Fri 22nd The Final Push

As usual our planned start time slipped a little, the weather outlook for the day was promising, the sun was shining and morale was high....tonight it would all be over!!!!

A hearty breakfast was had by all, followed by a last team photo before the off, it was evident from the early stages that several members of the team were in some considerable pain as the group slowly splintered into different paced groups, Adam, as usual was off like a rocket even leaving the Romanian in a cloud of dust!!!

Most of the final route was on tarmac which made the pace reasonably fast but also ardous on our feet. It wasn't too long though before we hit some tracks and footpaths over a hill, again the Romanians navigating was somewhat questionable...a path on his map failed to materialise so some trudging round fields and over some rickety fenses ensued!!! It even felt like the rabbits were out to get us by hiding the entrances to their burrows buried in the undergrowth as we dismounted some rusty barbed wire fences.


We were soon back onto the quiet country lanes passing through some very picturesque villages, enhanced further by the glourious sunshine, some very generous people donated en-route, one lady stopping her car to hand over her donation after earlier spotting us entering Cupar.


Eventually after 5 days walking, much pain and many blisters the sign was there....Welcome to St Andrews!! we were there at last.....or so we thought, Greg had a piccie taken kissing the sign, his happines was soon short lived as it became evident that whoever had erected the sign had put it on the extreme outskirts of town, we still had a couple of miles to go!!!!


Where we found the strength to go on is still a mystery, we did a quick check with everyone to make sure we all finished at the same place, unfortunately no answer came from the bear, he was apparently gassing to his wife to keep him going.....an event that would later cause him to walk a few extra very painful yards!!!


After what felt like an eternity, the finishing post was in sight, Ma Bells in St Andrews! As the rest of the team members gathered there was still no sign of the Bear, but after a quick call and directions he arrived about 10 minuites later, more of a Grizzly Bear for a change after making his way to the Cathedral instead of the Pub!!!

Many drinks and moans followed throughout the night as some more serious charity collecting was completed, the residents of St Andrews giving very generously to the cause!!

A great time was had by all throughout the week although all were glad that it had finally finished, and everyone made it in one piece (excluding the feet anyway).

Thank you to all for your support and donations, it will be very gratefully received by MNDA!!!

The Rambling Cockatrices

Day 5 Thur 22nd

The sun was shining as we left the comfort of the bunkhouse, 8 guys snoring gently in one house as the various injuries of previous days efforts were healed through the miracle of brufen and alcohol, meant we where seriously up for it....... how wrong can one team be! Rain was called off for the morning and off we went in search of a roman road, our erstwhile navigator the romanian (sounds like roman) neglected to mention that since the romans left in the 4th century nobody had bothered with the upkeep of this particular road. Much gnashing of teeth and climbing of inconsiderate farmer's fenches resulted in a 1-0 score to the japanese sniper on Gary tan in the can Ward and led us into the grounds of the grumpiest man in scotland ( clearly an english toff). Who proceeded to inform us of the bylaws of walking in scotland (post asking if any of us were a lawyer) with the winning argument from him of "I'm right and your wrong" we made a sharp exit off his land and added an extra mile to our tally for the day.
Needless to say the rest of the day past in a haze of pain and determination as what was billed as the shortest day became the longest for most of us.
Our pain was briefly eased by the magnificent efforts of JD and Rob 'One Job' Samson, and what a job he did giving us a little of what Typhoon doesn't get up to much (low level) followed 1 hourlater by our friends on XI Sqn good job Mikey and and our boys from 3(F) Sqn truly appreciated by all of us.
Anyway we made it to the last B&B on our journey and very nice it is to, a bath and some blister bursting means we are now ready to go to the local for some haggis neaps and tatties and more fuel for tomorrows last stint.
Blister count: Infinite
Blister of the day is a 3 way tie between: The Tank, The Squirrel and the pocket dynamo that is The Romanian
Honourable mentions go to the rest of the team for at least making their feet hurt like hell!!!!

Wed 20th - Rest Day

A great deal of footcare, eating and groaning has been order of the day today, mostly the squirrel as usual!! In a great bunkhouse just outside of Comrie preparing for our last 2 days into St Andrews.

Thank you again for all of your support and donations, PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING!!!!

Day three - THE HILL

After a romantic night under the stars, or rather under the clouds, the longest of the 5 days began with a woodland walk and a mere 2000ft ascent!!!!! This was nicely interrupted by a broken bridge over a swollen river.

25% of walkers (i.e. Greg and the Romainian) found the rocks a little unsteady and thought they'd include a little watersport activity on their way. Not ideal, with 28 miles still to go! Strats shortly after got shot by an ankle sniper but MAN'D UP and soldiered on. The ascent began in rain designed for fish and wind only produced by Petley after a night on the curry! 4.5 hours later post descent and another river crossing, we were 9 miles in. At the break for lunch, it was revealed by our deceptive navigator that we still had another 21 miles to go, many expletives followed, especially as it was already 1.30pm.

The remainder of the route was thankfully completed mostly in sunshine as everyone pressed on stopping periodically to chat to local farmers and fisherman in the hope of extra donations.

This leg was by far the most mentally and physically challenging so far, many personal walls were overcome and injuries carried to finally complete our 13.5 hour day at 10pm!!!!

Blister count = 20 plus
Blister of the day surprisingly again goes to 'The Tank'

Day two - Monday 18th

A hearty breakfast of porridge steeped over night (like most of the hills we were going to encounter) followed by fry up with Scottish potato cakes set us up for our next 26 miles.

In came the rain and a route mostly on the road, meant for a hard days slog. At least we had the motivation of camping in torrential rain to keep us going? Bob 'the drives' had managed to get most things erected between showers but unfortunately, the squirrel and tanks wasn't quite fully waterproof. An emergency B&B entry was arranged, only to be denied by such RAF phrases as 'MAN UP' and 'THERE'S NO I IN TEAM'! Plus the fact Bob hadn't erected everything he could have, and there was actually a palatial 2 man canvas waiting to be enjoyed.

Geeky highlight of the day was the short stint on the West Highland Way, would have been much more enjoyable had we been able to see anything!

Total blister count = 12
Blister of the day award again goes to Barry 'The Tank'

Day one - Sunday 17th

An early start had us with our feet in the water in Oban harbour ready to leave 08.30. A huge crowd composing solely of the slightly crazy Mr and Mrs Wood senior gathered to see us on our merry way, MNDA t-shirts on and the charity pots rattling.

Rain was forecast, thankfully none arrived, and a gentle stroll ensued with the first 13 miles flying by. The second 13 miles became a cross between an endurance race and a game of 'Chicken' as we trudged our way along the only road from the west coast which seemed to have every single weekender on it making their way home!

A final 2 miles on a nice quiet road (which felt like 40) saw us into Jinty's Orchy Bank B&B in Dalmally. All pain was forgotten as Jinty mothered us better. A wonderful place to stay if you are ever in the neighbourhood, open fires solved any issues of maintaining body temperature through the night.

Blister count = 6
Blister of the day award goes to Barry 'The Tank'

Saturday 16th - the long road to Oban

After a long drive and feeling a little worse for wear, we arrived in Oban for a quiet night of mental and physical preparation, for our first 26 miles the following day. Thank the Lord for the 'Coin of Destiny' which sent us to bed at a reasonable hour instead of making us show Oban what we were really made of! We met some very generous people and are very grateful for their charitable donations, and all just for a quick glimpse of the Semitic squirrels behind! Killer followed on the Pool table, drawing in more of the inebriated locals where the pot all went into the MNDA bucket. All in all, a good nights work again!

Apologies to our followers

Our best laid plan to produce a nightly update on the Rambling Cockatrice progress hadn't quite taken into account the wilderness of Scotland and lack of phone reception, so apologies to all for this belated update to the blog.

Departure Day to Durham & the Cricket!!

An early start awaited our intrepid explorers, the alarm went off at 05:30, a quick glance out the bedroom window showed the weather was terrible, the rain was pouring.....hopefully not a sign of things to come!!

With everyone eventually on board, (the Squirrel managed to forget we were camping, deciding to bring the kitchen sink with him too!!!) we headed off up the A1 bound for Chester-le-Street to collect some donations for MNDA and watch a bit of International Cricket. Morale remained high although rain stopped play, as we managed to collect donations from the departees.

Post this, following check in at Durham Travel Lodge, lunch was followed by some aggressive MNDA charity work long into the night. It's worth noting that the Romainians favourite pub from uni days, was extremely dull, proven by the presence of Mike Atherton (former boring England Cricket Captain).

As the night progressed, MNDA became richer as the Squirrel became poorer, when Kembles ruggish good looks (or so 2 strange ladies thought) stripped him of his not so hard earned cash.

To round off a good days Charity work, Gary 'Tan in a can' was saved just in time by the Bear from relieving himself over the bedside table in the corner of the room!!!