Marathon Day 45, Friday 29th April - Liverpool, Sefton Park

Morning everyone - no news today - it's all about the Wedding!! lol.

Some distressing news last night from home concerning Carole, my sister-in-law (still) - but it's not all doom & gloom. She's a fighter and there's the PET scan to come yet. My thoughts and prayers are with her.

Overnighted in RV at Sefton Park and had quiet night apart from the sound of the rain hammering on the roof during the early hours!

What elegant crockery!

Porridge for breakfast but guess who broke all of the bowls yesterday - need to get replacements as soon as practical!

Andy started promptly at 09.00hrs, sent on his way by Andy Reid, a triple amputee and an amazing and resilient man.

 Andy Reid and Andy Mac!!

Under starter's orders!!

One other runner joined Andy at the start but I suspect that he will have plenty of company throughout the day judging from the general level of activity in the park.

Really desperate to top up on fresh water but Jerry Can was damaged in my absence. However, kindly cafe manager is supplying us with 5 litre containers of water  as they become available - should keep us going throughout the day.

Gosh! - it's quiet . . . . I wonder where everyone is?

Andy doing well and now has completed about 12 miles - he certainly looks comfortable.

And look what I'm missing at home!!!

Party Time at Old Rectory!!

 . . . . . and what's that, that Jonathan is wearing? Oh, yeah - it's MY Bath Robe!!!

I did go out for a run today but not for long and even then I got lost!  Managed to eke out the water but really need to top up completely and dump waste when we get to Manchester tonight.

Andy finished in 6hrs 26mins today

Seems like he's found a fairly consistent, comfortable pace.  Tomorrow may be interesting though - Heaton Park is quite a hilly course!!

Managed to extricate ourselves from Liverpool and the run to Manchester was pretty easy - mostly motorway and fine and sunny all the way.

Heaton Park is beautiful and the RV is now parked up and will stay here for both the Manchester and Salford marathons. Due to access difficulties in Salford, Andy will be supported by Sophie from the Yeti and the RV will next be located at Preston on Monday, courtesy of Kevin who is covering for me whilst I enjoy the World Snooker Finals in Sheffield on Sunday!

So, RV now parked pretty and all serviced - full of fuel and water, empty of waste and generator all topped up.

Here's some statistics for you - Since he started his challenge, Andy has now covered some 1,398 miles in a total time of 305 hours and pacing some 2.25million steps!!! Incredible!!

So train times to sort out for the Snooker and will blog more tomorrow - 'Nite all. XX

Benji's Blog


Missing you little man.
Hope you haven't lost any more teeth since I started my adventure again. I'll have to check when I get home.
I've been in Liverpool today and am in Manchester, tonight so you will have to stick flags 45 and 46 in your map. There must be lots of different flags in it by now!
Mummy tells me that you're having a sleepover at Grandma's tomorrow - I know that you'll look after her.
Take care my son - love you millions.
See you soon.
Daddy.
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Marathon Day 44, Thursday 28th April - Bangor

Another day - another spectacular backdrop to Andy's 44th marathon!!

Porth Penrhyn - a lovely sunny start to the day

As promised, Danielle turned up on the dot and escorted us to our base for the Marathon today, some 2k from the official start/finish but on a 5.75k circuit / track that would allow Andy to pass the RV several times during the day.

Mind where you're sticking that pin!!!

We set up adjacent to the Town Hall and accompanied by 2 other runners, Andy set off shortly after 9am after a very warm welcome from the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress.

Smiling faces all round!

. . . and they're off!

Then back to base and as expected Andy and his co-runners completed  their inaugural pass of the RV on the way to completing the first measured loop.

So hopefully a fairly quiet day for me - plan to run today when Andy's pace settles down but in the meantime have housekeeping to do on my laptop.

Simply Elliegance Wedding orders placed and admin finished - Andy about half way through and is on brief stop for food.  Girls shopping for provisions - wondered why it was so quiet around here! lol.

Spag Bog for dinner tonight, hopefully will have chance to get most of the preparation done before leaving for Liverpool.

Brief irritating but harmless episode with local young yobs prompted timely exit from car park  for Sefton Park but uneven road surface on exit caused crockery  cupboard doors to fly open with predictable results!! New crockery needed!!!

About 2 hours later, we found ourselves approaching Birkenhead Tunnel only to be faced with a height restriction and an immediate need to find an alternative route (via Wallesey Tunnel apparently).
A kindly toll booth attendant advised us of an escape route through an adjacent car park and we eventually crossed the Mersey and arrived at Sefton Park and to a suitable overnight location.

Barry, Nikki and I enjoyed dinner in the RV whilst Andy and Sophie availed themselves of our "meals on wheels" service provided courtesy of the RV kitchen!

Duties over for the night, it was time to retire to bed . . . .

Marathon Day 43, Wednesday 27th April - Chester Racecourse

Another day - another . . . whatever.

Easy start to the day, firstly attending to the RV water and waste situation and then a short drive to the racecourse, our marathon venue for the day.

Andy's route today  follows the inside track of the course and is just over 1 mile in length on  a mixture of grass and hard standing and . . . . . . . it is flat!

Set up the flags and timer by the Start / Finish Post and all OK until we turned the display on.  We had a brief flash of LED numbers and then nothing else - Oh B*****ks!
I checked all connections and wiggled a few wires but all to no avail so I have requested a replacement unit from Richard at ECM Systems - what a star!

Andy - Can't wait to start, lets get going!!!

Early stiffness seems to be wearing off and Andy's on target 12 mins per mile.  Mid day break for radio interview and quick food intake then more runners join Andy for a few laps.

It's just nice to rest the legs . . . .

After 6hrs 51mins, Andy romped home, feeling good he said and with a smile on his face.

Nearly home . . . .

A good result for Andy today considering that he said he felt quite tired at the start.  Hopefully this feel good factor will continue and help him in the marathons still to come!

Packing up completed speedily and a delightful journey to Bangor in front of us - no I'm not being facetious - I really mean it!! The scenery along the main coastal road was truly wonderful, aided by the warm, sunny weather.

Parked up overnight at Bangor University Halls and being escorted to tomorrow's marathon venue at 7.30am  so no recon needed (we hope).

Good wholesome dinner of baked potatoes and traditional accompaniments then early to bed . . .

Benji's Blog


Hi Benji
I think you are very clever to remember my telephone number - sometimes even I forget it! 
I hope you enjoy your time at the cinema today - you will have to tell me all about it.  Don't have too much ice cream and pop corn!!

Shine & Champ say Hi to Benji - Missing You and Baxter!! XXXX

I will talk to you on the computer soon - maybe you will do your Egyptian dance for me!!!

Love you millions.

Daddy. XXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Marathon Day 42, Tuesday April 26th - Stoke on Trent

Wish I had slept better - long day ahead!

Up at 6am, however and finished packing, unzipping and zipping up my holdall several times as I remembered items that should have already been included.

Bacon butties for everyone for breakfast and then short drive to ECM Systems of Burstwick to hopefully get the Timer Repeater Display repaired.
Thankfully, the fault was traced to a couple of loose connections and an hour later saw me returning home with a fully functioning unit - many thanks to  Richard (Blackshaw) for sorting this out for us.

Last panic act was to pack the Display in the original bag supplied in which both zip fasteners had given up the ghost! - So gaffer tape to the rescue again!!

Finally, laden up like a pack horse I began my journey to Stoke on Trent courtesy of Trans Pennine First via Manchester.

Fairly uneventful trip, arriving in Stoke at 2.45pm where I was  chauffeured to Queens Park by my driver, Mr Barry Groves! Thank you very much.

I've now, I believe, merged seamlessly back into Team66 and it's as if I've never been away. I have had a wonderful holiday with my family and good friends and I desperately miss my wife and son already  but I now need to refocus on the job at hand.

We've done our recon and don't anticipate any problems in getting to tomorrows venue.

A 7 o'clock start is planned with breakfast at the Racecourse and a 9am race start.

Bed time now at 22.45hrs.

 'Nite all!

Marathon Day 41, Monday 25th April - Lichfield

D-Day minus  1 again and this time I know what I'm letting myself in for !!! lol.

Train ticket booked and clothes washed, ironed and ready for packing. Just the Timer to sort out in the morning and then my journey begins again.

There is some respite in the offing, however, 'coz on Sunday, I am leaving Salford  to meet Ellie and Ken, my father-in-law (ex?)   at the Crucible in Sheffield where Ken & I have tickets for the World Snooker Final afternoon session, a Christmas present from Ellie.  Then a sleepover in Sheffield before I pick up again in Preston and Ellie returns home.

Andy, Sophie and Barry leave for Ireland later that week and I am coming home for a few days after securing the RV in Glasgow.  Then Ellie and I are driving back to Glasgow on 9th May at which time our intrepid runner and his cohorts are also returning for the  Marathon on 10th May. Ellie is returning back to Sproatley on 11th May - so all in all, not too bad really.

So - what have I done today? Not a lot really - taken Mother in Law home, shopped for and prepared meal for this evening and just about to do check list so I don't forget anything when I leave tomorrow.

Sod the checklist  - Ellie's coming up on Sunday so anything I've forgotten can be resurrected then!

We're having the hot stones this evening, a first for Caz and Ian and it's minimal work for me for one of my favourite meals  For those that don't know, it consists of "cook your own" steak, chicken and prawns with heavily garlic'ed  mushrooms on pre-heated lava stones which are kept up to temperature with fondue style burners.
. . . . . . . and afterwards, a wonderfully entertaining game (or perhaps battle would be more appropriate)  of scrabble between Ellie and Ian - he always was a glutton for punishment!!

So replete, suitably wined and pleasantly lethargic I retired ready for the demands of tomorrow . . . . .

Marathon Day 40, Sunday 24th April - Wolverhampton

Gosh - it's seems like my first real Sunday for ages and we're celebrating it by preparing Lunch for 15 friends and family!!

So whilst Ellie and Caz went out for a walk, it was time to get the kitchen organized!

The planned 2 o'clock lunch was delayed only by Mrs Birch's coffee cake taking oven priority over the roast and we eventually sat down for our meal at 3pm.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of laughing, drinking, napping and watching tv . . . . .   and a good time was had by all!!!

Heard from Andy and he seems in good spirits. Be interesting to see the difference in him when I get back to the fray on Tuesday in Stoke on Trent but I'm missing Ellie & Benji already!

Marathon Day 39, Saturday April 23rd - Birmingham

Nice lazy start to the day at 7.15am with family breakfast.

Baxter & Flopsy have now been introduced!!

Not heard from Team66 but gather that Andy's OK apart from blisters on  blisters!

We're out tonight with Caz & Ian at our favourite restaurant, Westwood and really looking forward to it.  Benji safely ensconced at Grandma's for the night so we have a free sorting day!

My attempt to finish off the grass cutting brought to an abrupt halt by a puncture - so another job to do, hopefully before I leave on Tuesday.

Our house guests arrived at 2.30'ish and a lazy afternoon with drinkies on the patio seemed appropriate before getting ready for our evening out.

Girls ready for food . . . . 

. . . . . and Boys too!!

. . . . and this is what it was all about!!

Suitably wined and dined, a good day was had by all.  And so to bed!!

Marathon Day 38, Friday April 22nd - Coventry, War Memorial Park

Woke up 5.25am with mind buzzing! Couldn't get back to sleep so used the time to get blog up to date and do a bit of sorting ready for packing up.

The view from our last Berth

We're going home today but as we're only about 15miles from Coventry, we are popping in to see Andy and the Challenge66 team at War Memorial Park first. It will be good to meet Karen and catch upon RV issues and my  intention is to collect the broken Timer Repeater for repair and Ellie's  is to run a lap with Andy. Bless her - her shoulder is still causing her considerable pain but she is so determined!  How I love that woman.

All packed and ready to go at 8.15am so said sad farewell to our Colne Valley with every intention of returning at some time in the future to repeat the experience.  Whether we would have felt the same if the weather had not been so kind to us ? . . . . . . . . . . . . I suspect so but we'll just have to wait and see.

We arrived at War Memorial Park at about 9.15 just missing Andy's start.  It was great to see everyone again and catch up on the events of the past 9 days! Nothing really new on the RV front - just the self levelling system which is now pretty much U/S.

Ellie managed to run her lap with Andy - it was so good to see him again and looking so well . . . . . and then it was time to go.

Collected the Timer Repeater and somehow got it into the car (which was packed to the roof) and set course for home,  arriving at about 12.30hrs.

After we both unpacked, I did the shopping and picked up Finlay from Rory & Ellie's and when I returned home, Ellie had sorted out the laundry and also already mown most of the grass -  Wonderful!
Plenty to do now as we have Ian & Caz arriving from Bournemouth tomorrow to stay for a few days and other friends and family arriving for Sunday Lunch, 14 in total!!

Benji happily playing with something other than our iphones or his DS - time to ween him off the electronics for a while!!

A simple steak meal is on the menu tonight with Benji in bed early.  Bless him - he has been so good but he really could do with an early night! So could I to be honest!!

So, a bottle of bubbles with our meal and off to bed.
 'Nite!

Marathon Day 37, Thursday April 21st - Worcester

Awake early thanks to those damn ducks!!  God, am I gonna miss them!

Cast off whilst everyone was still asleep and again managed about an hour before Ellie appeared complete with cuppa!

Stopped for breakfast en route to our final lock of the holiday at Hawkesbury Junction, just before which Mel finally found a fishing tackle shop to top up with maggots!! He disembarked on the move so to speak  and had to run, complete with purchases in order to catch up in time to work the lock.

This after an interesting turn at Hawkesbury Junction - quite a vessel isn't she!

Jeannie took over the helm until lunch time and over lunch, a team decision  was taken to head for our boatyard, Excellence Afloat,  today and overnight stay there to facilitate unloading in the morning.

Some Pics

My beautiful (and happy) wife!

Under a bridge in Rugby, would you believe!

A call of nature in between locks!

We reached the Marina about 3.30pm, moored up nearby and after letting the owners know that we had arrived, settled down for a little fishing - very therapeutic but not one bite!!!

As requested, the engineer came across to the boat about 6pm to guide us into our final berth in the Marina and  so there was nothing left to do but . . . . off to the pub (again)!

3 on their way to the Pub - with Baxter!

 . . . . . and 2 on their way back (+ Baxter of course)!!

(The rest of us followed!)

Back at the boat by 9.30pm , engines off by 10pm as we were instructed, so (another) early night for us.

And finally . . . . . . Have we had a good holiday?


You bet your life we have!!!!!

Marathon Day 36, Wednesday April 20th - Oxford

Up at the crack of dawn for early chug down the Canal! Bonus - what a sunrise!!

6.15am

Managed about an hours cruising before any sign of life from within then a very well received cup of coffee from Ellie. Our target was to get past Rugby today so that we could have an easy day tomorrow, our last full day!!

Text from Andy and 'phone call from Barry - all good news so happy day for one and all. 

Delightful countryside

 A visitor at the window . . . . . .

. . . . . and again at the bow

. . . . and some smaller visitors!

Lunch and shopping in Rugby then on for another couple of miles to find a suitable berth for the night. 

Another lovely day!

Marathon Day 35, Tuesday April 19th - Gloucester

The day started with a shopping trip into the town (Leamington Spa) for groceries and a plumbers merchant to replace the hose connection that we had to remove at our last water stop.  This done, we breakfasted and set sail for Napton Junction, our destination for this evening.

On our way to the shops!

Improvisation - note the screwdriver!

Girls at the helm

An hour and a half's cruising brought us to the first lock in our first set of 3 for the day - Ellie and I elected to do the manual work with Mel at the helm.  Interesting work in the heat of the day!

We gradually worked our way through the locks, Ellie and Mel exchanging places as Ellie's shoulder began to show signs of the strain.  We experienced our first Staircase lock, 2 locks linked together, in which the lower gate of the upper lock is also the upper gate to the bottom lock - interesting!

Then on to the sequence of 10 locks in the heat of the day - marvellous!!!

A final set of 3 downstream and a stop for water  (and ice creams too) before settling on an idyllic site to stay the night at Lower Shuckburgh.

Chicken pasta for dinner, the usual beverages to accompany and another  early night for a weary crew.

Marathon Day 34, Monday April 18th - Hereford

More good news from Andy - bit blistered but otherwise in remarkably good form. (Hope I'm picking up the correct vibes and info from Team66!)
Another day of planned frenetic lock working. I elected to skipper the boat (the clever stuff) whilst Ellie, Mel & Jeannie did all the physical stuff!  I have to say that as a team, we did extremely well, ably assisted by the fact that other vehicular(?) traffic was extremely infrequent. I can tell you, though, that working a flight of 21 locks (Hatton Locks) is extremely hard work!

Locks as far as the eye can see!

. . . . . and from the other end!!

We moored up at Royal Leamington Spa for the night and enjoyed the delights of Pizza Express with a couple of bottles of Primativo, of course, before returning exhausted to bed.

Only 21 locks tomorrow if we are to make it to Napton Junction for the night - Oh Joy!!! lol 

Benji's Blog

I've not done a Benji's Blog for some time but I have to tell you that you have been an absolute star - the best boy a mummy and daddy could have!!!  Thank you for looking after Baxter so well and making his holiday so special too!

We love you so much , and hope that you are having a lovely holiday. 

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Marathon Day 33, Sunday 17th April - St Davids

Judging by Nikki's photo of the Mayoral line up, St Davids seems to be a fun place, particularly so as Andy appears to be well on the way to recovery with a finish time of 7hrs 11mins today.

Would you believe . . . . . . The Lord Mayor!!!

In the event, we had several small challenges of our own today:
In no particular order - we negotiated 24 locks,  navigated through the industrial "wasteland" of Birmingham City Canals but most interesting was our little sojourn up the Grand Union Canal at Salford Junction.

Salford Junction with Mel ready to lassoo any passing graphiti artists!

We turned left at the first (particularly acute) left hand turn and travelled about 2k to our first lock (No 63) only to find that the canal on the far side of the lock was literally without water and it was impossible to progress further. So what to do?  Actually, we were left with little choice - we had to reverse our route back to Salford Junction. However, there was no turning point (or "winding hole" as we nautical types like to call it) in the locality  so our only recourse was to reverse the boat all the way back to the junction.
Let me tell you that it's impossible to steer this boat in reverse! So the 2k back was completed with Ellie at the helm, gently applying the power with Mel & I hooked up to the rope at each end  trying to keep it on the straight and narrow. I now know how the tow path horses must have felt before boats had engines! lol.

Heave Ho!!!

However, much relieved we made it back to the junction and continued on our way - what a hoot!!
Despite our diversion, we made it to our targetted destination of Catherine de Barnes where Mel instructed Benji in the rudiments of fishing.

This is how you do it!

Boys together!

The evening finished with a lovely meal at the Boat Inn where I can tell you they also serve excellent draught Guinness!

Cheers!

Marathon Day 32, Saturday 16th April, Swansea

Strange to wake up to the sounds of ducks quacking (makes a change from Barry's snoring!) and then the quick realization that it's nothing to do with Challenge66 but just the sounds of early morning canal wildlife.
It's also a special day for Jeannie - it's her birthday and "we" have a special birthday cake for her!

Jeannie's themed cake!!

We could delay no longer and cast off for our first lock experience - to be the 1st of 25 that day! We were actually pretty good at working them by the time we finished! 

Lining up

Closing the gate

The report on Andy's progress was encouraging and he appears to be on the road to recovery - good news indeed!!

We had tremendous fun and ended the day at Curdworth, a marathon 18miles before ending the evening with a lovely meal (courtesy of Ellie) and appropriate alcoholic beverage!  And then to bed . . . . 

Marathon Day 31, Friday, April 15th - Cardiff, Bute Park

Waiting for news of Andy's condition - God, it's so frustrating just not knowing!!!

Plans for the day - finish off the ironing whilst Ellie & Jeannie do a food shop, then pack . . . . . 'cos we're going on Holiday today!!!  (Oh, and if there's time - cut the grass).

Just heard from Sophie and Andy's coping a little better this morning so I'm a little happier.

Most of the day spent preparing for hols whilst Mel, bless him, cut the  grass for me - well he cut most of it and rolled the rest!! 

Car washed and packed so just  Benji to pick up from school then set off for Coventry - Yippee!!!

Arrived at our destination just after 6pm, and we were all very impressed at the first sight of our holiday "home" for the next week - God, she was huge!!! (but also very beautiful).

We had  brief but comprehensive instruction from the owner and after a little hands on driving, he left us to our our own devices muttering under his breath as he left something about us looking after his beautiful Colne Valley (the name of our narrow boat).

Didn't travel far before mooring for the night, opening the wine and enjoying our first meal afloat.

Ellie & Jeannie beat me & Mel to the wine!!!

Earlyish night in bed ready for an early start tomorrow - we plan to reach Curdworth by tomorrow evening, 18 miles with lots of locks!!

Marathon Day 30,Thursday, April 14th - Newport, I know not where!!

Definitely not Groundhog day though I was still awake at 5.30am.  Only difference was Ellie wouldn't let me get out of bed!!!

So up at 7am, family breakfast, Benji dressed and a quiet half hour before schoolltime.

So many people at Benji's school, asked me about the Challenge from "How's he doing?" to "how did it finish up?". You could tell the ones that had been reading the blogs!

Did a bit of personal shopping including "Deck" shoes for me (for my hols), sorted my iphone out and spoilt my lovely Ellie with some "add ons" for her pandora bracelet.
Despite visiting 3 different o2 stores on my travels to enquire about a battery life problem on my iphone, nobody had given me any constructive advice. In Hull today however, a very kind Car Phone Warehouse salesman picked up my phone, and pointed out all of the multi tasking Aps that were currently running on it - there were about 60 of them!!! This, he commented, was using significant battery resource and by deleting them, the problem should be resolved. So we have deleted and will wait!!
Worried about Andy - enquiries during the day revealed that he was still suffering from his left leg  problem - how disappointing is that!!
Quite a relief to hear that he had finished in 9hrs 37mins - he must have been quite pleased when he crossed the line!!

Not a lot more to say, really.

Packing for our hols tomorrow - suspect that I'll be wearing a lot of red or white T shirts - wonder where they will be coming from!!!

Will be continuing the blog but it will be a bit casual until I get back into the Challenge66 role.  It should, however, provide some continuity until then.

No Benji's blog to add so will finish now.

. . . . . to be continued

Marathon Day 29, Wednesday 13th April - Bristol, Clifton Downs

An exciting day!! This is the day I go home!

Anyway, back to the matters in hand.  Had an undisturbed night and slept in until 6am - gosh, must be getting tired! Bit of a murky start but the location is wonderful with a view right down the gorge towards the Clifton Suspension bridge- Isambard Kingdom Brunel you certainly knew what you were doing!!!
Breakfast over, I discovered that we were almost out of fresh water and a search of the immediate locality failed to reveal a convenient filling point.  Fortunately, the Downs Manager put in an appearance and directed me to his depot and a tap that I could use. I managed 10 trips each time filling a 25 litre Jerry can before calling it a day - I understand that the RV is to be located at a camp site tonight so fresh water shouldn't be a problem.

It was strange packing everything into my bags with the usual daily routine happening around me and I felt a bit like a spare part after I finished emptying  my drawers and lockers . . . . . suddenly the RV didn't seem like my home any more!!

Andy, in the meantime had been welcomed, photographed and sent on his way to start his 29th Marathon in 29 days.  I did a final check around the RV and updated the changeover notes that I had prepared for Kevin (and Karen) who would be assuming my driving duties whilst I am away.Then just a question of waiting for Kevin to arrive.
Managed to prise a Yorkie bar out of Barry and do a lap with Andy before Pete, Jo & Hatty turned up with Kevin.  Then sad farewells and hopefully sincere promises of keeping me up to date with Andy's progress on a daily basis.

Andy - Love you to bits Mate and cannot thank you enough for providing me with such an opportunity as this.   These past 4 weeks have been a life changing experience for me and whilst nothing can compare with the joy of returning home to my wife and son, I hope to share in the remainder of your challenge in a couple of weeks time and to celebrating with Ellie  the  final Marathon in York on May 20th.

Now on the train to Hull, due to arrive home about 9pm.  If I nod off, hope someone wakes me up at Sheffield!!

Think that today's  blog will end here!!

Godspeed Andy- will be with you every step of the way.


Benji's Blog


DADDY'S ON HIS WAY HOME!!!


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Marathon Day 28, April 12 - Bath, University Sports Village

Up at 5.30am with immediate thoughts of Andy and his injury.  Sophie had reported from the Hospital that there appeared to be soft tissue damage only and that it would eventually clear up itself, hopefully quickly!  Andy was supplied with appropriate pain killers and planned to use them at the prescribed intervals throughout the day.

The difference in his gait was immediately obvious when he arrived. But belt and braces, Sophie set up her treatment table once again performed her magic on him and by 9.30, he was ready to start, managing even to get a quick snooze in as well!

Gently does it . . . . . .

That was a very relaxing massage!

The Mayor of Bath officiated at the start proceedings and also accompanied us on the first lap.From the start, it was apparent that Andy was in a much better state than the night before.

A very warm welcome from the Mayor

Off again . . . 

Whilst we didn't have any official marathon runners for Andy today, we all shared in the role of support walkers and hopefully assisted him in having a better day today.

He finished in a time of 8 hrs 34mins - a distinct improvement on yesterday.

 He looks as though he could carry on forever!

Here's Baxter!!!

Hot jacket potatoes with trimmings before packing up, showering and off to Bristol Downs and our chosen location for the night and tomorrow's marathon.

Arrived in total darkness and was expertly guided by Barry into our parking place with just a little interference from the a bunch of  noisy but harmless teenagers, out to prove just how irritating and loud they could be!!

Off to bed - for the last time on the road for 2 weeks! Can't wait for tomorrow . . . . . 

Benji's Blog

Hi little man,

When you read this you will have finished school for the day and I will be on a train travelling home.  I promise I will come and tuck you in as soon as I get home, even though I know that you'll be fast asleep!  

I am very excited at coming home and can't wait to see you and mummy.

Uncle Andy is feeling a lot better and has had a good marathon today.  I talk to him a lot and he likes to hear about all the things that you do.

Bye Bye for now, sweetheart - see you soon.

Love you Googleclex!

Daddy

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(What a lot of kisses!!)