As soon as heard about Team Honk’s ambitious plan to get bloggers to pass a relay baton around the country from Lands End to John O’Groats I wanted to be part of it.
If I am honest the date came round extremely quickly and caught me a little by surprise. I had initially volunteered to Kayak through Poole Harbour but the recent storms and flooding put pay to that idea. I also made enquiries about taking the baton by boat, but unfortunately this didn’t get off the ground either, as did the ambitious idea to do the baton handover aboard the Bournemouth Balloon thanks to the weather.
When I ask anyone what they know about Bournemouth, the gorgeous sandy beaches is almost always the first thing that springs to mind, so that was my plan – to travel along the beaches, but in style.
After tweeting my plan, the lovely team at Microscooter sent me the Micro Floral White scooter to use which came fully assembled much to hubby’s relief and my team of scooter experts put me through my paces.
The weekend before the relay I took my children to a birthday party where I was introduced to the Didicar for the first time. I was bowled over by how much fun they were and that adults could ride them too which gave me the idea of riding one between Bournemouth and Boscombe Pier.
I followed the route of the baton as it set off from Cornwall and headed East through Devon and onto Dorset where it was collected by Sonya from RocknRollMum and Lynn from LemonsCake, before being handed to Kirsty and Clara from MyTwoMums and then onto Joanne from CharlieMoos before it got to me.
The journey to Sandbanks where I was to start off can only be described as wet. The hail was hammering against the car and I was starting to worry about what I had let myself in for. We parked up to a bit of sun poking through the clouds, but there was a dirty black cloud heading our way so I donned my penguin onesie and got a move on, hoping to out run it. As I scooted up to the prom there were numerous diggers and tractors at work putting the sand back on the beach after the recent storms, so I had to scoot the long way around on Shore Road before rejoining the promenade further down.
I have to admit that scooting was more challenging than I thought it would be as my legs began to ache almost immediately. The sand on the prom was a challenge too and although it was mostly passable I did hit some deeper patches which almost flung me off the scooter.
I wasn’t planning on a stop but my support team, the lovely Tracy and Paul from Traciebears had Eliza and Sebastian and he was demanding a milk stop, so I grabbed a quick coffee whilst he filled up before setting off again.
Our brief stop also saw the worst of the rain and hail pass over and we got a few glimpses of blue sky and even some sun on the next part of the journey.
It didn’t take me long to get to the pier where I took the scooter to the end and tried to get a photo of just how stormy the weather was. I also had a short 5 minute break whilst waiting for my second mode of transport.
If I am completely honest I really didn’t think the Didicar through. It is brilliant on smooth floors, not so much on a promenade covered in sand and this side of the pier was much worse than where I had just scooted.
It started off well as there was a slight gradient and I got up a bit of speed before it all went wrong.
There was just too much sand. By this time Joanne had joined me so I did get a much needed helping hand. At one point we did toy with the idea of seeing if the Didicar would float and I paddle to Boscombe Pier but it sank in the sand and I ended up falling off the back of it.
We did make it to the pier eventually and I did get some speed up whilst travelling along the wood as it was lovely and smooth. In fact the wind carried me all the way from the top of the Pier back down again.
The lovely Joanne made this rather embarrassing video of our efforts:
Exhausted, damp and very windswept we headed home proud of what we had achieved. I have to admit I slept very well that night and was raring to go again the next morning, which saw Sebastian do three laps of the pool at his swimming lesson with Turtle Tots and then a very beautiful Princess take the baton to meet Mammasaurus and the MiniSaurus’ in Hythe, which is just outside Southampton.
You can donate to our Bournemouth Team Honk page here or Text HONK to 70005 and follow everyone else’s journey on the Team Honk Facebook page.
The feet/claws in your outfit kinda make me laugh and kinda make me freak a little bit lol. Well done on being so awesome and being part of the amazingness that is the Team Honk Relay x
They took some getting used to when scooting too!
Go GO team Honk.
Brillaint fun !
I can’t wait to meet you again xx
Sounds like you did a great job! Loving the didicar – hilarious!
Wow! Well done you. It looks like we’re truly hammered by the weather. I hope you have recovered now x
Wow, how amazing is this! My toddler loves her scooter but I never actually think it makes her legs tired 😉 now I shall think again. Well done you.
Well done.
Your photo’s are brilliant, they made me laugh, it looks like you had a great day, and so nice that your little one’s could teach you something 😀
Wow! It looks exhausting and great fun. The Didicar looks almost impossible! I keep thinking that merely running with the baton is really boring – I can’t even run in fancy dress. But I guess not everyone can run 10 miles and I’m really looking forward to the baton making its way to us in Gloucestershire.
I couldn’t run one mile let alone ten! I shall be cheering you on xx
I’m knackered just reading that!! Well done for using two modes of transport, what a great way to raise money for a good cause xx
Ha ha you are amazing!
What a fab blog post and well done you x
wow! well done! scooting and riding didicars sounds quite fun! but then going so far on the sand, also quite tiring!
Ah just amazing! I really appreciate it all even more now I’ve seen the photos of how yucky the weather was – looks like quite the epic journey. Although you do made a foxy penguin 😉
Bless little Sebastian and his swimming – the youngest honker surely?!
What great photos! It’s go great to be able to follow the efforts of you guys through the various blog posts, tweets etc. Go team Honk!
Ok now that looks such fun if only my mobility was better I would be with you honking! x
Wow! Looks like you had a lot of fun with the training and the relay 🙂 Well done, Team Honk!
Well done you !! Cannot wait for the London leg – just realised I’ll be in costume travelling into London on the train !!
Ha ha ha – I love your pics 😉
I can’t wait for our leg of the relay x
You did brilliantly, well done 🙂 xx
Oh my goodness Kara! Was going to say hats off for doing it on Didicar but then I saw the penguin onesie! Must have been seriously hard work, looks like it was in your video although that is quite funny at times! You must be so chuffed though lovely – a superb effort. Well done! Thank you for sharing with #whatsthestory
Wow! Well done you! I can’t believe you did all that and succeeded! It looks like a really big effort, but you made it to the end. Wonderful 🙂
Amazing! well done you, clawed feet and all! I used to live in Bournemouth so it’s great seeing these pics to remind of fun times x
Huge Effort Kara and looks like you had the same weather that we did too, well done indeed you and the kids look fab all the way
You did a great job! I love this initiative.
Brilliant choice of locomotion, the didicar looks like so much fun! Great fun for a great cause, perfect!
Well done to you all! The pictures are great!!
Congrats! Glad to hear you got a spot of blue sky in the end 🙂
Well done! Glad you got a spot of blue sky in the end 🙂
Ŵell done! How fantastic x
Superb effort Kara. You must have buttocks of steel after that!
amazing! I’m loving seeing everyones posts! x
WELL DONEEEEEE! Makes me super excited for the Nottingham leg 🙂 x
Bonkers. Utterly utterly bonkers. but your photos are amazing!!! Thanks so much for getting involved.
oh well done on persevering you did an amazing job