Saxophone & Composer
[EDIT May 2017] we have continued the fundraising since the trek, via TamingTheSaxophone.com and CafeSaxophone.com, raising money for various charities, mostly for special needs music education. To date we have raised over £75,000. …. In September 2006 my wife and
Read moreHere are just a few of the amazing photos we took while in/on the Andes.
Read moreIt struck me that here was a bunch of people doing something for charity. Something that was potentially (and really was) “tough and miserable” to quote the words of Kelso, one of the team leaders. Not only the toughness and
Read moreNo chance to do this from Peru, it was either a case of no internet cafe (4450 meters up in the Andes) or too much altitude sickness to get it together when there was one. Yes altitude sickness can mess
Read moreSorry for the delay in posting this, I hope you didn’t all think the training had got the better of us. After last week, I must admit I was nervous about being about to do 2 eight hour walks on
Read moreIt’s not all exhausting but somehow enjoyable walks round the countryside that get more and more exhausting, we also have to do weekday walks. Just when you thought you could give the calves, knees, thighs and blistery bits a chance
Read moreCompared with last weekend, this might have been a bit easier. We walked along the Pilgrim’s Way from Winchester to Upham and back, a round trip of only about 14 miles. No, no, no. It turned out to be either
Read moreSo far I haven’t had actual blisters, but some very painful areas on my left foot: the pad just below my big toe and the lower part of my heel. I hate these more than blisters because they are spread
Read moreYou’ve read about our experience of being caught in the worst downpour since records began, Goretex is now our best friend. When I first bought the waterproof trousers I got home and thought, F***, I’ve just paid £90 for plastic
Read moreApart from one round of begging emails to friends and clients, my fundraising has all been via donations on my website and forum, along with any advertising revenue from the sites. We were initially going to try yardsales and fundraising
Read moreWe started off walking round North Kent (not all of North Kent, just a bit of it). It was raining quite hard so it was good to test out not only our waterproofs (never without them since that disastrous time
Read moreGot some new boots today. These are not as macho looking as my previous leather ones, but they are lighter and ventilate better. Most importantly there is room for the shock absorber insoles. Saxophone players use an expression “Gear Acquisition
Read moreThe big one. Two six hour walks one day after another. We did it. Not easy. Saturday was an easy morning as Jim and his grandma were with us so we just did a two and a half hour amble
Read more(Or is it Podometer – I can never remember). Laurie bought me this for Christmas and its great. Here is an example of what it tells you: Pedometer It’s great to get to the pub at lunchtime and know that
Read moreThis weekend we almost reached the extreme limits of human endurance – 6 hours walking the South Downs Way without a cup of tea. At one stage late in the afternoon we arrived at the top of a very steep
Read moreThis was supposed to be one long walk of six hours, but didn’t quite turn out like that. We drove to Exton in the Meon valley and planned a walk that would start off with some hilly bits, as close
Read moreWe went to the Outdoor shop in the morning and they fitted my boots with some special insoles to soften the bottoms and stop the blister, sort of deluxe £32 odour eaters. We left the car at Shawford, a station
Read moreThis weekend we needed to do two 4 hour walks. It’s easy enough to do one, but the real test is to get up the next morning and trundle off on another. This wasn’t too bad, on Saturday we did
Read moreThis is the first weekend of serious training (ie longer than the paltry 5 mile walks we’ve been doing up to now). We needed to do a 4 hour walk this weekend so decided to walk along the Itchen Way
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