Three years ago, we travelled from Land’s End to John O’Groats by bus and train to raise money for Little Hearts Matter. Four days on trains with Jessica and Sophie was quite an adventure and we enjoyed our travels. This summer we are repeating that journey but in reverse – travelling from John O’Groats to Land’s End in memory of our big girl. Once again we will be raising money for Little Hearts Matter as we do our “JoGLE for Jessica.”
I remember what a challenge it was to plan our route for the trip last time and this time was just the same. It took the best part of a day to work out which trains we wanted to take to keep costs to a reasonable amount. We’ll be travelling on fourteen trains and four buses over six days to take us from home to John O’Groats to Land’s End and then back home again.
We learnt last time that buying split tickets for a long train journey can reduce the cost plus we also have a Family & Friends railcard and a Two Together railcard which reduced the cost of the train tickets further. We’ve booked to travel first class on some of the longer train journeys – being fed and watered and having a bit more room was well worth the extra cost last time. Thomas travels for free but again with the longer train journeys, we’ve paid extra for a child ticket to allow that extra bit of space with the seating.
I suspect it will be quite an emotional journey full of memories of the last time we did this trip with our big girl. We had such a fun time and it was quite an adventure for her and Sophie. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to be with a 12-month old in tow but hopefully it will mostly be fun!
We have a JustGiving page set up if you would like to support us and donate to Little Hearts Matter. It’s a fabulous charity which helps families of children with half a working heart. We were very grateful for the support and information they offered throughout Jessica’s life and they continue to provide support to bereaved heart families like ours too.
What a brilliant family adventure to go on. I hope it goes well for you and you make many more happy memories.
Cait @ Of Needles and Noodles
What a wonderful thing to do in memory of Jessica. I remember when you did it last time and loved following your adventures on social media. Good luck! I hope you all enjoy it. x
This looks like a great summer project. I’m really impressed that you only took a day to sort out the logistics of tickets- I hope it gets picked up by a local TV /radio station..Then again, you could make your own travelog (with a support team of four to carry the cameras, arrange lights and check your mosquito nets for aligators).
Wishng you great joy and success on this latest Jeccica project. Much love.