Walked by Mike & Rapid 38.5km 49205 steps Walked by Ella approx 15km
Total distance walked 2315km money raised $20.659.88
In spite of the pessimistic TV weather forecast it didn't rain today. I never got around to checking more reliable forecasts before the decision was made that I should where woollen socks. It was fairly cool and overcast this morning but by the time I reached Hornby it was warm and sunny - definitely ice cream weather.
I was lying awake this morning shortly before the alarm was due to go off when I got a text from Paul who is in Taiwan. He had stqayed up so that he could send a text before I started walking. I'm really impressed with his dedication to being part of my support crew - even when he is in another country.
First off was walking across the Rakaia River. It took me 20 minutes to cross the bridge but there was only 1 time when traffic had to wait. The bridge is huge. I had been walking as long as it takes to cross most other bridges before I was even over the river bed. Only small part of the bridge was over water rather than river shingle but that was still more water than any of the other rivers on the trip. Hugely different from last time I crossed the Rakaia River at the gorge where it is only about 100m for the total length of the 2 bridges. There was a cold wind out in the middle of the bridge. That was the only time I noticed the wind today.
A short drive took us to Dunsandel where todays walk started. The road was gravel with wide verges and very little traffic. Ella and Rapid had a lot of fun running around and in Rapid's case playing his stick game. My notes had the distances to points before McGregors Ford incorrect and I was worried that I was taking far to long. However I got to McGregors Ford after 2 hours and 10 minutes as expected. Clearly I had made a subtraction error when reversing the distances after I drove it in the opposite direction.
When Kate & I did the route survey the road through McGregors Ford was closed. Kate was driving and we had decided to drive to the ford and then drive back and look at it from the other side. Kate was expecting to see a ford with water running through it. What we found was a large expanse of loose gravel. The car only just got through. Today the road closed signs had been folded shut and the ford would have provided an easy but rough drive for the van. Ngaire and Ted had gone to Rakaia to get food and came back to the Burnham side.
Finally after 15km of gravel we got to some bitumen. There was some sort of craft fair being run on Selwyn Rd near Rolleston-Lincoln Rd. There were lots of people coming and going and I suggested to Ngaire she get Ella out and wave a bucket around. The organisers weren't keen however as it was a Lion's fundraising event so other than a donation one of the people organising parking gave me we collected no money.
The number of dogs waiting at Hornby was disappointing - there were only 10. However we all enjoyed the walk into Hornby and most were generous with there donations. There were a few harsh "words" exchanged between some of the dogs before the walk started but they all settled down for the walk.
There was a pub just across from Hornby Branch of National Bank so I took the dogs and a bucket across. A complication was that the pub had a resident labrador that was very keen to get out.
Tonight we are going to Speight's Ale House on Ferry Rd. If the All Blacks win I'm hoping for some good donations.
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