Tony Britton, PR and Fundraising Manager, ME Association
You have to be in good shape to want to take on her six walking challenges. Sarah Elsby, who’s been a postie for over two years jumping in and out of the van on her round in Bolton, is certainly very fit.
You have to be dedicated to want to pick up the challenges at exactly the same place where the Covid crisis forced them on to the backburner on the first National Lockdown Day in March. She's certainly that!
Sarah, the very essence of an ME Association loyalist, grabbed a week’s holiday earlier this month to head back to Cornwall to kickstart her walking challenge – with a punishing trek from Padstow Harbour, as the sun was rising, to Fistral Beach in Newquay, in time for the sun to set.
It took 10 hours to complete the 24 miles of steep coastline that dips in and out of numerous bays.
She stayed in Cornwall – her “favourite place in all the world” – for a couple of nights before tackling the 12-mile walk from Brixham to Dartmouth . This stretch of the coastal path is also renowned for its relentless steep ascents.
63,000 Fitbit steps the first walk. 33,000 the second. And that’s not the half of it….
Sarah, who's supporting the ME Association because her mother Lynn has suffered with M.E. for years, will head into Wales when the Covid restrictions have been lifted. She will climb up Snowden, not once but twice, and then do a long hike in Anglesey.
A walk from Filey to Scarborough in North Yorkshire is also on the cards and Sarah hopes by the end of October to have completed her ‘super six' with a trip to Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales, to feast her eyes on the majesty of the waterfalls there.
“I won’t have any more time off until after Christmas and most of these walks require long drives to reach the start points. But I promise these challenges will be completed”, Sarah wrote on her fundraising page.
“My focus is on doing this for my mum and I really appreciate any support that you can give in helping me to show her how important she is and supporting her cause.”
Her own branch of the Communications Workers Union chipped in with a donation of £100.
“I shared particulars on WhatsApp. Lots of individual colleagues are also supporting me there.”
Sarah told us that the difference between March, on the day the Prime Minister locked down the country for weeks, and now is that it is safer.
The way the virus spreads is better understood, there are fewer tourists in Cornwall and it’s easier to keep socially distant.
If you would like to support Sarah's challenges, please visit her fundraising page on JustGiving.
Thank you!
BREAKING NEWS 26th October 2020!
Sarah has now completed the third episode of her six-part challenge. Yesterday, she walked to the waterfalls at Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales, and then climbed the brooding heights of Ingleborough.
Here's what she's written on her fundaising page:
“Walk 3 – Ingleton Waterfall Walk + Ingleborough, one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks (25 Oct)
“After days of rain, the waterfalls on the Ingleton trail were in full flow. On completing the waterfall walk, I continued through the village towards Ingleborough and climbed the steep ascent to the 723 metre summit.
“The easiest of the 6 walks in this challenge but the most sentimental to my mum.
“12 miles, 30,000 steps walked.”
So well done, you!
The ME Association
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