just under 17 hours until go time!

well the countdown has now went from days to hours, is my bag packed?  NOPE

Just got everything else done, maps & directions are organised, food is organised, getting my music and clearing my iPhone space for pictures and video footage.  Have to remember to pack my headphones.

So we leave tomorrow at 4pm from our Church and then the real game begins!  Sadly we just found that Roy our 6th member has had to pull out of some of the walk due to personal health reasons.  I know this guy well and I know he is truly gutted but at this time he needs to put his health first.  We're all looking forward to when he joins us, will be nice to see a new face even if it is only for part of the walk.

We all have our own personalised hi-vis jackets thanks to CopyWorld, meaning we all have to wear hi-vis jackets but thanks to CopyWorld we have our own names on the back!  Means you will be able to see us along the way and you can beep you horn and shout nice things out the window!

I will be keeping this blog as up to date for all you viewers & readers!  Im sure Mike & Ian will update their own Facebook pages and the Church Facebook page will also be updated with images and funny stories from along the way.

Right well time to clear space and upload some motivation music for the walk home ....

when's your walk?

when's your walk?  when's your walk?  when's your walk?  when's your walk?


We leave this Tuesday at 4pm, travel to Donegal Town where we stay the night until 7am Wednesday morning when we begin.


have you sponsored me yet?  have you sponsored me yet?  have you sponsored me yet?  have you sponsored me yet?

4days until go time!

Well we now hit 4days until we leave. Anticipation has now set in for all of us. A special dinner & documentary viewing last night at my house has got us all fired up and ready go!

We all have our new 1000 mile blister free socks & and questions have been raised of what happens at 1001 miles? Not that we will be walking anywhere close to that next week, tho we will be able to say we have walked over 125 miles from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of Northern Ireland.

1000 - 125 meaning our socks will have 875miles in them lol

So just checking things off my list then for 'the big bus trip to Donegal' as Stuart says.

Pre walk haircut - check!

7DAYS UNTIL GO TIME

We're now in our final 7day countdown.  All being well in 7days the 6 of us will be on the (Star Travel) bus heading over towards Donegal's Waters edge!

More itching to get going rather than nervous at this stage.  Taking a break from reading the maps to write this post, all I can see in my head now are road names, followed by streets & highways between each stop.  Everywhere I go now people are asking me about it.  A lot of local business' in Carrick have given a lot into helping us raise more money.  Some giving money and others giving shop vouchers and other goodies for us to raffle or auction off.

It's great to see that kind of support in the local town where I'm from, makes you feel more excited about it all.  Hopefully use some of that same charm along the way and gather more funds!

The main reason we're doing this is to see our new Church building come closer to finish.  We're not trying to rush God along, we have all said that the building will be completed in God's time.  We want to show Him that it's our hearts desire to see the empty building become not so empty!  As Tesco says "every little helps".

If you haven't given yet, please please do so, it would be great to know that you are behind us on this walk, not physically of corse lol but to know that we have your support, which is important to us all.

I've made it simple to  - just email me (jamesclarke@carrickcommunitychurch.org) your full name, postcode (for gift aid) and also your amount, whither it's £5, £10, £15, £50, £100 or even £150 (wishful thinking), it will help us in our cause.

James

11days until go time!

We'll be well on our way over to Donegal to rest up for the night in Donegal Presbyterian Church before we hit the road to Kesh in 11days.

In 14days we will be somewhere inside the Ulster Way heading to Tobermore and the good folks at the local Presbyterian Church will be accommodating us for the night.

The Ulster Way as I said before will be the toughest part of the event with its ups & down, empty signposts and general madness!

Any hints & tips are welcome!!

14 days and we're on our way

This time in 14 days we will be on our way over to Donegal courtesy of Star Travel (startravelgroup.co.uk).  Lots of typically last minute things to arrange and the thought of what lyes ahead at the start of every morning is goring more and more stronger.


Getting my head around the physical and mental challenge of this fundraising walk is mind blowing, thankfully I have Jesus Christ who's name I shall be calling on a lot over the walk!  Really excited about the Ulster Way parts of the walk, will be interesting to see the team work together as one to over come getting lost and having to get up earlier and sleep less etc 


Had a little pep talk from my old friend Alwyn yesterday, his words of "don't forget to change your socks at least twice a day or you might get a bacterial infection and your toe might have to get cut off" those words haven't left me yet and will be a while until they do!


Great to see more money coming in which is the main reason we're doing this, we want to get our Church building closer to completion rather than lying empty.  So please please if you haven't done yet, drop me an email - jamesclarke@carrickcommunitychurch.org and sponsor me some lovely money.  I wouldn't want to do such a walk / trek for less than £1000 considering it's a fundraising event not a fun run!


I'll look out for your email ...

ONLINE SPONSORSHIP

We have a couple of methods of giving online if you would like to give via your debit card or PayPal?


Ian Mckenzie'sFundRazr app on Facebook -
http://apps.facebook.com/fundrazr/activity/ef8f23553bd640008e57e167ffcd5854

Holly Clarke on behalf of myself (James) FundRazr app on Facebook -
http://apps.facebook.com/fundrazr/activity/8325e8d21a904c1ea76a0eba03923996?psid=c1a0237b7fa14b7ea2a87fd0ecea8f09

Many Thanks if you do!!

16days until go time!

Only 16 days left until our big walk, and the realisation of what lies ahead really starts sinking in.  The equivalent of walking 5 marathons within 5 days.  The marathon has an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles and 385 yards).

We shall be walking an average of 28 miles every day, for 5 days until we reach home in Carrickfergus.  That's walking a marathon, going to sleep, getting up and walking another & another & another & another!  In total we will have walked approximately 130 miles from A to B

19days until go time!

Well in 19days time we will be walking from Kesh up towards Lough Bradan Forest to the Start of the Ulster Way section of our walk.  Our new friends at WalkNI.com had suggested this section for a ‘change in scenery’, and so on the Thursday & Friday of our walk we shall be trekking through the Ulster Way.  I’m really looking forward this section as I’m a keen hill walker, as are some of the other boys.

www.WalkNI.com is the definitive online guide to walking in Northern Ireland and is a favourite website of mine and I would have visited it regularly to find new walks and see where’s good to go, so for them to feature us on their site and Facebook Page was great. 

A couple of us recently took a we dander up Slieve Commedagh down on the mountains on Mourne. Was one of those, lets not follow any path’s or trails, lets just get to the top! Was a great experience and we loved every minute of it.

(Photoshop is still a great application lol)