Day 8 Te Rapa to Cambridge

Distance walked by Mike 192.3 km.  by Idol 164.5km by Toby 57km

Sunday (day 7) was a rest day. After toileting the dogs, and walking Toby with Murray and Chelsea, I was able to go back to bed for an hour.  Washing had been done Saturday night and I was going to hang the merino on the line but it dried overnight.

I went to Holy Trinity at Forest Lake - a very different church to St Peters.  Nice people but evangelical is not my style.  After church I went to bank the takings for Saturday ($262).  I rattled the bucket at The Base for 40 minutes and got $50.00.   After lunch it was off to Feathersone Park and give Idol some time in bootees to get used to them.  I also stopped in at a vet and got some vet wrap for his paws. He wore bootees for the rest of the day and was walking normally after his pre-dinner walk.

Monday morning I was down at The Base at about 7:45 and fond Joanne and Bevan there already. Joanne helped bandage Idol's sore paw.  Miraculously I managed to get a hi-viz coat on Toby but now he won't let me take it off. Lania Adams and Maria Adams walked with me as far as Grantham Rd and Joanne Dale and Sandra Varrow walked with me to Waikato University.  Cynthia arrived on time for a briefing for her first day as support person before it was time to leave.  Cynthia has done a splendid job today.

Joanne had done a great job of getting all the branches teed up for the visit. Te Rapa was reached a minute early and staff were all ready to greet me - only 1 customer waiting for the doors to open.  Having done an hour. Toby went into the car and Idol got out near Forest Lake Rd. The swapping each hour continued throughout the day and I will continue this all week I think.  On the way through to Frankton branch we stopped at a few businesses and got donations.  Frankton had a scone waiting for me - a very good cheese and bacon one.

The walk to Ward St included a short piece of off road - parallel to the railway line. Another great welcome there and then a few metres down the road to Victoria St.  This I think was the best welcome of all -  a necklace of chocolates.

Harassed a few pedestrians along Victoria St, followed by a surprise stop at Grantham Rd put me behind schedule but added more cash to the bucket.  Some of the staff at Grantham Rd had come out on to the footpath to say hi as we passed.  Across the bridge and around the corner to Hamilton East branch where the staff again were welcoming and Toby got to lean on a woman's leg.

The Waikato University branch was full of overseas students who were needing to do something to be able to enrol.  They were quite generous. With both dogs I went around people having lunch and got a couple of very large donations.  While pulling cards out of my pocket I somehow managed to lose the notes for the afternoon.  I decided to download MapMyWalk so I could track my speed since I didn't know the times at the way points.  It did a good job of keeping me up to pace as far as Marychurch Rd in spite of a couple of stops - one was to deal with a hot spot - fortunately in time.

The morning was 12km with great company.  Now I had 20km on my own, and with all the time collecting money I was an hour behind schedule. I was still an hour behind with 11km to go but managed to do those 11km without a break and a little faster - made up 20 minutes.

Lots of messages from Paige Davis during the afternoon helped keep the spirits up -especially when she told me it was lasagne for dinner.

Where was God for me today - Most definitely in the makers of the chocolate necklace.
Where did I need God to be today - Looking aftet Toby and Idol and keeping them strong.