Saturday 19 October 2013

Day 4 - Brief Update


Another early start for Mark today.  He tweeted some pictures from last night's sleeping place (see below) Cunderdin and then some footage of the first mile of the day, click here.


Mark's tweets from day 4 should give you get a pretty good idea of how he was feeling:

06:35 The flys are out already. Gutted! It was warmer this morning than previous days. Perhaps that's why. :(

12:07 Dark times this morning but I have stuck at it. 16.5 miles done. Quick bite to eat then back out on the road.

12:09 There seem to be twice as many flies today. They are really getting me down. I can't drink or eat properly while wearing the fly net. 

Here are more of his thoughts that he recorded whilst out on the road: Day 4

Mark was able to escape the flies for a short period, these tweets and picture should set the scene:

14:13 #Kellerberrin and your virtually fly free public toilets - I salute you. #tweetingnotpooing

Is this what the kids call a #selfie? #flyfree @ Kellerberrin


I spoke to Mark briefly at approx. 18:30 (AWST).  It was clear that his spirits were quite low.  A difficult conversation when there are thousands of miles between us but positivity was the key.  The fact that Gary's #bigbrownjumper had raised so much for the two charities, through auction on Real Radio, certainly helped to lift the mood.  During the conversation the day had turned to night but Mark was determined that he was going to finish on 41 miles for the day.  

An hour later and I heard these two recordings: 


Just brilliant to hear.  On reflection Mark felt that pasta for tea, the dark, less flies, pouring with rain and appropriate music all spurred him on. Oh, and two young ladies stopping to ask if he was ok!

So that's 154 miles covered in 4 days, only 10 miles behind schedule.  This map should give you an idea of the progress made so far.  Perspective.