Hmmm. What to say? That was the hardest day for me so far. It started so well with breakfast with Sue and Nick and a packed lunch to go, but after 10 mins I knew it was unlikely to be a good day. A blister on my left foot made nearly ever step (and I made 49,000 odd today) make me wince. I just couldn’t get on top of it. But for such a difficult day physically it was a fantastic days of sights and scenery, and we were pretty dry the whole day!
We headed from Gargrave to Malham and then up to and around Malham Tarn, before striking out across beautiful farmland with periodic limestone ridges dotted here and there.
But the crescendo came beyond Fountains Fell with the first view of Penyghent, our possible destination.
Amazingly 2 hours later we were on the top of Penyghent. But what a climb to get there!
It was so windy on top there was no chance to find somewhere to camp so we took the long, long stony, rough, steep (getting the picture?) path down into Horton, where we arrived about 7.45, 12 hrs after leaving Gargrave. Thanks for the sandwiches Sue! They kept us going.
I realised again today it’s important to walk at your own pace. I was slow today. It’s nice to walk alongside someone and talk, or not, but not everyone moves with the same rhythm or the same speed. Anyone can adjust for a while, but your natural gait will eventually come to the fore and you’ll want to speed up or slow down. You can’t function at your best unless you can go at your own pace. You can adapt and that’s what we do when we walked together today, but at other times Tris was ahead, often on the downs, or I was sometimes ahead on the ups.
The thing is you can’t just change your pace for the long term just like that, you have to practice and train, to find your new rhythm.
We often wish our young people would just change their ‘rhythm’ to maybe behave in a particular way. Society certainly expects that of them. But sustainable change, finding that new rhythm, takes time. Our mentors certainly have to adjust their gait to walk beside our young people sometimes. That’s why it’s so important to stick with our young people when things do go wrong, to be patient and to be able to give them the encouragement and guidance and maybe training they need. Only then do they have a chance of adjusting their gait to something more positive and sustainable.
Sunset in Horton.
Gorgeous photos ! Praying for the feet along with most people,.
I’ve just done four hours gardening for a friend who can’t garden these days. Phew I’m stiff as a board so how you must feel I can’t imagine, Amazing effort !!!!
What beautiful photographs Mark! Amazing to see your spirit. March on! Look forward to hearing how the next days are going for you. Lots of best wishes from Pully.
You are doing soo well Mark!
Love the thought about taking it at your own pace, this is definitely something the YPs can relate to.
Praying for your blister!
Mark your dedication and commitment to the cause is so inspiring, I’m sure that is felt by everyone who works with you and of course the young people themselves. Well done! Praying you’ll be skipping ahead soon with blister free tootsies! Hope it’s a good one today! Rosi x
The photos and the story are absolutely brilliant. Well done Mark and God bless you and those you decided to walk (and work) for.