2 days to go.

The realisation of what I'll be doing in two days has hit me; I have all kinds of aches and pains today. A corporeal rejection of the task to come. To quote Arthur Dent: "I feel like a military academy; bits of me keep on passing out".

Viewranger for iPhone is a super GPS app. Proper OS maps at 1:25k. I don't suppose my battery will last the whole route even with wi-fi, bluetooth and 3G turned off but with the maps on board it will certainly last longer. We'll twitter and post some photos at significant moments; the start, first coffee, first blister etc. I bet you can hardly wait!

Arcubus funds projects in Africa that are operated by Opportunity International, Five Talents, MicroLoan Foundation and Microfinance Without Borders. We're the only UK charity offering a way to spread your donation across complementary programmes that provide the poorest with savings, lending, job creation, business training and mentoring. Microfinance is not just about money; it's about the education to use money effectively.

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3 days to go.

And the donations page has crashed. Sigh. Charities Aid Foundation clearly need IT aid. Will post again when their system is back up - "later in the day", apparently.

Update: 17:00 and we're back! At last the donations page is online again. That was a bit like a traffic jam on the M25; lasts for ages and when you finally get going again there isn't any evidence of what caused it. Slightly maddening.

More satisfyingly, the "walker's pack" from Hampshire County Council arrived today. I wasn't expecting much for my £2.99 but it's a professionally designed collection, with a number of leaflets detailing the history and landmarks along each stage of the route, places of interest, refreshment stops, transport links etc. Tons of info with which to regale my walking compatriot over the course of (probably) nearly 30 hours. Which might be why she is bringing her iPod.

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4 days to go.

Here is a terrific site which shows the route of Saint Swithun's Way in detail:
http://hampshire.walkandcycle.co.uk/trail_details.php?recordID=HAMPTR0158

This makes it much easier to identify the pubs we'll be stopping at. Did I say that?

Went out and walked a short stretch of the route. Typically, this being Hampshire, anything labelled "footpath" also attracts the horsey set. Result; path becomes quagmire in no time at all! Sing "Mud! Mud, glor-ious mud! Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!" etc.

We're going to start just after sunrise, rather than just before. Setting off in darkness would mean a more difficult first hour and we may as well begin with a smile on our faces. In any case we shall have plenty of practice at walking in the dark, come Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Wendy has never seen Winchester Cathedral and it's a while since I visited. So we may pause a bit once we get there, if that's ok with you. If we run the first 20 miles it may even be open when we arrive.

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8 days to go.

A significant step forward in my training yesterday: the cleaning kit for my camelbak arrived.

Deciding to walk and keep walking means packing light. We don't need camping equipment, though we shall need waterproofs; there is a 70% chance of rain throughout the Saturday and Sunday. Temperature during the night is forecast to be 7 deg C and during the day 16 deg C, with just 3 hours of sunshine.

Contrast this with conditions in Niassa, northern Mozambique, one of the places that the funds raised for Arcubus will be put to use. In the rural lowlands, in October the average daily maximum temperature is 35 deg C, with an average of 9 hours of sunshine. At night the average minimum temperature is 20 deg C. Altogether more uncomfortable conditions for a long walk, never mind the fact that we will have plentiful food and water whereas many who have to cover great distances in Africa have neither.

We're looking forward to doing this walk and also determined to make it a success. Your sponsorship is crucial for that success, so please click on SPONSOR US NOW! and help us make a difference. Thank you!

...and relax.

Did I say "everything looks good"?. Several people have had trouble donating via CAF online, who administer the process for Arcubus. Firstly, THANK YOU for not giving up. Secondly, we've made some changes so now things should be more straightforward. The one remaining gotcha seems to be that you cannot donate via an iPhone or iPad because of the way the site has been created. Ah well, two steps forward, one step back isn't such a bad dance!

A bit of tweaking...

A title picture, a SPONSOR US NOW! page (will try not to overdo the shouting...) and everything looks good. If only the walk itself could be this easy.

Some sort of physical preparation really ought to be on our agenda, so will sort that out next. And to answer the big question: jelly babies or bananas?

The First Step

On Friday we decided that we would do this. It seems somewhat foolhardy; two otherwise sensible people walking over a hundred kilometres in, probably, 24 hours with no training. Then again, consider the plight of those we are trying to help via Arcubus. We both keep fit and have plenty of resources to call upon en route should we need them. In Africa, keeping fit is scarcely the main concern for someone living in poverty and available resources may only be found at the end of a very, very long walk.

See the About our Walk for Africa page for more details and the very important link to make a donation.

Regular updates to follow, plus pictures and other goodies as soon as they are available.