Dales Way in a Drive
Spende geschützt
Dales Way in a Drive finished 28 hours 55 minutes after setting off yesterday. I think I prefer the real thing. Please see below for the full report and some photos.
The Cause
In Guatemala, the current crisis has left many marginalised Mayan families with no access to food and every day the situation is getting worse. My friends in these communities have organised to try to get basic supplies to over 100 families, but do not have the resources to buy the amount of food, water and medicines required. Therefore, on Saturday 23rd of May I will set off on an attempt to walk the 80-mile length of the Dales Way on my parent’s drive to fundraise for these families.
The Challenge: Dales Way in a Drive
Six years ago, I completed an arduous trek of the Dales Way non-stop (80 miles in 33 hours) to raise money for a charity working in Guatemala. Now, I have decided to repeat this challenge but walk the entire length of the Dales Way around my parent’s drive (approximately 3544 laps). This will be dull, repetitive and likely take over 30 hours, so please sponsor me to make it through the pain.
N.B. Although walking the Dales Way itself would be much more scenic, completing it at present would not be that responsible, so instead I will walk loops in lockdown conditions in solidarity with people in Guatemala.
The Donations
Over 100 families in marginalised Mayan communities in three municipalities (San Cristóbal Verapaz, Santa Cruz and Tactic) do not have access to basic supplies without their daily work. Any donations will be used to directly buy food, bottled water and medication. These will be distributed by volunteers. No donation is too small and we will try to send a special thank you message to anyone who donates.
If you need another reason to donate, please see these photos from the food distributions so far: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lzpeGuHIse0kN6v-6SaLW5C5ySI1TAsA?usp=sharing
And please see the link to the original fundraising page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/extiende-una-mano-para-guatemala
Guatemala and COVID-19
Guatemala is a Central American country where Mayan communities were persecuted during a brutal 36-year civil war which included 626 massacres of entire villages by the army. Although the war ended in 1996, it left behind a culture of violence and the Mayan communities remain marginalised by the government, with almost half of all Guatemalans living in poverty (see: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guatemala/overview).
Currently, the government has shut down the markets and stopped public transport, leaving no way for people in remote communities to get food or have an income. Many families were already living hand to mouth and are not receiving government support. Whilst writing this, there is complete lockdown and my friends in San Cristóbal tell me that the situation is getting worse by the day.
The Report
The Dales Way in a Drive started at 12.55 on Saturday 23/05/20 and, counterintuitively, the first 6 hours were perhaps the most challenging. This was partly because it was difficult to feel like progress was being made when looping round the drive meant that I wasn’t going anywhere. It was also colder than I had anticipated (having come up with the concept on a sunny April day) and my fingers went numb which frustrated fishing the counter out of my pocket to record each lap. On top of this, the length of each lap meant there wasn’t actually much time to think of doing anything else before having to click the counter again. By 19.00 though, I had warmed up and my spirits had been lifted by some well-timed encouragement providing a reinvigorated feeling of purpose. Hanging the counter round my neck also helped me find my rhythm and I was able to push on for the next few hours fuelled by flapjack and cheese, tomato and salad cream sandwiches.
My family members were very good at providing me with support throughout the day and late into the evening. With the sun setting, I switched to doing laps of the garden so that the ‘crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch’ of the gravel did not disturb the neighbours. The garden was an altogether different environment which provided some novelty at first and the night’s stormy weather kept me awake (thankfully the showers weren’t too heavy). However, walking around in circles in the dark did heighten my sense of boredom, so I listened to some inspirational radio programmes and spoke to a couple of friends which helped normalise being awake when at least one was working a night shift. By 04.00, I encountered another challenge in that I had started to feel quite nauseous (a feeling which continued for the remainder of the morning) but in spite of this I had to continue eating flapjack to keep my energy up.
I was impressed by the promptness of the birds which came out on Sunday morning to sing their dawn chorus as soon as the light appeared in the sky. When the sun had risen fully, I once again started to walk on the drive and by then had found some headspace. In order to push on through the tiredness and monotony, I started listening to the (somewhat outdated) playlist on my iPod from the original walk six years ago. When it got to what felt like the late afternoon on Sunday, I was a bit demotivated to hear that I still had an estimated 6 hours of walking to go. However, in reality it had only just gone 10.30 a.m. and I was actually on track. At some point around noon, I must have forgotten to regularly change direction which aggravated my knee to the extent that I started to use a walking pole. Despite this, encouragement from passers-by helped me maintain my pace and I even managed to exchange a few words with people at the gate before I was once again walking away from them with my back turned. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. I was also given an extra boost by a new sign that was placed on a chair at one end of the drive saying ‘Go Adam, Go’ – it may seem simple but seeing that hundreds of times was more motivational than seeing an empty chair.
The last 100 laps were difficult because I was getting shooting pains in my feet. By this time the weather had changed which provided some variety and it had become quite sunny. It turns out, however, that even flat routes can have false summits and, just as I approached what I thought were the final laps, I was informed that there was still another 5 km to walk (there had been an earlier miscommunication). Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary to carry me to the finish line in a wheelbarrow as my brother suggested and instead I readjusted my shoes, improvised with an old broom handle for a second walking pole, and pushed on. I completed the final lap at 17.55 on Sunday 24/05/20, 28 hours and 55 minutes after starting.
Thank you very much to everyone for helping to turn what could have been one of the most meaningless challenges in my life into one of the most meaningful.
The original Dales Way in a Day challenge
In late 2014, I took part in a government programme which involved raising money for charity before joining local volunteers in San Cristóbal (Guatemala) and working on projects to empower young people in marginalised (predominantly) Mayan communities. Therefore, on a September morning in 2014, I set off on an 80-mile fundraising trek from Lake Windermere in the Lake District to the Old Bridge in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Whilst the first 10 hours flew by (I was busy map reading), walking at night proved a challenge. Being alone in the dark knocked my morale and I was cautious to avoid livestock and dogs which did chase me a couple of times. A low point was sitting in the toilets in Kettlewell just to stay warm at 5 a.m. and eating cold pasta with my fingers (because I had forgotten a fork). By the time I reached Grassington (60 miles in), the sun had risen but I had developed lots of blisters on my feet. The last 20 miles were painfully slow – I started using walking sticks to take the weight off my feet only for blisters to appear on my hands. At this point I had to listen to music to keep up my cadence. I finally hobbled over the finish line at 15.55 the following day, 32.8 hours after starting. I celebrated by having some beans on toast then going to bed.
I expect this attempt to be just as physically tiring and more mentally challenging.
The Cause
In Guatemala, the current crisis has left many marginalised Mayan families with no access to food and every day the situation is getting worse. My friends in these communities have organised to try to get basic supplies to over 100 families, but do not have the resources to buy the amount of food, water and medicines required. Therefore, on Saturday 23rd of May I will set off on an attempt to walk the 80-mile length of the Dales Way on my parent’s drive to fundraise for these families.
The Challenge: Dales Way in a Drive
Six years ago, I completed an arduous trek of the Dales Way non-stop (80 miles in 33 hours) to raise money for a charity working in Guatemala. Now, I have decided to repeat this challenge but walk the entire length of the Dales Way around my parent’s drive (approximately 3544 laps). This will be dull, repetitive and likely take over 30 hours, so please sponsor me to make it through the pain.
N.B. Although walking the Dales Way itself would be much more scenic, completing it at present would not be that responsible, so instead I will walk loops in lockdown conditions in solidarity with people in Guatemala.
The Donations
Over 100 families in marginalised Mayan communities in three municipalities (San Cristóbal Verapaz, Santa Cruz and Tactic) do not have access to basic supplies without their daily work. Any donations will be used to directly buy food, bottled water and medication. These will be distributed by volunteers. No donation is too small and we will try to send a special thank you message to anyone who donates.
If you need another reason to donate, please see these photos from the food distributions so far: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lzpeGuHIse0kN6v-6SaLW5C5ySI1TAsA?usp=sharing
And please see the link to the original fundraising page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/extiende-una-mano-para-guatemala
Guatemala and COVID-19
Guatemala is a Central American country where Mayan communities were persecuted during a brutal 36-year civil war which included 626 massacres of entire villages by the army. Although the war ended in 1996, it left behind a culture of violence and the Mayan communities remain marginalised by the government, with almost half of all Guatemalans living in poverty (see: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guatemala/overview).
Currently, the government has shut down the markets and stopped public transport, leaving no way for people in remote communities to get food or have an income. Many families were already living hand to mouth and are not receiving government support. Whilst writing this, there is complete lockdown and my friends in San Cristóbal tell me that the situation is getting worse by the day.
The Report
The Dales Way in a Drive started at 12.55 on Saturday 23/05/20 and, counterintuitively, the first 6 hours were perhaps the most challenging. This was partly because it was difficult to feel like progress was being made when looping round the drive meant that I wasn’t going anywhere. It was also colder than I had anticipated (having come up with the concept on a sunny April day) and my fingers went numb which frustrated fishing the counter out of my pocket to record each lap. On top of this, the length of each lap meant there wasn’t actually much time to think of doing anything else before having to click the counter again. By 19.00 though, I had warmed up and my spirits had been lifted by some well-timed encouragement providing a reinvigorated feeling of purpose. Hanging the counter round my neck also helped me find my rhythm and I was able to push on for the next few hours fuelled by flapjack and cheese, tomato and salad cream sandwiches.
My family members were very good at providing me with support throughout the day and late into the evening. With the sun setting, I switched to doing laps of the garden so that the ‘crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch’ of the gravel did not disturb the neighbours. The garden was an altogether different environment which provided some novelty at first and the night’s stormy weather kept me awake (thankfully the showers weren’t too heavy). However, walking around in circles in the dark did heighten my sense of boredom, so I listened to some inspirational radio programmes and spoke to a couple of friends which helped normalise being awake when at least one was working a night shift. By 04.00, I encountered another challenge in that I had started to feel quite nauseous (a feeling which continued for the remainder of the morning) but in spite of this I had to continue eating flapjack to keep my energy up.
I was impressed by the promptness of the birds which came out on Sunday morning to sing their dawn chorus as soon as the light appeared in the sky. When the sun had risen fully, I once again started to walk on the drive and by then had found some headspace. In order to push on through the tiredness and monotony, I started listening to the (somewhat outdated) playlist on my iPod from the original walk six years ago. When it got to what felt like the late afternoon on Sunday, I was a bit demotivated to hear that I still had an estimated 6 hours of walking to go. However, in reality it had only just gone 10.30 a.m. and I was actually on track. At some point around noon, I must have forgotten to regularly change direction which aggravated my knee to the extent that I started to use a walking pole. Despite this, encouragement from passers-by helped me maintain my pace and I even managed to exchange a few words with people at the gate before I was once again walking away from them with my back turned. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. I was also given an extra boost by a new sign that was placed on a chair at one end of the drive saying ‘Go Adam, Go’ – it may seem simple but seeing that hundreds of times was more motivational than seeing an empty chair.
The last 100 laps were difficult because I was getting shooting pains in my feet. By this time the weather had changed which provided some variety and it had become quite sunny. It turns out, however, that even flat routes can have false summits and, just as I approached what I thought were the final laps, I was informed that there was still another 5 km to walk (there had been an earlier miscommunication). Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary to carry me to the finish line in a wheelbarrow as my brother suggested and instead I readjusted my shoes, improvised with an old broom handle for a second walking pole, and pushed on. I completed the final lap at 17.55 on Sunday 24/05/20, 28 hours and 55 minutes after starting.
Thank you very much to everyone for helping to turn what could have been one of the most meaningless challenges in my life into one of the most meaningful.
The original Dales Way in a Day challenge
In late 2014, I took part in a government programme which involved raising money for charity before joining local volunteers in San Cristóbal (Guatemala) and working on projects to empower young people in marginalised (predominantly) Mayan communities. Therefore, on a September morning in 2014, I set off on an 80-mile fundraising trek from Lake Windermere in the Lake District to the Old Bridge in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Whilst the first 10 hours flew by (I was busy map reading), walking at night proved a challenge. Being alone in the dark knocked my morale and I was cautious to avoid livestock and dogs which did chase me a couple of times. A low point was sitting in the toilets in Kettlewell just to stay warm at 5 a.m. and eating cold pasta with my fingers (because I had forgotten a fork). By the time I reached Grassington (60 miles in), the sun had risen but I had developed lots of blisters on my feet. The last 20 miles were painfully slow – I started using walking sticks to take the weight off my feet only for blisters to appear on my hands. At this point I had to listen to music to keep up my cadence. I finally hobbled over the finish line at 15.55 the following day, 32.8 hours after starting. I celebrated by having some beans on toast then going to bed.
I expect this attempt to be just as physically tiring and more mentally challenging.
Organisator und Spendenbegünstigter
Xuk Frankisko
Organisator
Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome
Víctor Miguel Perez Bella
Spendenbegünstigte
