our splendid list of achievements

Now that we have finally finished this nine day long skipettydoohdah, it is time to look back upon what we have achieved...

hmmm....

we did raise quite a lot of money for diabetes research

walk across some devon..

get wet...


and had delicious breakfasts! (involving plenty bacon!)

from channel to glimmering channel

Here we are getting our feet wet one last time, this time in the Bristol Channel at Lynmouth.

Having had no major upsets and only a couple of hypoglycaemic hiccups (as it were) along the way, we head happily home. I do confess to having slightly tired feet.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Big Joy! Home Return!

Well, back home again. Oh joy, to massage our throbbing feet, to bathe in hot water, and to lie down in our own beds. Also- HEY! where've my walking boots gone? What, finished, you say? Perish the thought! We British never stop! What-ho, toodle pip and all that blither (hehe-blither)
but I definitely think I'm going to miss the walking every day thing. Ah well- Even more foot/leg torturing walks to do...

Why not next year?

No- even better- TOMMOROW!

Oh Damn...

By Wilf

All in one piece

We are back home now. All in one piece; tired but mercifully free of blisters, sprains, strains and other nasties.
It has been a great experience, notwithstanding the weather, and we would like to thank everybody for their support, whether financial, moral or practical.
We would also like to thank our hosts along the way, who without exception were charming and hospitable beyond the call of duty.
Last thoughts and final totals for sponsorship will be added here over the next few days.
It still isn't too late to sponsor. Nag your friends!!

As the end draws near...

Today was a very alarming day. It was composed of several thing that we were unacustomed to, such as sun, other people, and being able to wear something lighter than a suit of chain mail without getting ones flesh ripped to pieces by bits of rain, moving, horizontally, at mach 3. This was extremely surprising to several members of our party, especially at the appearence of the sun, at which they decided to build a monolithic temple to this flaming ball of gas, and sacrafice wilf so that it would rise again the next day.

We walked along the banks of the river Barle, in which both wilf and I paddled (cannot be bothered to enclose a photo), and all in all made a somewhat uneventful trip (apart from events previously mentioned).

We are now at the rather luxurious hotel, preparing for our final night of this godforsaken walk.


From the nimbly dancing fingers of Oliver.

Day 8 -- and suncream is used in anger for the first time

By my reckoning we've not been rained on (or is that, 'at'?) to any serious degree for 3 days now!


Came into Exmoor National Park yesterday - and crossed the border into Somerset (oo-er; the badlands). Exmoor seems very different from Dartmoor, it consists mainly of little bits of moor - you can pretty much always see the edge. Managed our first attempt at an actual picnic on day 6 on the first outlying bit of moorland we crossed - also crossed by the A361, as it happens, so the herds of free roaming deer less evident than the heavy lorries pelting up the link road. Picnic didn't last long, as it started to rain..

Yesterday due either to confusion or incompetence, we found we'd managed to book ourselves intoB&Bs only 5 miles apart. Since at current rates of super-fitness this would have meant arriving just about in time for elevenses, we needed to find something to do to fill the day. What about - some more walking?! So we took a detour down the very pretty beechwood clad, babbling Exe to Dulverton. Hoorah for Sue who not only came and did some of this extra walking with us, but gave us a lift back to the 2 Moors Way (apart from Simon who, with a rather purist expression on his face, elected to walk the extra 5 miles - we will never hear the end of it doubtless.)

Our B&B turned out to include the extra attractions of hare and red deer watching, not to mention newts and the great dormouse escape - but that's another story.

And today we followed the river Barle through more dappled woods, spotting dippers (that's a bird) and bearded tits (so is that. yes it is) - and then up onto the moor and here we are in the SUN




Only hoping the weather will be as good tomorrow - haven't dared look at the forecast yet!

Barely alive blogging from the edge of a black hole

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing but praise for the quality of North Devon's landscapes, the beauty of its rambling moors and majestic brooks, the charm of its snuggly little villages, and the friendliness of its people. But, hello! Any idea what century this is folks? No wi-fi anywhere, barely even any mobile phone signal (the posts headed 'live blog' have been sent on the hoof from my mobile), running water and electricity (other than that coming out of thunder clouds) exceptionally rare.
This is why blog posts have been somewhat lacking.
Yesterday our lovely friend Sue came up to join us for a spot of light walking before lunch and offered to post some updates if we let her have the password. But there was an evil glint in her eye when she made the offer, and I feared that we'd find unsuitable accounts of us getting up to no good.
Anyway, we have a broadband link now, and by golly we are going to use it! Expect a full catch up service and the frequent use of the word 'rain' over the next couple of hours.