Cover boy!

Dirk was recently interviewed by Sarah Wright, The Ridgeway National Trail Project Officer.

Their conversation is featured on the cover of the official Ridgeway magazine (Winter 2016/17 edition). 

You can download the PDF version here. 

Young Hero of the Year

Last night, Dirk went to the Luton & Bedfordshire Community Awards night with his mum. He'd been nominated for Young Hero of the Year, but really only went along for the four-course dinner! Some of Luton Foodbank's staff went along to support him too.

We were all delighted when it was announced that Dirk had won! Surprised too, because the other nominees were also very deserving of recognition.

The award was presented by Chris Nicholls, Principal of Luton Sixth-Form College

Beforehand, Dirk said he wasn't bothered about the award, and I believe him. He did his sponsored walk to help others, and he's always needed a lot of coaxing to let himself be personally exposed to any publicity. But I think he was as pleased as we were! Nick Coffer gave Dirk an extra mention on BBC 3 Counties Radio. You can listen to it on BBC iPlayer till 15 November. (Dirk's mention starts at 2 hours 19 mins 50 seconds.) 

A proud mum, and a real-life hero

A little bird told me that Dirk was rooting for one of the other nominees! It's easy to see why...

BBC broadcast brings total to £933.76

On Tuesday I went to the studio of BBC Three Counties and talked to Nick Coffer about my walks and about Luton Foodbank.

Mr Coffer was really nice and showed me how he works all his complicated gadgets when he does his show. He talked to me and Dad about Luton Foodbank and about my Ridgeway walk. He said he thinks I might become Prime Minister one day, and he asked what I wanted to do when I grow up. (They cut out my reply where I said I want to open a cheese cake shop! Mr Coffer said I should call it Ricotta Try Some.")

We were told the interview would be broadcast on Friday, but today a lady called Jenny left a message saying she had heard it while she was driving. You can listen to the interview on BBC iPlayer here until 29 October on Soundcloud here.

Before the programme had even finished we had another sponsor (thank you Julie!) Since then, we've had two more (thank you Roger and thank you Jacqueline & Kevin!)

Please share the link above and maybe we can get to £1000 before the giving page ends. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Latest total: £886.26 (incl. Gift Aid)

Thank you everyone!

While I have been busy enjoying summer holidays and getting ready for going back to school, several more lovely people have sponsored me. (See screenshot below.) The total donated for Luton Foodbank is £755, which makes the total Luton Foodbank has received is £886.26 when Gift Aid is added in. Thank you Annelies, Claire, Maria, Anonymous, Jo, Sarah, Kay, and Veronica. THANK YOU ALL!!!

This is amazing!

It's SO amazing that it means each mile of the Ridgeway was worth over £10.

That means every single mile provided an entire food parcel - paid for by YOU, the lovely sponsors!

I would very much like to raise £10 for each of the 139km of The Ridgeway, meaning that I still have some way to go to reach the target of £1390 before my giving page closes down. PLEASE share my links with all of your friends so that we can help the foodbank get even more people back on their feet.

TO ALL MY SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS AND TO EVERYONE WHO SHARED A LINK, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN - YOU ARE SPECIAL PEOPLE! XXX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home again!

THURSDAY: From the jungle to Luton

 

We were up early-ish again this morning. The tent was on a slope and I woke up curled up in a ball at the end of it. We had our breakfast on the bench and noticed another tent very near. I asked the man in it if he'd lost some money last night. He said yes and a compass too.

 

 

9.19am: About to start the final day's walk.

It was still really steamy as we were getting ready to go. Maybe it was the low cloud we'd camped in.

9.37am: Misty morning.

9.37am

9.37am: I never knew there was that much chalk in the world.

9.52am

 Only 1 mile to go. I think this is my favourite signpost ever.

10.00am: Check it OOOUUUTTT!!!!!

It's hot!

10.04am: I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque!

10.14am: Last pit-stop of the Ridgeway.

10.14am: Pitstone windmill is there somewhere.

10.25am: Come on Dad, hurry up!

10.27am

 And suddenly, there it was: Ivinghoe Beacon!

10.32am: Look at that hill behind me. Look at it!

10.47am: On top of the world!

10.48am: You can stop with the photos now, Dad.

We checked the bus times and there was one in 25 minutes' time, so we didn't hang about.  

 

 

11.44am: Just changed bus in Dunstable.

11.44: Hurry up, driver!

 Mum and both of my brothers came to meet me at the bus stop in Luton. It's good to be back!

12.25pm: Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!

 

There was a lovely surprise waiting at home. There was a giant welcome banner on the wall and Mum and Jasper had got me a trophy and a medal and a new basketball.

 

12.28pm

12.28pm

 

 Distance covered: 4.370km

 

If you have enjoyed following my adventures on the Ridgeway, PLEASE share them and encourage your friends to donate to Luton Foodbank here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=dirkwithnail

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO SPONSORED ME!

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO SHARED!

 

THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA FOR HELPING!

 

THANK YOU AUNTY SARAH AND UNCLE KENNY FOR HELPING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(If you think my little brother should do it next time, click here.)

Latest sponsors

Many thanks to:

...An anonymous sponsor

...Philip Cornick, who read about Dirk's walk in Living Luton magazine

...Geraldine & Roger, who donated twice!

Dirk's total is now £791.26 including gift-aid. This will make a real difference to hungry families.

This will be great news to give him when he gets home later today.

He's still not reached his target though, so PLEASE help make his summer holidays even more special by sharing, sharing, sharing (buttons in green box below) so we can get that total even higher.

The link to his giving page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=dirkwithnail


Thank you so much everyone!

Woolly tree protest, chocolate, and a near-death experience

WEDNESDAY: Princes Risborough to Tring

We actually started early-ish this morning. Dad had set his phone to wake us with Reveille. Ha ha I don't think.

 

We had lots of filling tinned stuff from the food stash for breakfast. But we still had to carry the empty tins away because there were no bins.

 

8.05am: Nomity nomity nom nom nom.

8.43am: Dad took ages packing everything away, as usual.

8.47am

We didn't take any water though because there was a tap very near. It was outside a pub. We asked if they were open but they weren't. Dad seemed disappointed. Don't know what the problem was... the tap was working!

10.18am: The cat at the tap at the Plough at Cadsden.

10.31am

10.46am

10.49am

10.49am

 At about 11-o'clock we saw Chequers, but we didn't see the Prime Minister.

10.57am

11.03am

11.31am: You can't catch me, I'm the hay bale man.

12.08pm: Getting near the monument on Coombe Hill.

12.33pm: At Coombe Hill Monument.

When we reached Wendover it was still very very hot. We topped up our water supplies in Budgen, had an amazing ice-cold milkshake, then got an ice lolly. I think everyone should be able to enjoy an ice lolly but there are lots of people who can't even afford a proper dinner. If you would like to help, please sponsor my walk so that Luton Foodbank can keep making food parcels. Please click here and please share with your friends too: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=dirkwithnail

1.58pm: First real smile in ages!

3.06pm: Train fans take note.

3.33pm: A Donnie Darko rabbit marked in dried salt. #blackmagic

3.33pm: Mine was a horned goat. Even more #denniswheatley

 We stopped for a snack and a drink.

4.05pm: Cooling off in the shade.

4.21pm: Got me some walking poles.

4.21pm

4.48pm: Grim's Ditch again? Or someone elses?

5.01pm: Obelisk.

5.11pm: Mound.

6.26pm: Spooky woods. Till the Gymkhana passed through.

6.30pm: Tring Park. Much more cheerful!

6.30pm

6.40pm

6.40pm: Resting peacefully (it says here).

6.41pm

6.45pm

6.47pm: Balloon!

7.00pm

We got to Tesco outside Tring at about 8-o'clock. We got lots of goodies and ate some of them on the bench outside.

8.14pm: Zoological confusion in the Tesco car park.

It got dark while we were walking the last bit to our camp. We decided to miss out a very short stretch of dangerous looking road by going on the other side of a field. It didn't work. The road was just as dangerous but there was more of it! I put my rucksack in jellybean mode and every time a car came we had to jump in the hedge!

Eventually we left the road and it was totally dark. We found a spot to camp and Dad pitched the tent by torchlight.

While he was doing that I found a compass and some coins on the ground behind a bench. I've put them on the bench so the owner can find them, but I expect they're miles away now.

It's been a VERY long day and it's VERY hot in the tent but we can't open the doors properly because there are loads of flying insects trying to eat us. I can hear a fox barking a few metres away.

Tomorrow we will reach the end of the Ridgeway!

Distance covered: 24.713km

Add to Anti-Banner