home on 1st February. What an achievement! What a remarkable young man........

Tuesday 18th November 2008

Well, despite the fact that there appears to have been over 4000 feet of ascent again today, Seb is clearly on a mission because he - quote - 'walked fast' today and completed his route in something a little over three hours... If things went to plan he was probably without a rucksack, so I guess he may be back into his jogging mode again. The route was considerably shorter today than yesterday - a mere 16 miles - and the wind was on his back so he clearly made the most of nature's assistance. He is holed up tonight with my good friend Jenny, a fellow DofE Dartmoor Expedition Panel assessor, so he is in good hands. Sneaking in another covert message here, hoping himself won't spot it. On the last day of this month it's his birthday and we'd love to deliver a big pile of cards, so if you'd like to send him one send it to me at the address on the contact us page and we'll get it to him on the day. Same goes for the finish - if you can't be there in person, send a card. Please annotate your card in the top corner of the envelope with 'birthday' or 'finish'. And back to the blog... Jenny knows the coast path well and will be able to give him sound advice on whether to expect an easy day or a tough day over the next week. Jenny has kindly roped in a number of friends and colleagues - mostly DofE - to support Seb in the coming week, and he will be back with her on several nights - Redruth is handily placed for access to both north and south coast at this end of Cornwall!

We heard from Roger Finn at the BBC today who plans to film Seb as he approaches Dorset, and Martin Dowse from ITV is also on the case. Martin did the first television interview of Seb more than a year ago now and plans to 'close' the story with Seb's return to Weymouth. All very exciting. They both plan to walk with Seb - have they not read Richard Drax's account below? Brave men obviously... The website's busy too - hello and welcome to new visitors, and many thanks to our loyal followers who have hung in there from the beginning! Stay with us - not long to go now!

Wednesday 19 November 2008

What a cracking day - blue sky and sunshine, an early start, no pack to carry and he was flying,past the famous harbour of St Ives, along the cliffs at Zennor, and he arrived at Gurnards Head so early that he decided to crack on a bit further and Sue (who is visiting again) eventually caught up with him at Pendeen Watch to give him a lift back to Jenny's in Redruth. An interesting walk today, with some quite large boulders to negotiate along the way and 4743 feet of ascent.

Had some great news today from Reverend Barbara in Ilfracombe, North Devon who tells us "Our three churches have been thinking about Seb and have had a retiring collection for his charities. We raised £130. We had a Quiz night that raised £40; the collection at the joint service in Emmanuel last Sunday morning raised another £60, and then on Sunday evening the Christians Together service in Combe Martin put in another £30." And Devon was doing us proud because we also received £100 donation from Princess Yachts in Plymouth - all in all a great days fundraising.

Thursday 20th November 2008

I think the picture says it all, don't you? Many many congratulations to Seb on his remarkable achievement.

So a 'grand' day - good weather, a pleasant walk, and one of the final major milestones neatly ticked off. It's quite difficult to know what to say really - not a problem I usually have but there is just no way to sum up Seb's achievement. So I'll move on! I have to confess our 7P's were conspicuous by their absence today and there was a frantic rush back to the office by me to get onto the website and mapping software to work out exactly how many miles he'd walked from Weymouth to Land's End to make sure we got the right figure on the signpost in the photo! I'd actually emailed the figure to the photographic company last night but then forgot to pass it on to Seb. So ignore the figure in the photo - the correct figure was 2,836. Awesome.

Not content with reaching Land's End Seb used the remaining daylight to crack on to Porthcurno where he finished the day, then Sue rushed him into Penzance, found a friendly Jessop's and got the photos emailed back to me in Dorset - many thanks to Ben at Jessops for facilitating this, and here they are.

I'm also delighted to say that Courtwood Photographic who own the concession at Land's End responded to the hasty email I sent last night and 'donated' Seb with his 'official' Land's End photo so he didn't have to part with any money, and once the film is processed they will email us a copy for the website.

Seb was back at Wendy's tonight and will walk on tomorrow before taking most of Saturday and Sunday off to enable him to attend a band concert in Plymouth on Saturday evening. More of that at the weekend, but it's in the Guildhall if any of you fancy a great night out and an opportunity to meet Seb!

So - the final chapter begins. He's coming home!

Friday 21st November 2008

Seb had a bit of a disrupted day today - the first, I suspect, of many as the media interest is definitely hotting up! But he's not complaining because media coverage is exactly what he needs to rack up his fundraising total. Today ITV Westcountry were on the case and caught up with Seb as he arrived in Mousehole and he spent an hour talking to their reporter and carrying out some filming. We'll try and let you know when it will go out - could be this weekend or early next week. They are hopefully going to cut in some footage from earlier interviews including the day he started and the day he crossed back into England from Scotland, so it should be really good. And for those of you who read this early enough (or have access to Listen Again on the internet!) we expect him to be interviewed by Sally Taylor on BBC Radio Solent between 8 and 8.30 tomorrow morning (sorry for the short notice - been busy!)

Anyway, after a fine morning the weather closed in and the rain arrived, so Seb took an extended break, polished off a couple of bowls of icecream, then cracked on as the rain wasn't showing any signs of letting up. So what's another day of getting wet? He was due to finish at Newlyn today but decided to push on a few miles to Marazion as tomorrow's band concert in Plymouth will knock out a day's walking, and by walking on today he can put in half a day on Sunday after he gets the train back and finish up more-or-less where he should have been ( if that makes sense...). So he finished the day at St Michaels Mount. There'll be no blog tomorrow because of the concert.

Had a few nice messages in today which I have posted on the message page. I'm including extracts from Katie's in Dorchester and Pauline in Portland here as well as they might prompt some fundraising ideas amongst our regulars. Pauline is organising the sponsored walk on 6th December too. Katie said "We had an idea in the office that we would not send christmas cards to each other but will donate the money to you; then someone came up with idea that we don't do secret Santa this year and again donate the money. Thought I would put it up on your message board just in case it inspires others to do the same." Great idea - thanks Katie! And Pauline told me "Portland Spa fitness centre (she works at Southwell Business Park - same company) have set up a challenge to see how far the members can walk/jog/run on the treadmills before Seb gets home, inviting members to give a donation. I have given them all the info - today I ran 3km in lunch time - legs aren't workin at all now!!! Won't be able to walk at all by 6th Dec."

Really good to hear that so much fundraising is going on! Seb's still worried that he won't achieve his £20k target but I'm hopeful that, with all the media coverage there is in the pipeline, he will. So keep telling your friends!

Back on Sunday. Sleep well.

Sunday 23rd November 2008

Well, it's been a busy weekend for Seb but as always he has met it 'full on'. Sue drove him up to Plymouth on Saturday after an early morning interview with Sally Taylor live on Radio Solent, and there he teamed up with Emma, one of our Dorset DofE Gold participants who, fortuitously, is at University in Plymouth! Sue had collected his TA uniform from Dorset so he had a few hours to get it pressed and his boots cleaned before the evenings events. Sue reports: "Formed in February 2007 as part of the MOD's Future Army Structures, the Rifles, with five Regular and two TA Battalions, is now the biggest Regiment in the British Army and has served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are two particular traditions upheld by The Rifles musicians to this day: the use of the Bugle an the distinct pace at which they march - 140 paces to the minute [very fast - just like Seb!]

At the Reception before the concert, Seb was introduced to the Mayor of Plymouth, and a number of senior Army Officers.

The concert was organised to commemorate the centenary of the formation of Britain's Territorial Army and in aid of the Army Benevolent Fund. The programme, entitled 'A Night at the Movies', included classics such as the Dambusters March, themes from the Bond 007 movies and music evoking the harsh and poignant reality of military combat, notably from 'Saving Private Ryan'. The massed bands produced a thrilling, vibrant sound and the various soloists showed outstanding musicianship. On a lighter note, the Rifles Big Band performed songs from 'The Blues Brothers' and we were treated to a very exciting drum display using ultra violet light performed by the Devon Army Cadet Corps of Drums. Seb was given permission to do some fundraising during the interval and following the concert - I believe the total was pretty hefty, judging by the weight of his collection tin!"

Seb certainly enjoyed the evening's events, and was up early this morning to catch a train back to Penzance to continue with his walk. Apparently the weather was glorious this morning and he was able to walk in a t-shirt for the first few hours - hard to imagine when other parts of the country were in blizzard conditions! He walked for 6 hours, all on the coast path, and notched up a remarkable 18.5 miles, finishing at Church Cove. Here he was picked up by Ian from RNAS Culdrose where he is a guest in the Wardroom this evening. He also appeared on ITV Westcountry News this evening using the footage taken in Mousehole on Friday. It was an excellent piece and you can view the footage here http://www.itvlocal.com/westcountry/news/ (Sunday evening bulletin).

Tomorrow Seb will walk one of the most spectacular parts of the South West Coast Path - the Lizard Peninsular - as he gets even nearer to completing his incredible journey.

Monday 24th November 2008

A brief update this evening as the computer has swallowed one attempt to update and so this is my second go at it - not good!

Seb had a long day today covering somewhere in the region of 23 miles between Church Cove and Porthoustock where he is staying with Craig, a member of the local lifeboat crew. Reception in the village was not good so Seb and I had a rather disjointed conversation, but I gleaned that it had been a bitterly cold day with him butting head-on into that icy wind for much of the time, and clocking up about four thousand feet of ascent as well. However, he seemed cheerful enough so all is well, and he is a little ahead of schedule. Media interest is hotting up and there was excellent coverage in tonight's Dorset Echo with both his walk with Richard Drax well covered, and an excellent piece promoting the forthcoming choir concert to be held at All Saints School in Weymouth next Thursday (4th December). Tomorrow morning BBC Radio Cornwall propose to interview him first thing as well - quite the media star! There was also some good coverage following his stay with the Watchet Sea Scouts as well and I thought the photo below was particularly good ....

Anyway, let's hope the wind eases and the weather warms up a little for the next few days and that Seb can continue to make excellent progress towards home.

Tuesday 25th November 2008

An early start today for Seb as the radio vehicle from BBC Radio Cornwall was outside his overnight accommodation just after 8am and he gave an excellent live interview on the Breakfast Show. Not sure who does their research but they announced him as 16 year-old Seb Green which was interesting in itself because ITV said they couldn't interview him on his own if he was under 18! It was a good interview though which I managed to catch live courtesy of the internet - well, done Seb.

He set out on his walk at about half nine and quickly made his way along the coast to his first major challenge of the day - the Helford River crossing. Here another DofE Colleague, Sue, came to the rescue and was ready and waiting in her inflatable dinghy to ferry boy and dog to the far side - thank you Sue and thank you Jenny for organising it! Seb then continued on his way, eventually arriving in Falmouth late afternoon where the lovely Frank - another DofE colleague, this time off the Dartmoor Expedition Panel, was waiting to welcome him. Thank heavens for DofE! (and Scouts, and Guides, and Fire Stations, and Youth Workers....!)(and the TA, and the RMR, and the Navy and EVERYONE ELSE!). The best bit about this whole walk for me has been the co-operation of so many organisations and individuals who have supported Seb's endeavours. What a team!

He sets out tomorrow morning on another ferry, this time across the Fal estuary. He is making excellent progress and the big finish on Sunday 14th December now looks eminently achievable. Book your tickets now!

Wednesday 26th November 2008

Seb has made good progress in an easterly (well, north-easterly if we wish to be completely accurate!) direction again today with both the weather and the terrain taking on a kinder persona. He said goodbye to Frank in Falmouth and caught the ferry across the Fal estuary to St Mawes on the far side where he was met by Pat, his hostess for the next 24 hours, who kindly met him off the ferry to whisk him and Flash around to St Anthony by car as the second ferry only runs in the summer, which is long gone!

There was much less climbing today but he had an unplanned detour which, I understand, was something to do with Flash getting temporarily misplaced... Anyway, all's well that ends well and the two of them are tucked up safely with Pat in the village of West Portholland this evening.

Thursday 27th November 2008

Seb walked 17 miles to Par Sands today and seems to have avoided the torrential rain which arrived in that part of Cornwall after he had finished walking for the day. He hopes to reach Plymouth for the weekend so that he can enjoy having a day off on his birthday with friends. There has been a steady trickle of donations today which is great news - another £125 in the kitty!

Friday 28th November 2008

Seb was remarkably upbeat this evening despite a challenging day which began with him breaking a tooth - not the best of starts to a 20 mile day. They obviously have a denser type of chewing gum in Cornwall! So it looks like a day off on Sunday for his birthday and a day off on Monday to see the dentist - not what he would have wanted at all, poor lad. The day began in Par and as he hasn't quite cracked walking on water yet he took the ferry across the River Fowey to reach Polruan on the eastern shore from Fowey. The weather was kind to him and Flash today with a gentle breeze and real warmth in the sun, so he was able to enjoy the walking although he did say it felt like he climbed a couple of mountains en route. Looking at the profile for that particular stretch of coast I'm really not surprised - it closely resembled jagged teeth (sorry, Seb, perhaps 'teeth' wasn't the best choice of words!).

Anyway, he survived and walked into Looe at about half past four where he is being accommodated by Cornwall County Fire Brigade, thanks to some wheeling and dealing by Jo from Merseyside Fire and Rescue - thank you Jo.

Tomorrow - hopefully - Plymouth in Devon. Last county before Dorset. Getting closer!

Saturday 29th November 2008

A goodly stretch for Seb and Flash again today as they headed east from Looe, across Rame Head, onto the Cremyll Ferry and into the famous naval port of Plymouth.

Twenty plus miles walked by the time he reached his overnight accommodation courtesy of the Fire Service at Greenbank, and again very steep in places. In fact, having done the calculations, he has climbed almost 10,000 feet in the last two days alone! He must be well ready for a day off tomorrow to celebrate his 19th birthday - one I am sure he will remember for a very long time to come (and not just because of the toothache....).

I'm afraid there won't be an update tomorrow evening as I will be down in Plymouth delivering one or two birthday cards to Seb, re-supplying him with Sea Safety Cards (courtesy of the RNLI) and handing over details of accommodation offers for the next 2 weeks. I'll endeavour to get a photo of the birthday boy to put up on the website on Monday.

I'm sure you will all join me in wishing Seb a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow!

Monday 1st December 2008

I'm delighted to report that Seb was in good form when I caught up with him in Plymouth on Sunday evening and absolutely delighted with the huge pile of birthday cards and gifts which I dumped in his lap, along with a sum of money from two well-wishers to spend on some little luxuries for the last two weeks of his journey.

He was positively overwhelmed by the huge pile from the children at Chester Park, all hand-made and with a personal message, and even Flash received some treats. I didn't stay long, as his next surprise was when his father turned up on the doorstep to take him out for a birthday meal, and so all in all he had a very special day and thankyou to everyone who made a contribution!

Today he has been to the dentist and has a temporary repair on his tooth to get him home (sounds a bit like the AA and my car...) and he was looking forward to getting under way again tomorrow.

Tuesday 2nd December 2008

Pleased to report that Seb is pain-free following his trip to the dentist yesterday and back on the move again today. He left Plymouth this morning and headed steadily east, successfully negotiating the Yealm Estuary and ending his day at Mothecombe where he was collected by Mike and Isobel Torrens who bizarrely had met Seb in Scotland the day after he climbed Ben Nevis and offered him support when he reached South Devon. And here he is! It was the first time I typed a December date onto the map today - it seems amazing to think that all things being equal he will be back home in just two weeks time.

Media interest is hotting up and a number of articles appeared over the weekend as far apart as the Western Morning News in Plymouth and the Glasgow Herald, not to mention the freeby Metro paper on the London Underground! This has produced a trickle of donations and the total is slowly creeping up, but if you are new to this site and haven't sponsored Seb yet PLEASE DO! He is really stressing about not getting over the magic £20,000 mark before he finishes and it's less than two weeks away now….

But we're going to get there aren't we!

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Seb broke the 3,000 mile barrier today!

A bitterly cold wind sweeping up the channel has kept Seb moving swiftly along the coast today. After overnighting in Kingston he started the day on the eastern side of the Erme Estuary (memories for me of digging huge pits in the sand with my 3 older brothers on Wonwell beach - and being deposited in same pit after it was too deep for me to climb out….) and made good time to Bigbury-on-Sea where Burgh Island - Devon's answer to St Michael's Mount - hunkers low in close proximity to the beach - an island at high tide, but accessible on foot at low water. At high tide there used to be this amazing sea tractor to transport visitors to and from the island, and Seb tells me it's still there, with its' enormous wheels and strange structure dominating the scene. Here the wide estuary of the River Avon blocked his path and he was picked up by his host from last night, Mike, who whisked him inland through Aveton Gifford and back down to Bantham to continue on his way. Some steep ups and downs today, and twice Seb found himself prostrated on the deck under full pack as his third? pair of boots - which are definitely ready for the scrapheap - 'capsized' under duress and gave out at inopportune moments. Seb seemed to find this positively hilarious but I have visions of national news headlines for all the wrong reasons if he's not careful! Seb finished the day in Salcombe where he met up with my good friend Alan - another colleague off the Dartmoor Expedition Panel - who is looking after him tonight.

Tomorrow is awaited with eager anticipation because, if the day is clear, there is a possibility Seb will be able to see Portland Bill in the distance as he rounds Start Point - first glimpse of home! Seb's thirst for all things military history will be well and truly quenched as well as he will walk along the famous Slapton Sands where so many lives were lost in the preparation for the D-Day landings in 1944.

Didn't have the heart to tell him about the forecast for snow………….

Thursday 4th December 2008 - 10 days to go!

There's no holding Seb now as Weymouth creeps ever nearer. He was due to stop at a little village called Strete today but he was making such good time (despite ascending over 5000 feet again) that he arrived at two thirty and decided to crack on to Dartmouth - a distance of 23 miles. Even without a full pack that was impressive! The weather down here in the south is a little warmer than up north and he said walking was much pleasanter today although he did experience some hefty showers. He also managed to stay on his feet today - well done Seb!

It was an interesting walk too - along the beach at Slapton Sands where they trained for the D-Day Landings, and passed the village of Hallsands which was famously destroyed by a storm in January 1917 after the government authorised dredging of shingle close to the village to build the naval dockyard at Plymouth, leading to the subsequent collapse of the sea defences and the wholesale destruction of the village. He was disappointed not to see Portland Bill today - too cloudy - and his camera batteries died on Start Point as he attempted to get a souvenir photo of the signpost to Minehead! Never mind Seb - I've found one on the internet for you…

This evening he is back in Totnes but this time with my friend Dolly and her husband Roger. I hate to admit this but we used to travel to school together FIFTY years ago, and not long after that she became my next-door neighbour too. I am mortified to admit that we haven't actually seen each other for about twenty years, but I fully intend to put that right very soon!

I spoke to Seb this evening as I was on my way to Weymouth to attend the concert being given by DorSet for Singing - a new choir - in Wyke Regis, close to his old primary school. It was an amazing evening - fantastic singing, and such a lovely group of people. Michael and Ed - key players in this amazing enterprise - had decided to give all the proceeds to Seb's Odyssey and Michael gave a moving account of some of the work that Starlight does with terminally ill children. Ed then performed a new song he has co-written called 'Starlight' which was really lovely - the CD is out next week and if you'd like details let me know - only £3 for 3 songs and all profits to Seb's Odyssey - more details soon! I also had a chance to tell everyone a little bit about Seb's journey, and we had a bucket collection at the end. My bucket wasn't very heavy at all I'm delighted to say - it had an awesome number of £5 and £10 notes in it! Thank you SO much to Ed and Michael and Jenny and the choir, and everyone in the audience who gave so generously of their time and hard-earned cash. We'll let you know the final takings soon.

So all in all another wonderful experience for all involved thanks to Seb and his odyssey. I have met so many lovely people in the last 12 months, I shall be really sad when it's all over……….