Blue skies and pork pies……… (Part 1)

At the end of September I went on a “training” weekend to the Lake District (I’ll call it training as it lends an air of legitimacy).

I had one mate, Darren, travelling up from Essex with me with another, Paul, meeting us up there on the Friday evening which would be the first time we had been out on the hills together since Snowdon the year before and with plans to do Scafell Pike there was already murmurings of going up to Ben Nevis next year!

Darren and I had set an ambitious goal based on the Mosedale Horseshoe for Friday, it was a cracking day in spectacular weather where after the shelter and heat of the valley we were grateful for the cool breeze that met us at the top of the pass.

Days like this always feel like a bonus as they’re so unexpected at this time of the year especially as I love the contrast of the blue sky against the rust coloured, bracken covered slopes.

 

Looking up the Mosedale Valley towards Pillar.

Friday evening was spent thrashing out the plan for Saturday, helped by a bottle (or two) of single malt.  Whilst good scotch is always welcome, I’m not convinced it’s the best of planning aids as despite discussing all the options we headed to our tents with a plan that seemed to be little more than “Up there, over there and down there” (which roughly translated to Lingmell, Scafell Pike and Scafell)!

 

“Up there, over there and down there”, 

The view from Pillar towards Scafell Pike, Scafell and Lingmell.

With Kind Regards........

I was planning to publish a new post in a couple of days but I got home this evening to a letter from the Kids Company that I felt I had to share:

Dear Simon,

On behalf of the children and staff at Kids Company, I wanted to write and thank you for supporting us through your fund raising page.  I want you to know how much we appreciate your generosity - you make a real difference to our children, and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Over the years, Kids Company has grown into a much valued sanctuary for children and young people who are challenged due to childhood maltreatment.  kids Company's ability to reach out to these children is made possible because of the extraordinary support of people like you.

Over the summer, across the country, children and young people attended celebrations for their school and college attainments.  kids Company generated it's own awards ceremony as hundreds of our kids gained nationally recognised qualifications.  However, their stark loneliness was highlighted as only a handful of parents attended the ceremonies.

Amongst the group was a young boy whose mother had left him with paedophiles.  We found him wrapped in a sheet at  the ma's house.  He was profoundly traumatised and disorientated.  After ensuring that he was taken into care we paid for him to go to a college where he would receive individual attention.  he managed to get 5 A*s, 4  Bs and an AS level after studying for a year.  Another of our young people, having  arrived homeless, aged 16, managed not only to graduate from Oxford with 2:1 but she also got her first job as a teacher.

All these transformations are because the public have supported us and the children have exercised courage to make good use of the opportunities generated for them.  I cannot think of anything more valuable than reaching children who have been maltreated with hope for a better future.  Profound thanks for being our friend.

With kind regards,

Camila Batmanghelidjh
Chief Executive
Kids Company

Reading this has made me in turns angry, uplifted and proud and if it has had a similar effect for you please take a couple of minutes to visit my Virgin Money Giving page and sponsor a few pounds.

Please remember that I am funding all the expenses of the trek so every penny you donate will go towards supporting the Kids Company.

There’s no such thing as a bad run….

As Essex isn’t known for its hills (or even being close to any) I can realistically only get away to the mountains about once a month so in between trips running will be forming a large part of my training.

It’s never been something I particularly enjoy, sure I like the endorphin rush and the feeling of satisfaction you get afterwards but the actual run has always felt like a chore that needs to be endured.

With this in mind I’ve ended up playing all sorts of mind games with myself, doing whatever it takes to lace up my trainers and get out there regardless of how I’m feeling or the conditions telling myself that any run is better than no run!

However with everything else that has been going on in my life recently I have found myself craving a run and have actually enjoyed being out there and spending sometime concentrating on nothing other than my breathing and simply putting one foot in front of the other!

I’ve found it’s helped me to clear my frustration and anger on some days and given me purpose and drive on others and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that I’ve broken some pretty significant barriers on my way to setting new personal best times!

Of course there’s still times when I’ve been running, trying to figure out what’s the point but whenever I feel like giving up I just thing of the last push to the summit of Kili and remind myself…..

There’s no such thing as a bad run

When you're least expecting it.......

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a few weeks since I last posted, everything was going well, everything was in place to "launch" my sponsorship campaign and I was all set to find and book the flights.

On Monday 26th September my Mum died, it was sudden and unexpected and needless to say everything else has taken a back seat as me and my family try to come to terms with our loss.

The last time I spoke to her she told me how proud she was of my plans to climb Kilimanjaro and speaking to family and friends at her funeral it seems that she made sure they all knew how proud of this she was too!

I'm hoping to add to more posts about my training and planning later this week.

Simon