Andy had a lovely time, the rest of us on the other hand.....

It has been hard! I haven't got too many blisters yet, but matt and I are going to swap sides to even out the blisters.

We are having lunch at Pangbourne. It is really nice to be here again, it has been a long time.

Have to go now. Sorry I haven't been able to tweet at each lock.
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Twitter and 1st lock

Just to remind you all you can follow my progress lock by lock on twitter.

See it at http://www.twitter.com/mearing

Am at Abingdon Lock btw.
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Wakey wakey hands of .....

A solid early morning, pity we were up till late "design" t-shirts and discussing race tactics. Let's every one ahead and then that's where we want them.

You will be unsurprised to hear that I am the heavyest in the crew at 15st. Obviously I'm the shortest.

We are boating from Radley College boat club. Very nice indeed. Will tell you all about the actual stretch of river once I've rowed it.
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Flapjacks as promised

As I promised here is the recipe that I use for flapjacks.

3oz (75g) of butter
3oz (75g) of Demerera suger
4oz (100g) of oats
Heaped tbsp of golden suger

Optional:

Handful of rasins
Bar of chocolate
Heaped tbsp of desicated coconut

Pre-heat oven to 150oC for soft flapjack, 180 for crispy flapjacks. Also butter up a shallow roasting tin. Softly melt the butter and suger on a low heat until you get a suger paste with butter on top.

Stir iin the oats. Head a table spoon on the hob, once hot use to scoop the golden syrup out (don't lick it clean it will burn your mouth). Mix vigorously.

Add optional extras at this point: seeds, coconut, rasins, &c.

Spoon mixure into tin. One can either use a wooden spoon to flaten out to get a rustic look or you can use something with a larger and flatter to squeez it flat for a more processed feel.

Place in oven for about 15-20 mins.

Once finished melt chocolate and add a knob of butter for a shiney finish. Spread over the flatjacks. Hey presto!

The Night Before

Tomorrow I will be rowing from Radley in Oxford to Henley via my alma mater Pangbourne College for lunch. Luckily we are staying at a friend of a friend of a friend's house a few miles from the start, so we will not have to get up at 4 like every one else (just 5 30 instead).

I must explain how I came to row this most sane of endeavours. Matt, my best friend at uni, did this while at school 5 years ago and it has come around again. He was going to compete in the same boat but Andy suffered a vicious, unprovoked attack at Notting Hill Carnival by a massive massivé/possy where he sustained numerous and horrific injuries; a sprained ankle. I jest, it was torn ligaments, scrapped bone and tendon damage. Queensbury rules allowed hime to retaliate in a suitable jaw breaking fashion. So he is now a 13st cox, usually they are 8st. Due to this I'm now in Andy's Dad's car stuck on the M25 sandwiched between Matt and Andy on my way to oxford; hazzar!

For energy I prepared my usual flapjacks. Recipe on next post. Matt and I worked out there was 6000 cals in one tray of it! Which should just keep us topped up.

The boat so far has done one outing so far.......

Just to remind you I am doing this for cancer research UK so if you would like to sponsor me just email mark at mearingsmith dot co dot uk.

I have also put a picture of my hands at the start just for a record. They will look like a very unappetising pepperoni pizza by the end.

Queue for the last night of the proms

Just passed the RAH and had to take a picture of the people already queuing for the last night.

Good luck

A German Dream

Just woke up and I must report a dream I had. In it people were talking German amd French. Now I know almost no German and yet I seem to remember the conversations being very full. There was much less French (I am learning to speak French currently) and only French I understood.

The reason I mechion this is because I've heard (and believe is true) that you only see people and faces in dreams that you have seen before. Does this extend to language? Do I infact have a huge bank of german words that I don't know about in my head? Might I be able to wake up one morning and be able to speak it fluently? Who knows.....

Also last night the 45 min ergo was a real killer. I did about 10,800m which isn't that fast be constantly improving. 10x500m today.

Rowing session

Just about to start a 45 minute ergo session. Rate 18 and UT2 (lower band of training) still going to be very hard.

I'll report how quickly I die.
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