I would like to inform you that The Emley Drama Group’s Walking Group achieved the LWW on Saturday 24th June. We started at 00:15 and finished at 21:30. The reason we took so long was that my right knee gave out 5 miles into the walk, I strapped it up and walked the next 35 miles with a stiff leg, lots of pain (and painkillers) and amazing support from my fellow walkers and our support team. I hope your walk went well, you probably passed us at some stage but we couldn’t work out who you were. I would like to remind you that you asked if I could order you some nice weather, and I said I would order cloudy weather, no rain and no hot sun. I would like to remind you that was what you got! So my title of Witch is fully deserved! Below is my personal report of our trip across the Yorkshire Moors. I hope this is the sort of thing you want.
Hello everyone, I am Karen, a member of The Emley Drama Group’s Walking Group. Earlier we put up a report about our then upcoming attempt, it’s the last one in May 2017 have a look if you would like to know why we were attempting the walk. Well, I would like to inform you we achieved the crossing on 24th June 2017, started at 00.15 and finished at 21.30. It wasn’t a fast time, we weren’t the oldest or the youngest, we weren’t a record holding crossing in any way, just a group of 3 walkers raising money for Diabetics UK to show a friend how much he means to us. It looks like we will have raised over £600. Even that isn’t special as lots of people attempting the crossing do it to raise money for lots of equally worthy causes. So what made our crossing special, why will I remember this day in my life and see it as something special? Here are the 2 main reasons it was special to me;
1) It was the hardest thing I have ever done! My knee gave out 5 miles into the crossing but I never once thought of giving up, it meant too much to me and I knew that the pain I was having would eventually go in a few days but the pain people get from Diabetes won’t go away. Also, it appears I am a very stubborn person, well who would have guessed that. I do however know that I couldn’t have done it without the support of my fellow walkers, Amanda and Kate who stayed just in front of me, giving me something to aim for or walking with me talking rubbish to keep my mind off my pain. It must have been so frustrating for them to walk so slowly but as they said, ‘we started as a group so we were going to finish as a group’ and they were cheerful all the way. That kind of support, teamwork and community spirit has to be felt to be believed.
2) The pure selflessness of our Support team, which consisted of Jane and Stanley (her long legged Jack Russell). She sacrificed her chance of doing the LWW to be our support team (or maybe she had more sense than us) They were there to cheer us off and to cheer us in. At every checkpoint, there was her brand new red car, like an oasis in a desert. Chairs were put out, food and drink were made ready, water to bathe our feet, Compeed for toes and blankets to keep us warm, she seemed to know in advance what we needed and pampered to our every whim. There was precious little time to appreciate these home comforts, as we were well behind schedule due to my useless knee. We would just abandon her to carry on our way. She then put everything away, got in the car and drove to the next checkpoint often many more miles than we had to walk. We sent her texts as we passed trig points so she knew how we were doing and to keep us safe. On one stage Jane and Stanley walked to join us and accompany us to the checkpoint adding fresh conversation and observations of others doing the same job for other teams of walkers. Little glory goes to the Support Teams, so this report is to sing their praises and to show our appreciation and heartfelt gratitude for them being there for us. High five to Jane and Stanley.
And just to finish, I would like to add, the Yorkshire Moors is an amazing landscape, only truly appreciated when on foot, we saw an amazing sun rise coming up over Rosemary Topping and an even more amazing sunset dropping behind Robin Hood’s Bay. We would like to thank all the people who help to preserve this unique landscape and environment and the people who enjoy it and treat it with respect.
From one of the Three Witches of Emley