Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Greek - sounds like you enjoyed it. One of the great things about the C to C is the camaradery with other walkers (it is famous for it) - we met (and drank with!) many people over the two weeks and that really makes ita great experience as opposed to the Pennine Way which is just tough with none of the socialising! We managed 7 or 8 days without rain - you were unlucky. You had the worst weather for the toughest part. Also did west to east - we're going back one day to do east to west. Well done on raising the money.

Thanks. As you rightly say, it's the people met that will be remembered just as much as the actual walking.
On Sat and on any day running up to the June elections if I do see any MPs that have been named and shamed (do they know what shame is) I will in a voice that will draw attention, tell them that while my son and myself, were walking for charity, they were bleeding us dry. Corrupt bastards.

Well done, Greek.

Your post stimulated me into finding out a bit more. I found a map for a start, which shows where it is and where the start and finishing points are:



By 'eck! It looks like a long way to walk in the rain!

Well done Greek! Can it be done by car? ;o)

Cheers Bob,

Yes its quite a way. Most sites show it as 190 miles, but it is now believed to be 210 due to the more modern accurate way of measuring (the original system had difficulty with measuring the gradients). Also you tend to do about another 10 miles due to detours to camp (can you still say that) sites.

Steve,

If you can get a car up some of those Lakeland hills, I will drive it down.

Greek.

And talking of cars.....

I see some of my taxes are helping people out there to buy a new foreign car under the scrappage scheme. I say 'foreign', because I don't think we make things in this country any more, do we?

Now surely, if they can afford a new car, why do they need a subsidy from me?

My car is only 1 1/2 years old. I'd like a subsidy to assist me to consider keeping it for another 2-3 years, or maybe even longer as I would be helping our 'balance of payments deficit'

Thinks....Do we still have a B of P D? I am not sure? But surely, it's better we spend our money in this country rather than on expensive imports, isn't it?

Greek,

It's actually considered to be nearer to 230 miles if you include the evening pub crawls!

You're all wrong on the distance.

Speaking as a Yorkshireman, I speak with authority that the walk is traditionally measured in the old northern measurement of "firkins".

The walk is 2 firkin long and 2 firkin steep.

Alan

:o)

The "scrapage system" is a political throwaway for voters in regions where we still make cars . . . . there are plenty to choose from, although rarely does a mass market Co make all their range in the UK.

As far as buying a new car is concerned, I consider them to be poor value for money ( like shares!), since they lose half their value in just 3-years.

Furthermore, I doubt that 2000 would cause me to change my 10+ yr old motor - to get something "similar" I'd have to pay well over 12k - so even assuming I get 2k-off I cannot get a "good deal" via a dealer . . . . whereas the depreciation starts at the "normal" price, which will be somewhat lower than list.
My car has virtually zero depreciation 0-- am I likely to swap it for something that loses 2000/yr . . . even if the mpg is 30% better - NO! becaue like many who have 10+yr old cars - I do very little milage, maybe 5000/yr so the lower fuel consumption is not a big issue.

+Before you say "you should consider the environment" - let me remind you that my old car has paid its manuafacturing "carbon footprint" over ten+ years, (ie the energy needed to make it) - whereas the "new" car is just starting to repay a massive energy cost. This "energy cost" is in direct proportion to the price (roughly), so if your car cost 25k it needs to last maybe 30+ years to have the same annual footprint as say a bijou-motor.

Has anyone here, taken advantage of this scheme? -
+ Did it work out a bargain?

I tried it at the off license with an empty bottle of 10 year old scotch to swap for a case of Stella and they booted me out.

hangon,
'Has anyone here, taken advantage of this scheme?'

Apparently several MP's have called their skatebords 'Ford' and claimed 2000 off their new Mercs and one case has been reported of an MP 'scrapping' a 1960's Dinky Ford Prefect.

Oblomov,

Your right re the pub crawls.

Alan,

Your mention of being a Yorkshireman, reminded me of the occasional few extra yards walked at night to find a friendly sheep. It helped to stop me missing my wife
so much. No doubt none Yorkshireites will never understand the comfort of a warm sheep on a cold, windy, rainy night.

I appreciate times are hard but after some thought I decided to post the following 2 sites that my son Mark has opened in able for anyone out there who wishes to donate for the Coast to Coast walk that we both completed, May 15th to May 28th 2009.
Any amount gratefully received.
I know that there are so many charities out there that no one can donate to them all, so will only mention this post again in order to thank anyone kind enough to donate.

This is a local Hospice.........www.justgiving.com/coast2coastdovehouse
This is a charity for Lupus Sufferers, an immunity attacking desease.........www.justgiving.com/coast2coastlupusuk

Greekman

No doubt all out there want to see our disgraced MPs treated the same as us serfs when it comes to criminal activities.
As a member of The Tax Payers Alliance (its free to join) I have just received their latest news sheet. They have pulled a team of legals together, with the intention of taking out private prosecutions against several of the worse offending MPs, if the powers that be IE Police/CPS decide to take no action.
In a previous post I stated that I would make my own approach to legal action via a criminal report. It now looks like the TPA will ensure these criminals do not escape justice, or at least a prosecution.
Some might just get what they deserve.
Being sorry, and paying back the proceeds of a crime has never been an escape clause re crime, specially when these are as a result of being caught.

Trevor was locked up for a political offence and Amnesty International wouldn't help him.

He broke into the conservative club and nicked a barrel of Watneys.

No problem. All he needs to do is say he will give it back, say he is sorry and sell his story to the papers. Also the con club sec will probably contact a Con MP who will put it on his expenses, at an inflated price of course, so its a win win situation.

Q Was it our local Con Club (Beverley) that Trev targeted, as I overheard an official looking bloke the other day as I was passing our local Con Club saying, " Someones snaffled some of our beer stocks, so just deliver another Firkin dozen barrels". And there was me thinking there was no such barrel size for beer.

I have just read the headlines that police are hunting a man after a womans body was found in a wheelie bin.

When caught, he should be hung. I have no truck with criminals, except Trevor because if you're that rubbish at it you're a kind of anti-hero, and the punishment cannot be severe enough.

However, I find myself wondering, given the system of punishments we have, and the ludicrous sentences handed down, if the police would get a harsher punishment for the murderer if they asked for the murder to be taken into consideration, and putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong coloured bin to be the more serious crime.

True - I take it that you voted UKIP.

What a very sad story....

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/....

Sailor 'loses life savings after yacht sinks to bottom of sea'
A sailor has been left penniless after his uninsured 25,000 yacht sank, taking his life savings to the bottom of the sea.

By Sarah Knapton
Published: 7:00AM BST 15 Jun 2009

Jonathan Orme-Dawson, of Norwich, was just two months into a year-long journey when the boat hit rocks off the Dorset coast in thick fog.

The 61-year-old had to be winched to safety by a Coastguard helicopter from an inshore lifeboat that managed to rescue him.



But the 24ft yacht he had restored later broke up, due to the damage, and sank.

Mr Orme-Dawson was forced to leave his passport and money for his trip on board the stricken vessel.

"I'd saved up for a long time but it's all floating out there now I'm afraid - the money as well," he said.

"It was the trip of a lifetime.

"I planned a year to be away but that's been cut short now by 10 months I'm afraid."

He added: "But now my lovely old yacht is at the bottom of the sea and my dream has been ruined.

"The whole lot is destroyed and even if I am able to salvage anything, all the electronic kit will have been wrecked."

Mr Orme-Dawson, a retired languages teacher, had spent years restoring his 24 foot yacht.

He had planned a year long trip travelling anti-clockwise around the UK coastline, calling in at harbours en route.

He set off on April 1 but on Friday night, as he was sailing from Lyme Regis to West Bay in Dorset, his engine failed in thick fog.

The 50-year-old wooden vessel Harnser then smashed on to rocks because he could not see.

"I am not familiar with the area but thought I could hug the coastline," Mr Orme-Dawson said.

"However, the huge cliffs cut off the wind and water got into the diesel so my engine failed.

"Suddenly there was a crunk and I was aground."

He added: "I realised I needed to call Mayday for help because I was in serious danger."

The yacht had been holed and later sank but Mr Orme-Dawson managed to radio for help and the coastguard scrambled air and sea rescue teams.

Richard Horobin, from the RNLI, said: "It was a dangerous rescue. We could not get close to the yacht because of the rocks.

"So two of our men swam 50 metres to the nearby beach and that is how they got the rope to the yacht.

"But when we tried to pull her off the rocks she began to take on water."

He added: "We then got the yachtsman off the boat and he had to wade through water. He was later winched to safety from the beach by helicopter"

Mr Ormer-Dawson paid tribute to his rescuers.

"They were just tremendous - it was such a relief to see the helicopter arrive," he said.

"The sea was quite choppy and some of the waves were six or seven feet high, which is quite scary when you are being battered.

"I was in deep shock and very tired because the boat was breaking up and being pounded by waves. The lifeboat also arrived and one of the crew came aboard to help me."

He said he could honestly say that without his rescuers, he would "not be here to tell the story".

He added: "I am an experienced sailor but I can say that I am only alive because of the combined efforts of the coastguard and the RNLI."

Last week Paul and Helen Glavin, of Weymouth, were forced to watch their 15,000 yacht sink off the coast of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean after accidentally hitting a whale.

And last weekend a US research vessel charged with protecting endangered whales hit one of the animals off the Massachusetts coast cutting into the animal's left tail fluke with its propeller.