Walked today 44.7km by me and Rapid. 14km by Ella. 62497 steps
Total km walked - 532.1 Money raised $6593.
Last night we stayed with John & Pauline in Motueka. They have one of Jenny Calder's Flat Coat Retrievers. I never did learn their last names. John greeted us with a glass of his own wine - a blackcurrant and grape wine blend. Dinner was a very nice lasagna. I also got to have a long soak in the bath.
This morning we got to Alexander Bridge on time but then I couldn't find a pair of gloves so I was a little late starting off. The Motueka Valley West Bank Rd is a very pleasant walk. There is very little traffic some good views of the river and a couple of glades of native bush restricting the road to single lane (Haycock Bush is the photo).
At about 10km into the walk Rapid started favouring his left rear leg. I started putting a soft boot on when Alison arrived so I put his shoes on instead. When we got to Tapawera (about 26km later) he was worrying about his front paws so I took the shoes off. He did a little hopping with the left rear off the ground about 5km later. I dusted off his paws and he walked ok after that.
The first 10km was done on time. We stopped for lunch at McLean's Reserve. I was about 20 minutes late arriving and spent to long over lunch (30 minutes). By the time I got to Tadmor I was an hour late. When it comes to collecting I was a complete flop - I got $1 off a farmer. Alison however had brilliant success. She took Ella into the Tapawera Hotel at afternoon tea time just as farmers meeting was ending. Alison collected quite a lot of money and Ella scored a few sandwiches - Rapid had to make do with finding crusts on the side of the road. There were also a lot of online donations today so the total raised has increased by more than the kilometres walked.
Ragitty the elephant had his photo taken at Tadmor to prove he had got there - must have been hard work guarding the van all day.
We are staying with Jane & Bernard Portman at Tapawera. We arrived to a scene of chaos. Jane was trying the feed 6 children - the Portman's own 4 - Hannah, Kane, Daniel and Micah plus 2 others. There was a school drama production at the Tapawera Area School. I took the Hannah, Kane and the 2 guests down to the school at 6pm to get ready for the show. Alison, Bernard and I went down at 7pm to see the show. Three year old Daniel, who had seen the show at yesterday's dress rehearsal wanted to come too, so Ragitty was brought along for when he got bored.
The show was only an hour long and it was really good to see the children having so much fun.
I have no new blisters today but I'm still taking pain killers - alternating Voltarin and paracetamol. I'm also wearing compression hose again and the swelling in my right leg is diminishing. Alison was so worried about one of my blisters she had Bernard call in a friend from Stanley Brook to have a look. She has put a huge dressing on it - I just hope it fits in my shoe. The concensus is that is a blood blister and while it looks angry it isn't infected.
I will be out of phone coverage for most of the time for the next 4 days.
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