Day 8: bunnies and peacocks

Day 8:

Day 8. 'As a mountain you can't grow, but as a human I can.' - Edmund Hillary. Lovely night at a lovely camp site with orchards and bunnies and peacocks. Then a mere 2 miles of easy canal walking till I'm navigating the East Dean Way with boots, gaiters and thunder storm. Walking through the levels...on, and on. And on. On road off road to the Kings Sedgemore Drain. More drains. Great attention to map and compass to avoid costly or dangerous mistakes. Forward, always forward. Pace doesn't have to be quick or pretty but it must be constant, chipping away at the miles. North at Burrow Bridge. Glastonbury Tor visible and avoided. I'm at the Pack Horse in Mark. If I can make it to Axbridge today then I'm at the Strawberry Line, and that gives me a fighting chance tomorrow of reaching Severn Bridge. Thanks to the staff and regulars at this lovely pub. I made it to the outskirts of Axbridge at 21:00 where local resident Nick out deer spotting with his dogs Daisy and Ben very helpfully directed me to the local Co-Op before closing time (rough camping isn't much fun on an empty stomach). So today I walked 29 miles to the start of the Strawberry Line. I left at 08:30 and finished setting up camp at 22:00. I am tired but I have a shot at making the Bridge in 9 days. Then I can have a day off. Thank you to all my family, friends and total strangers who have helped me so far, I am in your debt.

DAY 9

Peacocks.

The Tiverton-Taunton Canal.

A thunder storm approaching over the Somerset Levels.

Burrow Mump.

King's Sedgemoor Drain.

The Polden Hills near Chilton Polden.

A note about the blog

I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart phone. This means I don't have the ability to update this blog when I'm on the trail. My support team back home kindly offered to update the blog for me, so this will be communicated by text message and written up on my behalf. It will therefore be brief and without photos. I will expand on this when I get back from my journal entries, dictaphone recordings and photo journal. The detailed account will be published as a book which will be available on Amazon.

Charity

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to Helping Hands for the Blind, a respectable local charity. You can make a donation here. Using Gift Aid, the charity is able to claim an additional percentage of each donation from the government as part of the Gift Aid scheme.  

While I am not tracking how much has been raised, the charity themselves may wish to do that; leaving a note with your donation such as "LEJOG" will help them do that. To be frank, it's more important that they receive donations than it is for me to take credit; they're actually doing something important whereas I am going on what could be described as a holiday.

My books

Lastly and leastly, I am an independent author. Writing is a pleasure even if reading it isn't! I will write an account of my LEJOG journey in the form of a book which hopefully will encourage other people to give LEJOG a try (and probably discourage many more). If you want a copy, the first batch will be given free of charge. Ask and you shall receive...

My other books are available on Amazon:


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