Nigel and Martyn’s walk
Nigel and Martyn took part in the End to End Walk managing to achieve their goal of 25 miles from the Point of Ayre to Peel.
They endured terrible weather; overcoming physical pain and the embarrassment of being overtaken by walkers much older than themselves, to raise funds for WSPA!
Nigel’s Walk:
“The walk started in the pouring rain. After 4 miles we drew the unhappy conclusion that our pace, ‘just short of Olympic standard,’ would land us in Peel 6 hours later.
Increasing our speed, it appeared that the last 5 hours might be the easiest. Our spurt had allowed us to overtake a vast amount of walkers, including a veteran, John, aged 70.
John had recently, we overheard him say, had a pace-maker fitted. Martyn thought that this was just an excuse for being slow. Those experienced walkers however, had set the right pace and overtook us over the last 3 agonising miles.
John passed us, calling, ‘come on lads, keep going, nearly there!’ before disappearing into the sunset.
After motivating ourselves with a burst of “Amarillo” from Martyn’s phone, we began to feel much better. Suddenly, the heavens opened up, putting things back into perspective.
Totally soaked, we walked the final 2 miles in agony with blisters, cramp and sore limbs. Our feet tired, the big puddle, engulfing the path in front of us, looked refreshing.
As we walked through it, literally 20 feet from the finish, Martyn slipped, just managing to stop his fall by grabbing onto me. Luckily, the end of our walk did not end with casualties.
Ultimately, the walk was not about us, but about finishing at all costs to ensure we could raise money for WSPA.
Not having respected the distance and put in the necessary training, there were times during the walk when it would have been easy to give up.
However, we knew that the pain would be over within a few hours and that we would soon be inside, warm.
Our few hours of ‘discomfort’ compared to the endless suffering that, for instance, the bile bears in Asia have to endure 24 hours a day, was insignificant.
All the money we raised goes towards assisting those at WSPA to fight against the cruelty and suffering mankind inflicts on other species; giving some animals the chance to live their lives in freedom and as mother nature intended.”