DAY SEVEN

We have now been walking every day for a week!

Today we walked from Guildford to Godstone. 

We intended to have a lay in today (by which I mean sleeping until 8am rather than 7am), but "You can't say no to the BBC".

Yes, you read that right - the BBC. 

This morning we were interviewed by BBC Radio Surrey after the producer of the breakfast show, Matt Graveling, found out about us via Twitter! 

A painful day.

Jess was interviewed via phone at 8.15 and at 8.40 we met the BBC van in a lay-by, and followed the reporter, Adrian Harms, to a bridge by Guildford high street. Here he interviewed Jess, Charlie and myself (Shelby). We were on air at 8.55 (ish) and closed the BBC Radio Surrey Breakfast Show. 

You can listen to our interview up until August 6th:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01ck3cn skip to 1:23:50 then again to 2:56:33 to hear us. 

Thank you so much to Matt Graveling, James Cannon, Adrian Harms and the rest of the BBC Radio Surrey team for taking time and interest in our story. 

We also need to say thank you to Asha Mapa. Asha is a receptionist at the Ramada in Farnham, who managed to secure us a place at the hotel, within our budget - which not even she thought possible! We would also like to thank her for making Charlie's day by fist pumping the air when she secured the deal over the phone. 

Today was also the fourth day in the Mad Cafe photo challenge. 

Today we had to get a picture of us doing the conga with a group - CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 

We headed to The Bell Inn, Godstone, and coaxed five strangers (two of which were staff) to join us in a conga line. 

Not a bad day at all... well apart from Jess' feet hurting so much that they had to be bandaged for support. 

Only one and a half day's left to go - and Jess and Charlie have both done so well - they can definitely do it, I have no doubt. 

DAY SIX

Today we walked from Basingstoke to Guildford. 

It was definitely the furthest we have walked in one day. Considering it was raining much of the day, it was quite an achievement. Even more of an achievement too, that we ended the day with high spirits. 

We estimate that we walked about 28 miles today - that's two miles more than a marathon!

Another milestone, which may have contributed to the high spirits, is that we made it into Surrey. This means that the next county we'll enter is Kent, and we'll be so so so much closer to home. 

We've got to admit, in the beginning, we weren't sure we'd actually make it home (by foot). Each day we surprise ourselves. Now, we're fairly certain that we're going to make it and we're excited! 

Before talking about today, we have to begin with a thank you - again! 

Today we're thanking one of the kindest men we've ever met. His generosity shocked and amazed us. His name is Paul, and he is the owner of Copper Beeches Hotel. This lovely man put us all up in his hotel, and fed us in the morning FOR FREE! 

Thank you Paul, and all of the staff at the Copper Beeches Hotel. 

Our monotonous journey was broken up today - in a good and bad way. The bad way is that we were redirected off of our route by a police officer and had a couple of miles added onto our day . The good way is that it saved us from walking on a dangerous road. 

As usual too, the day was broken up with some fun and things to laugh at. 

While walking in the rain Charlie was wearing his waterproof high-vis coat, provided by Dairy Crest, the company he works for. Another fellow milkman saw Charlie in the coat and pulled over to ask him if his own milk float had broken down. 

The other way in which the day was broken up was with the Mad Cafe photo challenge, now in its third day. 

Today's challenge was to do the 'Mobot' (the celebration pose used by Mo Farah) with a crowd. We completed this challenge in the Wetherspoons in Guildford, with a great crowd of people. 


More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

DAY FIVE

Today we walked from Newbury to Basingstoke. 

It's impossible I think, to have a journey that long without seeing and doing some funny and strange things. Some days, of course, are a bit boring. That's to be expected when you're trekking through long roads endlessly without much to see, but if we don't find entertainment in the day we'd probably go insane.

It has to be said though, that some of the entertainment has come from ourselves - from the braincells we appear to be losing along the way causing us to say the silliest of things. 

One of the ways we have found entertainment, and something we are very grateful for as a way of lifting our spirits, is the Mad Cafe photo challenge. 

The photo challenge was an idea conceived and begun yesterday, on Day Four. 

Each day the people of Mad Cafe are setting us a new pose to photograph ourselves in. Yesterday we had to photograph ourselves 'planking', and today our challenge was to do the Usain Bolt pose with a crowd! 

So here's some of our silliness for you to laugh at, as we did: 

- Halfway down the road from Newbury, Jess "I'm bored".

- Shelby: "I love any sausage" (was eating breakfast at the time this was said).

- Charlie: "Today we've got to get a crowd to do the Bolt pose... or do it with some cows".

Teresa/Mum: "How's a cow gonna do that? ... the Hose-an Belt?" (She still seems to think Usain's surname is Belt...)

- Jess: "Where are my glasses? ... I did think it was fuzzy but I thought it was the rain or summink!"

- A bee flew through the car window and tried to land on Charlie's nose. 

As well as all of that we saw some interesting sights. One of which was Charlie's ex-boss, Peter Cowdrew, pulling up beside the pair as they walked, much to the surprise of both Charlie and Peter. 

We also discovered America on the side of the road. Okay, so not literally America. It was an American style cafe, Nelson's, based mainly around Elvis Presley, and they served amazing milkshakes. 

More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

DAY FOUR

Firstly again, a few thank you's are to be made...

Thank you to Jon & Pam Desmond of The Horseshoe Inn, and to all of their staff and customers for their help and sponsors on the night of Day Three. Everybody was very welcoming and supportive of the walk. The inn is in Mildenhall, Marlborough, and if you ever find yourself in the area it is a place we recommend! 

Another big thank you goes to Mad Cafe who, after hearing about our charity walk through Facebook, have shared the page and have set us a challenge. Each day Mad Cafe are asking their followers to suggest a pose for Jess and Charlie to do somewhere along their walk, and send to them. 

Day Four's challenge: planking ... 


Third thank you is to Dairy Crest. The high vis raincoats they donated to us came in very handy today! Even if Jess' was like a dress on her. 

And the fourth thank you of the day goes to you. Yes, you. You reading this. Thank you! Thank you for following our progress and supporting us, as it's your support that keeps us going each day. Thank you to all of the new 'likes' on Facebook, and followers on Twitter and thank you of course for your sponsors (if you haven't yet, why not?). 



Day Four we walked from Marlborough to Newbury.

So, we're four days in and we have to admit, we're losing it. Not losing the will to carry on, we're pretty determined - we will make it home! No, we're losing our minds (just a little) here's some examples of how: 

- Charlie: "It's Day Three and we're already going mad".

Jess: "It's day four". 

- Jess turned to face the way they had just come and read a road sign and said "Why does it say we're in Marlborough when we're not in Marlborough any more?"

Charlie: "That's the way we've just come..."

- And Jess and Charlie have even begun to befriend cattle. They saw a load of cows sat in a field and said to them "Get up" ... and they did. 

"Those cows want me"

More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

DAY THREE

First of all and most importantly a huge thank you to Mark Fuller.

Mark is Jess and Shelby's dads cousins son, a mouthful right? But most importantly as Mark stated, he is family. Not all family members are as kind and generous as Mark was on the night of Day Two.

Although Mark is family, from what we can remember we had only met him twice before Day Two. But, as Mark said family is family, and he opened up his home to us.

Thank you again, Mark, we really do hope to keep in contact and see you for longer than a fleeting visit!

So, we awoke in Chippenham after finishing Day Two in the next town over, Calne.

Day Three we walked from Calne to Marlborough.

Another thank you to make is to the Wiltshire Bikers.

When we arrived in Calne on the morning of Day Three to start the walk again we found
motorbikes everywhere! Old, new and heavily decorated - the town had it all!

Not only did the event host allow Shelby and Teresa/Mum to walk around the event with our collection buckets, but the bikers also waved at Jess and Charlie throughout the day while they were walking and kept their spirits high!

Jess, Charlie and Teresa/Mum all did some walking yesterday - for a total of six hours (we think).




More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

DAY TWO

The morning of Day Two we awoke in Bath.

Bath was beautiful, although our accommodation may not have been. Jess described the city as "basically Rome" - even though she's never been to Rome - and added that now that she's been to Bath there's no need to go to Rome. 

Jess and Charlie continued the walk from where they left off, in Yate, and walked all the way to Calne in Wiltshire. 

They both said that they found Day Two much easier than Day One.

Their spirits were high and the weather and passers by were cheery. 

The Wales2Medway team would like to say thank you to The Rowden Arms, a Hungry Horse pub in Chippenham, for the support from their staff and customers and for the generous donations - which includes a friend for our mascot Ewan, who we have yet to name. 

A friend for our mascot Ewan, donated by Hungry Horse

Some snippets from the day: 

- Jess was chatted up by a farmer who was lost for words, and a man in a skip lorry. 

- The wind caused Charlie to lose his hat, too many times.

- Teresa/Mum to Jess: "Stop f****** swearing".

- Everyone was attacked by tiny flies.




- Shelby: "I need to film you guys later, okay?" (I never got round to it)

Teresa/Mum: "You need to kill us later?!?"

Shelby: "No, film!"

- A deer ran in front of Charlie. 

- Teresa/Mum joined Jess and Charlie for some of the walk.

- Teresa/Mum about her Ipad: "I know what I'm doing, I've done it before... the machine doesn't know what I'm doing."

- Shelby to Mum: "Why do you look confused?"

Mum: "This machine won't let me do what I want to".

- Passed a pub that the Queen had stayed in. 

- Donna (staff at The Rowden Arms) upon seeing the cut out of Jess in the newspaper after her hair shave last year (Mum carries it in her handbag and shows everyone): "Doesn't she look beautiful there?"

Mum: "Yeah but she doesn't any more though." (Joking, of course) 

- Walked across a disused railway. 

- Charlie to Shelby: "We (Charlie and Jess) really respect what you do, whatever that is."



More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

DAY ONE

On Thursday Wales2Medway began.

On July 24th Jess and Charlie headed to Wales with their car team, and the next morning they were delivered to the Welsh side of the Severn Bridge where they began their journey.

The pair both thought that in theory the first day would be the easiest, they were wrong.

Despite the fact the pair had both trained before beginning the long walk, their bodies need time to adjust. They were keen to get on, but their bodies were not. Not only did the amount they were walking hurt their legs and feet, but the heat they had to walk in made the task harder too.

Both Jess and Charlie were wearing hats and sun cream but at the end of the day both were burnt and Charlie went to bed early through feeling unwell.

So it wasn't the best of starts, but it can only get better (we hope).

You learn from your mistakes and this whole journey is a massive learning curve for us all.

Let's add some colour to the day...

It wasn't all doom and gloom. On Day One we met some interesting and lovely characters and saw some peculiar sights:

- Jess and Charlie skipped hand-in-hand across the halfway mark of the Severn Bridge.

- I (Shelby) walked from Wales to England.

- Spoke to friendly Welsh workmen either side of the Severn bridge.

- Jess and Charlie saw Christmas.

- Charlie thought the hallucinations had started early when he told Jess he'd seen a little girl, but the girl in question had dived into a bush, leading Charlie to briefly question what was left of his sanity.

- Jess got stared at by a cow and said to Charlie "That cow wants me".

- Charlie said to a man that they passed "Are we going the right way?" And the man said "Where are you going?"

"Kent."

Man: "Kent? As in Kent Kent?"

- Charlie ate a Manwich.

- Jess and Charlie saw a rabbit that was everywhere for a mile (in pieces).

- They walked the wrong way X3

- Charlie (about Jess) "Pocket-size gangsta".

More to come...

Don't forget you can also follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.