In 36 hours I will be on my way to India on another adventure. This time I am walking with friends for a shortish 570km. Pankaj Ambavane will be with me all the way amd Daryl Percy goings in the second week. The route goes from Mumbai to Nigdi (on the outskirts of Pune) to Nashik (which is Pankaj's hime town) to Bhiwandi then north to Wada and then to the schools which are in that area. We are looking for sponsorship to fund science laboratories and sports equipment for schools at Nakadpada, Amgaon, Karnjpada, Dadhare and Varsale in Maharastra State, India. If the full target is met then 3 schools will get science laboratories and 2 schools will get sports equipment.
Idol and Toby will be in the care of Hana de Meo (Idol's alternate handler when I am too busy).
I have to say I feel far from ready. The list of tasks to be done before I leave is huge - that includes packing. It is also very different not having done all the organisation on the ground - Pankaj, his colleagues at Capgemini and his friends and family are doing all that.
The first four days will be doing a quick survey of the route. I have done all the route planning using satellite view in Google maps. Street view isn't available so I have no idea if the landmarks I have picked for monitoring progress will be visible from the road so that will need to be checked out. I had a great deal of anxiety over the bridge to Airoli as while it seemed it could be walked on all the photos I culd find showed 4 lanes of traffic. Finally I found a photo taken from above, perhaps from a drone that showed a footpath each side. All of the route is on public roads and most of it on dual carriageways. As opportunities to change sides are limited most of the walking will be done with traffic coming from behind so that it is possible to get to support vehicle. This gives me some trepidation as most of my walking on New Zealand roads has been done facing the oncoming traffic so I can dodge of need be.
On 3 December the walking starts. It will be about 22km most days although a late decision to visit another Capgemini site means day 2 will be 29.7km. The temperature is expected to be in mid 20s centigrade and rain is unlikely in December. Most of the route is fairly flat but day 5 has a climb to Khandala. Looking at the town nestled on the top of a steep hill I can see why the name was used for Khandallah in Wellington.
I will be posting regularly on facebook https://www.facebook.com/mikebutlernz so do follow me if you want a blow by blow description. I will post here daily once the walking starts.
If you are wanting to make a donation there are 2 websites
In India https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk
In New Zealand https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk
Thank you in anticipation.
Idol and Toby will be in the care of Hana de Meo (Idol's alternate handler when I am too busy).
I have to say I feel far from ready. The list of tasks to be done before I leave is huge - that includes packing. It is also very different not having done all the organisation on the ground - Pankaj, his colleagues at Capgemini and his friends and family are doing all that.
The first four days will be doing a quick survey of the route. I have done all the route planning using satellite view in Google maps. Street view isn't available so I have no idea if the landmarks I have picked for monitoring progress will be visible from the road so that will need to be checked out. I had a great deal of anxiety over the bridge to Airoli as while it seemed it could be walked on all the photos I culd find showed 4 lanes of traffic. Finally I found a photo taken from above, perhaps from a drone that showed a footpath each side. All of the route is on public roads and most of it on dual carriageways. As opportunities to change sides are limited most of the walking will be done with traffic coming from behind so that it is possible to get to support vehicle. This gives me some trepidation as most of my walking on New Zealand roads has been done facing the oncoming traffic so I can dodge of need be.
On 3 December the walking starts. It will be about 22km most days although a late decision to visit another Capgemini site means day 2 will be 29.7km. The temperature is expected to be in mid 20s centigrade and rain is unlikely in December. Most of the route is fairly flat but day 5 has a climb to Khandala. Looking at the town nestled on the top of a steep hill I can see why the name was used for Khandallah in Wellington.
I will be posting regularly on facebook https://www.facebook.com/mikebutlernz so do follow me if you want a blow by blow description. I will post here daily once the walking starts.
If you are wanting to make a donation there are 2 websites
In India https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk
In New Zealand https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk
Thank you in anticipation.
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