After the Storm

Pictures

Super Heroes!

Day Four – Afternoon saw another two more donations in Marlow lock…Thank You!
Pushed through to the Bourne End and stopped for a break at the Bounty. This was going to be our last stop on Day Four but with over 15 miles to go we agreed again that we would push on.
The Last Leg
The river surprised us at how beautiful it could still be this far down particularly the stretch below Clevedon!
Through Maidenhead we received our fist heckling from the river bank but as this was only Maidenhead, “Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream” was the best insult these boys could muster.
At the Oakley Club between Bray and Windsor we stopped to rescue a little boys tennis ball. We’d like to think that he thought of us as two pink suited Super heroes but he’s probably since heard his parents describing us as “those two poofs in a boat”. Never the less, they gave us £10 for PD!
Simon continued to complain about his sore bottom to every one that was prepared to listen, mainly the uninterested Lock Keepers.



Tony enthused about the amazing properties of Vaseline.

The Last Bend
So just before Ham bridge outside of Old Windsor we turned a bend and to our great joy, it truly was music to our ears, we heard a whoop and wail and great cheering from our lovely family’s and friend Richard. WE HAD DONE IT!

The Naturist

Day Four - Morning started well with a clear blue sky.
With the perfect latte from Richards new coffee machine and dry clothes, not to mention anything else that had got wet on the previous day, carefully oven dried by Kirsten, we said goodbye and jumped in the roadie mobile for our short drive back to Shiplake College boat house.
Today we had decided to attempt the remaining 32 miles in one day.
We set off at 8:00am with the wind in our favour. With all our aches and pains soon forgotten we were in no time at all in Henley where we were greeted by friends and family, in particular Simon’s mum who has suffered from Parkinson’s for the past 35 years…an amazing women.
After a quick bacon & egg sandwich we were back on the river. Like a scene from Chariots of Fire our two athletes powered down the Henley Regatta course in what seemed like a course record time. This would only be true if the Royal Regatta had decided to include a slalom race reminiscent of It’s a Knockout the wrong way down the course. At the end of this moment of self gratification Tony and Simon were ready to take on the final challenge.
Hambleden Lock got our first donation of the day. £2 from the lock keeper brilliantly caught in one hand by Simon….can’t catch a ball for toffee but when hard cash is at stake…!
Somewhere between Hambleden and Hurley we clocked an old pale skinned gentleman on sitting on the river bank in a Rubenesque stylie in just a pair of Speedo’s. Just as we began to turn the next bend he whipped off said speedo’s…..despite expecting something odd our loss of concentration resulted in us colliding with a fallen tree. Was he a lone naturist or just the local magistrate?
Hurley lock saw us getting further donations from other lock goer’s and despite long delay’s getting through we were in Marlow by 12:15pm where we were greeted by Julia & husband and later by family and friends. Before leaving we had a photo shoot with Sir Steve Redgrave who had no objection to wearing one of our PD T-shirts. He didn’t have much to say for a Sir!

Wet wet Wet

Bad 90's band and our theme for the day. The day started well with a hearty breakfast at the Shillingford Bridge hotel for local people. Our roadie Russ (smallest roadie vehicle ever) picked up our extensive backup kit and we hit the river at 8am. Photoshoot as we left- blue steel was activated. Please see photos.

Set a good pace after Benson lock although at one point we thought we had capsized as there was so much rain coming down. Every single thing was wet and Tony had to bail the boat out for 15 minutes when the storm had passed. Tony found his mobile phone under a foot of water in the boat- those cheap iphones don't seem to work after total submersion- rubbish! 

On our way through Wallingford we half expected Douglas/ Delabie to be waving from the bridge- never mind but thanks for the generous donation.

We arrived in Pangbourne after the second storm of the day and were greeted by James and Alex who kindly bought us lunch at the Swan. Apologies to the landlord there- those buttock imprints on your leather sofas were us, caused by our wet behinds.

Oxfam in Pangbourne do a great line on dry clothing- £4.50 was spent. Not a great look but it saved our life.

The boys powered all the way to Caversham and were greeted by a huge crowd... of geese, and a tramp. Big up to the geese and tramp. Teacakes and sweet tea was provided by Fee in the local greasy spoon.

By this stage the 25 miles seemed like 250 miles and we stopped for a well earned rest under Sonning Bridge.

Shiplake College provided a vast welcome party of Russ and Stephan. We were ushered into a classroom where we got undressed and ..... The Plowden Arms attempted a warm welcome but unfortunately they were unused to people that were not related to them. Roadie Russ dropped us at Kirsten and Richard's fab house in Wargrave where they were treated to a first class Chinese and good company. The drier was used.

Distance update

42 miles so far. Going for 25 miles and 7 (non swimming) locks tomorrow. Leaving Shillingford at 7:30, lunch in Pangbourne and then onto Shiplake college by early evening. Come along tomorrow night, we are bound to be in a nearby hostelry but ring either Tony or Simon after 7:30.

Not so smug now

After a long day the boys were rewarded with the sight of Shillingford Bridge Hotel. We pulled up alongside the hotel's moorings and Tony asked Simon if he thought it would be safe to step across a canoe already tied up. Having assessed the high potential of risk he of course said yes. No sooner had Tony taken his first step he slipped into the back of the canoe, whereupon the canoe tipped up and a few weeks worth of rainwater made it's way up his shorts. Simon's revenge was sweet. He was v amused.

Red Arrows & nasty lockeepers

Forgot to mention yesterday that there was a nasty lock keeper at our last lock of Godstow. He saw us arrive at 18:56, 4 Mins before his shift end and before we knew it he was disappearing into the distance in his sensible hatchback. Customer service award in the post. Today the Red Arrows gave us a fly by, great but whoever organised it for us went a little over the top we think.

Dunkin Abingdon donut

Big news so far us that Simon has had an involuntary swin in Abingdon lock. Following what can only be described as blind panic he hopped like a frog out of the boat. The lock keeper looked mildly concerned but Tony had an epic laughing fit. The tourists on the boats in the lock with us thought it was some sort of entertainment laid on by the local council. V funny.

Osney lock

After a night sleeping under a tree full of randy squirrels we've been into Oxford, had breakfast and are now downstream in Osney lock about to go through Oxford

Trout

We are in the Trout in Oxford having a 1000 calorie dinner washed down with some local beverages. We are camped around the corner right by the river. Simon's brother is bringing us a continental breakfast on the morning as Oxford is too posh for greasy spoons!

Injury update

The intrepid athletes are approaching Oxford. Simon won't stop moaning about his sore arse but despite this his stroke has improved. Tony has turned pink after refusing to put sun cream on and he's clearly losing concentration as we keep hiting the bank. We hit the bank so hard on one occassion that Simon came out of his socks! Anyhoo, so far we have raised £2:90 From the northmoor lock keeper. We'll be in the trout tonight celebrating our first 21 miles.

Radcot lock

Our first lock! Beautiful part of the river up here but very windy. Nice relaxed start to the day, big thanks to John for dropping us off this morning. 99 miles to go.

The map of doom

We've just seen the whole route laid out on a map and it's scary. We've just loaded the boat onto John's Land Rover and he will be picking us up at 7am tomorrow. We will head up to Radcot bridge and aim to be on the river by 9. The weather forecast isn't great so the pac-a-macs will no doubt be used.

Tony has just realised that we are doing the row this week after a mad last week moving house! Tonight I'll be trying to find the boat and all its bits that are currently buried under the pile of stuff in our new garage. We have also been making some small tweaks to our itinery- watch this space for an update. After a weekend of rain we'll also be digging out the raincoats- just in case our vision of sunny days gently paddling down the Thames turns into Simon and I impersonating river rats while negotiating the rapids.

Since the athletes last session of 6.5 miles Simon has been unable to do any further training due to an injury commonly suffered by world class competition rowers, Chafed Cheeks!
Despite numerous applications of nappy cream Simon has found even sitting on his chair at work profoundly painful. Simon was quoted as saying, " I've phoned Steve (Sir Steve). He's a busy man but I'm expecting a call back". Training has been postponed until further notice. One week to go.

Big thankyou to all that have sponsored us so far- really appreciated.

If you want to support our efforts- Simon has set up a donation page at www.justgiving.com/simon-challis

Last night saw the 'athletes' attempt their last row before the big event with a small jaunt from Caversham to Mapledurham and back of 6.5 miles. It was hot last night and Simon had a go at steering the boat for the first time. We managed to avoid the riverbanks (just) and the odd other rowing boat. Even this small trip reminded us of how tough the trip is going to be as this 6.5miler took us 2 1/2 hours and we were both pretty knackered at the end.

We talked about our itinery and when we would be able to meet up with people along the way- so any ideas would be gratefully received. We are mostly interested in pubs to stop for lunch!

Day 1 - we drop the boat in at Lechlade early on Wednesday the 15th of July and row aproximately 30 miles to St Edwards school, Oxford and camp the night by the school boat house.

Day 2 - 21 miles to Shillingford where we will stay at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel for the night. Having rowed 51 miles in two days, a hotel bar stool and a soft bed will be well deserved.

Day 3 - 18 mile stretch to Mapledurham, where we will camp again where ever we can on the side of the river. We will no doubt be making an appearence in a nearby pub...to be confirmed.

Day 4 - will be to Cookham (my home) 23.7 miles further down River. Despite being close to home we will pitch our tent by the River and trust someone will meet us for a drink or two at the Bounty (Pub on the River).

Day 5 - it will be our target to do the 100 but also head for wherever our aching bodies will take us…

If you can come and cheer us on or join us for a pint or two along the way we would love to see you.

Check these two athletes out.