David Jones Embarks On A Charity Walk Of A Lifetime
Courageous David Jones, co-owner of Manna from Devon Cooking School, will be setting off on Sunday 16th December to walk the South West Coast Path.
David is embarking on this challenging walk, in the middle of winter, to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for 630 miles, running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset.
This walk is perhaps the ultimate challenge for the long-distance hiker. Commenting on the walk, David says: “I’ve been thinking about doing this as a fundraiser for the past five years and now seems the right time. Both my parents suffered from this awful illness. I want to raise as much money as I can for this worthy charity and, to do so, felt it was best to make it as difficult as possible by walking in some of the coldest weeks of the year.” He continues: “I won’t be entirely on my own though as I will have my dog Rex for company!”
Speaking on behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Sarah Hampton, regional fundraiser team leader for the South of England says: “We are forever grateful to people like David who put their daily routine on hold to participate in such important fundraising activity. The funds made will make a huge difference to people suffering with this illness.”
Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a progressive disease that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. This means messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting.
David’s wife Holly will be driving ahead with their other dog Poppy in a campervan. David will join Holly in the campervan every evening for dinner and to sleep and will then set off when the sun rises each morning to continue his walk. It really will be a remarkable achievement especially walking at this time of year.
Due to the up and down nature of the path, it takes an average walker seven to eight weeks at a leisurely pace. A very fast walker can achieve the distance in a month. David is aiming to walk 25 miles a day every day for 25 days and the height walked will be the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest four times. Despite this, David is really looking forward to discovering more of the heritage, wildlife, geology and scenery all of which will be truly inspirational.
Along the way some of the South West’s leading chefs will be showing their support by joining David and Holly for an early dinner in their campervan. Mitch Tonks will be joining them in Dartmouth, they'll be meeting up with Matt Hall from the Beach House in South Milton and Roger and Sally Birt, owners of Red Dog Bakery, in Bude. Like David, Roger and Sally are passionate about producing artisan bread using traditional methods.
David will be stopping for Christmas dinner where he and Holly are meeting friends beside Pendeen Lighthouse. Apart from this every day will be filled with walking, sometimes with friends and family who are able to join him, but otherwise on his own.
If you would like to make a donation to David’s challenge, you can do so on his JustGiving page - http://www.justgiving.com/SWCP25x25.
David and Holly Jones run Manna from Devon Cooking School, which is positioned in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Kingswear. The stylishly decorated, homely kitchen and the outdoors’ decking overlook simply stunning views across the Dart estuary to Dartmouth.
As well as its cooking classes, Manna from Devon Cooking School produce a selection of delicious double chocolate brownies and sticky puddings (Sticky Toffee, Sticky Chocolate and Walnut, and Sticky Banana and Ginger) which are available at www.mannafromdevon.com. Manna from Devon Cooking School will be at Bath Christmas Market (22nd November – 9th December 2012).
You can follow David’s walk on a regular basis on Twitter (@mannafromdevon) and facebook http://www.facebook.com/mannafromdevon.
"Holly and David run a fabulous cookery school at Manna from Devon, both are extremely accomplished cooks and teachers. The bread course I did was fantastic and I learnt so much and it was great to be able to cook in such a relaxed location and enjoy the fruits of my labour over a wonderful lunch. I would definitely recommend a course at Manna from Devon which I would consider to be one of the best and most unique cookery schools in South Devon." Mitch Tonks (June 2012)
