WHAT IS IT THAT I WANT TO DO? Basically I am going to travel the length of
The Amazon River, from its source 150 miles from the Pacific Ocean, through the Andean Mountains of Peru, across the South American continent, to the Atlantic Ocean, some 6,800Km or 4,225 Miles later. It will start in September 2008 and take about 6 months to complete.
SIMPLE!!I will walk to the source on Mt Mismi, then trekk to my planned river starting point at Pilpinto. From there I will use a CATARAFT to row myself down the river.There will be at leasat 1 large portage at The Acobamba Abyss (a 50 Km gorge of lotsd of unrunnable rapids)
I will have land based support and contact them through sdatelite phone, also regular meetings where roads cross the river.
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
I have several reasons why I am doing this. The most important are:
I have known many people who have had, and survived cancers of many types, also people who have not survived. Some of these people have been my immediate family, and others friends, some have only been acquaintances, or who I met briefly and then heard later of their situation. All of them have affected me. The biggest was when both my parents had different types of the disease. My father passed on after 4 years of lung cancer. My mother has been in remission from Leukemia for 5 years, and is in great shape. A large part of this has been down to the support she received from CLAN. She now puts that back by being a volunteer for CLAN.
Its now my turn to put something back for all the support my mother got, and with that support CLAN have also supported me, and the rest of our family. CLAN also goes on to support many people directly with counseling and alternative therapies. The knock on affect of this support is also huge. As with my family, the support goes wider than the individual who is being directly helped, through counseling, massage, somewhere to stay, or just by being there to visit and have coffee with someone who has/is going through something similar, and this support is passed down to the people connected to whoever is supported by CLAN.
A very important thing is that CLAN also directly supports the carers of sufferers. They too can go and find aid directly from the charity. You don’t need to have a cancer to be supported.
At the moment I am living in Canada. Therefore it makes sense to also raise money for the
Cancer Society Of Canada. Afterall they do pretty much the same thing for the people over there.
But what is my reason for wanting to travel such a long distance? Well……..
I work in the outdoors. I have always been involved in activities in the outdoors, especially in water.
I first stepped into a kayak in 1980 (I think, it was a long time ago). I have been mucking about in boats, on rivers ever since. I have worked and traveled as raft guide and kayaker in many parts of the world, and I will always be connected to that in one way or another. So, what better way of putting my skills to good use than on the largest river in the world?…….after all how hard can it be!
What am I looking for,from YOU?.......DONATIONS, DONATIONS, DONATIONS
Money……ideally I am looking for as many people to donate as much cash as possible. CLAN needs to rebuid because they are going to build a road over it. The current building was remodeled especially for their use, but because of a new road they HAVE to move, so money that could support people will be spent on a new building. Please help the support to carry on.
There are various ways of donating. The easiest is through these online donation sites:For CLAN: www.justgiving.com/brucelow
For Canadian Cancer Society: http://bc.cancer.caBOTH LINKS ARE ON THE RIGHT OF THIS SITE
Collecting cans are placed in Scotland at:
Brookbank Canoes, Perth
Nae Limits Adventures, Ballinluig, Perthshire
Splash Whitewater Rafting, Aberfeldy
Grandtully Hotel, Perthshire
GEAR........As I am walking to the river source, which is a small waterfall at 5,200m up in the mountains, and then traveling downstream in a cataraft, I will need a lot of gear, and this will be a big expense.
A cataraft cost is $2,200 http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=1116&deptid=1132http://aire.com/AIRE/jag.shtml
A cataraft frame costs between$800 and$1200 http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product_list.asp?deptid=1053http://aire.com/AIRE/accessories-frames.shtmlOars
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product_list.asp?deptid=1057http://aire.com/AIRE/accessories-oar.shtmlOar lockshttp://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product_list.asp?deptid=981http://aire.com/AIRE/accessories-oar.shtmlAir Flights.....Again this is a large expense. At the moment I'll be heading to Lima, Peru, from either Calgary, or London. As it is a big expense I would like the sponsor to be a corporate one, as it would take away from money going to the charity. Also the prices below are only for me and my luggage. It doesn't include freight for a cataraftandf its accessories
● From the UK its about 1000GBP return
● From Calgary its about 1400USD return
If you are donating equipment please get in touch with me directly lowbruce2@gmail.comcanadian cellphone +1 778 987 0198
www.justgiving.com/brucelow (UK donations)www.bc.cancer.ca (for Canada/North America donations)
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