Thank You!

This a blog post to say thank you to all the lovely people who have helped us so far. Katrina Taylor for being generally amazing, buying us cake and being the bravest woman we know by doing some of our horrendously stinky laundry! Alan at The Western Hotel in St.Ives. Anne Kennedy Truscott who also bravely tackled our laundry in Bodmin. Clare for cake and wine at Alternun. Sarah Deere-Jones and Phil Williams of the Cornwall Harp Centre who put us up near Launceston. Paul & Hazel from the Pennymoor Singaround who also put us up (the veggie stew is often dreamed of!). Colin & Chris who drove us around Bath between sessions. Old Down campsite for letting us for letting camp for free. Dave & Tina for bringing us a food parcel including some gorgeous bread pudding. John and Anne Roberts in Dursley for not only walking with us for several days but also putting us up, cooking us dinner, giving us packed lunch and organising a session as well! Also to everybody who has come along to our sessions, walked with us or left us messages of support over the past few weeks.

A special thank you to our drivers; Callum 'Ducky' Brown, Richard Spong, John Lowday and James Whittaker. You are all amazing and we couldn't have done it without you.

wimps join walkers

Arrived Mon 18th......left Thurs 21st April
Ah yes!
We've just spent a couple of days walking with this lot in Somerset and although we had our suspicions we can now confirm they really are stark raving bonkers.
After two days we limped home with blisters the size of 50p's...well nearly....while the others cruised in at low altitude and barely raised a whisper. The words that spring to mind are 'pathetic' and ' wimps', though , I ( Paul ) did achieve a personal best having walked fourteen and half miles in one go....never to be repeated......please!.... but the nonchalant way in which they slap on a compeed plaster and just keep walking is sickening...I won't print the expletive that springs to mind.

Please don't let this put you off if you are thinking of joining, but just make sure you have no varuccas and have walked your feet in for ten miles or more. ( we hadn't! )
In reality we had a great time, sunshine, beautiful countryside, good company, good music and the odd beer or two......what more could one ask for?

Some lighter moments were the group 'Om' when we saw glastonbury Tor and the 'Wups' at the couple making love on the hillside, complete with juvenile onlookers ( and us ) no photo's please.... thank you.....and then there was the tree hugging and even the ' Hokey Cokey'.....it must have been the heat. There was also a big cheer when Jim Causley gave the walkers a mention in his interview with Mike Harding on 'Folk on 2' ...well done Jim!

We also had some great sessions, Wednesday night was memorable ( hosted by Jock and Bryany )with some cracking songs, we even got to sing ' He's my Brother Silvest'....memories of Roger. What made it better still was the the campsite being opposite the pub, a short limp back to much needed sleep...heaven! Even better as the campsite owners didn't charge for pitching having been told about the walk.

We left with big respect for this lot. They've set themselves a punishing schedule with no rest days and it's not easy. Not suprisingly they get very tired yet seem to keep in good spirits with great support from the current driver John Lowday
who constantly goes beyond the call of duty with setting up camp, lunch stops, cooking, tea and yet more tea! They're each using their strengths in navigation, practical skills, technical skills for I.T. and sound recording or just humour and moral support. They're all losing weight and some can now see body parts they haven't seen for some time...80's maybe??....now who would that be??
It seems they've adopted our song ' my trousers are to big ' so we've written an extra verse for them...all will be revealed!

We'll be catching up with them again in Scotland, mid June, maybe we'll get some training in before then.....ouch!.... that was a twenty 'p's worth!
From the ' wimps with the limps'
Hazel and Paul

Dog blog

Greetings to all my canine friends and hello Dolly - why does that ring a bell? You were asking me for tips for the long walk, well most of all you have to make 'them' happy - so lots of big brown eyes (you know the sort of thing). Lay your head on their laps occasionally, roll over frequently.



Next you have to make them laugh, a special skill of mine. They seem to find the way I walk very amusing - very childish but it's wise to humour them. My figure has improved, they say I look like the dog equivalent of Marilyn Monroe, whoever that is. I have had to take my collar in another notch.
My very best aptitude is my ability to climb stiles. I have never been beaten by one yet and 'they' fall about laughing - I could find this demeaning, but I am very good natured. There will be a stile demonstration on the next blog (the Cotswolds only do kissing gates).
Thank you so much Jangles for the lovely pork chewy things. I haven't actually tried them yet - 'they' put them somewhere safe and can't remember where. I of course could tell them but my superior sense of smell is overlooked as always.
Made some new acquaintances in the past few days; Millie, Boycie & Chino, all going the other way.


Chino with his human.

Today I was met by Murphy, a very pleasant, well-mannered companion who tells me he will also walk along with me tomorrow - great to have someone to sniff with.


My mate Murphy and me.

Cara x

A day in the life of the Folk Trail

6:30am - awake to harp alarm. Sleeping bags move (last night's curry). Search for clothes. Moira loses instructions for trousers.



First brave soul leaves tent and puts on kettle. Queue for loos. Scramble for muesli, porridge or hot cross bun (Moira). Sniff milk. Clare furtively moves off with Cara. Returns for poo bag. Cara more bouncy.
Pack up worldly possessions and search for missing ones. Scrape compeed off from bottom of sock. Eventually speak.
Unpack van. Repack van. Dismantle tent. Unpack van. Pack tent. Scrape banana out of backpack (Clare). Decide what day it is, look up where we're going. Look at dwindling kitty box in silence. Hang wet laundry on backpack. Wait for new walkers. Set off at 9am. Run after Chris.

Walk. Walk. Walk further. Ow (stinging nettle). Climb stile. Walk. Kissing gate. RING RING! Answer Folk Trail phone. Walk. Cara no! Walk. Kissing gate. Walk. Splash. Retrieve dog. Walk. Splash. Swear (Moira). Walk. Walk. Where are the others? Wait. Cara no! Splash. Urghhhh! Go away. Wash dog (Clare). Cara no! Walk. Walk. RING RING! Answer Folk Trail phone. Ow (bramble). Walk. See cows. Cara no! Wash dog (Phil). Caaaarrr! (busy road). Look pasty shop!

Lunch.

Walk. Walk. Compeed stop. Walk. RING RING! Answer Folk Trail phone. Walk. Cara no! Walk. Walk. Admire view. Camera snap (Moira).



Walk. Walk. Not there Cara! Oh no. I'll catch you up (Clare). Walk. Arrive at campsite.
Wonderful van! Wonderful driver! Wonderful tea! Remove boots. Inelegantly stretch aching limbs. Excavate tent from van. Put up tent. Set out beds.

Argghh, cold! Argghh, hot! Argghh, cold! Argghh, hot! (shower). Aw no, I've just washed my clean knickers! (Moira). Get dry. Accidently hit shower switch with elbow. Argghh, cold! Argghh, hot! Argghh, very, very wet. (Clare) (fully dressed) (towel now wet). Suppress swearing (children within hearing).

Help/hinder/obstruct chef. Eat (bliss). Wash up. Dry up. Pack up cooking gear. Attempt laundry. Feed tumble dryer. Feed tumble dryer again. Curse tumble dryer. Give up on tumble dryer.

Download last night's audio recordings from zoom 2 (Moira). Download last night's audio recordings from zoom 4 (Moira). Download last night's video recordings (Moira). Attempt to remember to type up last night's session book (Naomi). Fail (Naomi). Attempt blog (Clare and Naomi). Hurry up, we're late for the session! Abandon blog. Pack up van. Pack in dog. Search for session venue in van. Park van in tiny street. Block tiny street. Extract instruments from deepest recesses of van. Lose van somewhere legal. Stagger into session (slightly late) "What kept you?!" Smile sweetly. Return to van for collection bucket (Clare). Set up recording gear. Save recording gear from spilt beer/shanty men/mass bodhran band. Sit if possible. Drink. Fantastic session!!!! Lovely hosts. Meet old friends, make new. Last orders. Session continues.



Gather scattered instruments/coats/bags/archiving equipment/people. Pack van. Pile in van (Cara no!) Return to campsite gone midnight. Scrabble for toothbrush. Attempt to find toilets in dark. Fall over wet boots/laundry/dog/people. Sleeping bag found. Search for pyjamas. Give up. Zzzzzzz.......

6:30am - awake to harp alam. Sleeping bags move....

The Folk Trail Team x

Dog Blog

In case you've been wondering where I've been they banished me from the walk for a couple of days. I trod on a piece of broken glass, don't know what all the fuss was about but as always they knew best!

Back on the trail Saturday, just in time to say goodbye to my mate Harry. He has to go back with his owner, typical! I missed him for a bit but it's good to have the back seat of the van to myself, not to mention my dinner! He was always nicking mine and I didn't like to say anything. Got my own back though when I ate his ibuprofen sandwich.



Met a great little dog today called Lulu, haven't had as much fun in years. Tried to get her to come along to John O'Groats - nearly succeeded too, but you've guessed it, owner power again. My lot were no help as usual.


Hope you like our portraits,
Cara x

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Somerset!

Our first night in Somerset was freezing! As Clare said, "We're not in Devon anymore, Toto..." Despite the cold and the misty morning we are all in good spirits and have been making up silly songs inbetween wading across boggy footpaths and climbing overgrown stiles!
We have a night off tonight so hopefully we can find some Internet and upload some pretty pictures and a few proper blog posts. (I'm writing this one on my mobile phone as I walk!)

Naomi x

Dog Blog

Harry and I greatly appreciated the good wishes of Jangles in Bristol. We were wondering when someone would notice that we were part of this walk.

Cornish cow poo is very good – more effective than badger poo to keep away the humans as you can get it on thicker. However I only succeeded once. It was followed by a very undignified bath in a trough. Next time I found a bath of my own to get into and had to hang around in it whilst everyone took photos. They are so easily pleased.

Having a bath

I am managing reasonably well without my armchair though my mate Harry gets the best bed on the van seat. Just in case you don’t know what we look like we have persuaded Moira to put up a few photos.

The humans just love me...

I would like to send my regards to my Italian cousins (Spinone) unfortunately I don’t know the lingo. However, I met an older relative today – a very handsome dog also born at Kevarda in Cornwall.

Cara x