A retired teacher from St Peter’s and her Romanian rescue dog will take on a 500 mile journey to the Scottish Border by bus to raise money for Parkinson’s UK.
Musician Michela Martin George and seven-year-old Nutmeg will complete the epic journey using Michela’s bus pass for the entire stretch.
Michela, who plays in a reggae band and in a blues band, expects the route to take eight days, plus extra time for stop overs and a visit to the Lake District.
Nutmeg will be Michela’s companion and the journey has been tagged the Nutmeg Express.
Michaela has had Nutmeg since she was a pup who had been found roaming the streets in Romania. Initially frightened of everyone – and only venturing out at night- Nutmeg had never lived in a house and was extremely wary of people.
Michela said: “Nutmeg is remarkable; apart from being very beautiful she has made huge progress over nearly seven years with me, as initially she was extremely nervous.
“She hadn’t lived in a house at all, didn’t trust me or my family and only came out at night. Once she was able to go outside she made huge progress.
“She still won’t join a group of familiar people, such as my bandmates when we are all together, and still won’t eat without looking over her shoulder. However, she knows the routine of bus rides and is perfectly relaxed, sitting down nicely and responding positively to people’s attention.”
Michela first discovered how at ease Nutmeg is on the bus when she was looking after her young granddaughter and found the car seat was too big for her vehicle.
That started an exploration of places to go via the bus and the discovery that Nutmeg was quite a willing passenger.
Michela said: “I realised Nutmeg was no trouble at all, I thought she would be straining not to go but now when we are on walks and go past a bus stop she tries to get in the queue!”
Last year Michela travelled by bus from Land’s End to Broadstairs and raised £3,000 for the Samaritans. She hopes to reach or surpass that target this year.
She said: “I have a friend with Parkinson’s and know lots of other people with it.”
Michela and Nutmeg will set off on April 22nd for their extensive bus ride and Michela says she hopes to stop and see Hadrian’s Wall during the trip.
She said: “There will also be a lot of walking, between bus stops, taking Nutmeg for a walk before we get on and when we get off (the bus) and before we go to hotels.”
The pair will stop at the Lake District afterwards and then journey home by train.
Good luck to them both.
http://www.parkinsons.org.uk funds experiments on animals. No animal is anything like a human. You won’t find a cure for Parkinsons by damaging animals brains in horrific, cruel experiments. If animal experiments worked the hospitals would be empty and clearly they are not. Animal experiments give sick frightened people false hope and that in itself is cruel. Animal experiments are a waste of donations and a waste of animals lives. My mother had Parkinsons in the 60’s and we are no nearer to finding a cure than we were then. Maybe raise funds for Parkinson charities who do not use animals.
Historically, experimenters have attempted to recreate aspects of Parkinson’s disease in mice, dogs, monkeys, fish, frogs, and other animals, but a growing number of researchers are recognising the limitations of this method. Parkinson’s is human-specific and doesn’t occur naturally in other animals. In fact, no method using animals has been developed that can replicate all aspects of the condition, and human patients are suffering as a result of the lack of effective treatments and cures.