Sarah Elsby has finished the series of six walking challenges she promised to do to raise money for the ME Association. The first of them – a coastal walk in Cornwall – was cut short by the Prime Minister, on the day he locked down the nation in March last year.
Sarah heard the news that lockdown was imminent on the car radio as she was heading down to Cornwall. She turned the car round and drove straight home to Bolton.
Not only has she kept her promises, she’s delivered them in spades! Climbing Mount Snowden was Sarah’s final challenge earlier this month. And she made it that much more difficult for herself by climbing up and down the mountain TWICE!
“At the weekend, I climbed the mountain twice in one day to raise awareness of M.E. (a condition suffered by my mum) and to raise funds for the charity.
“The six walks I undertook were initially meant to start just as the pandemic hit. Lockdowns and travel restrictions (especially those at the Welsh border) meant they took longer to complete than first planned.
“However, the delay gave me the opportunity to increase the length and up the difficulty of several of the walks. All-in-all, I walked 105 miles for the charity, including a few mountain climbs.
“My total step count was 260,000 steps, equivalent to a step for each person in the UK living with this condition.”
Sarah Elsby
Sarah has finished the following challenges: Padstow to Newquay along one of the coastal paths in Cornwall, Brixham to Dartmouth along another coastal path in Devon, an extended walk in Anglesey, Filey to Scarborough in North Yorkshire, the waterfalls at Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales and Snowdon.
At the heart of all this is concern for her mother Lynn, who has had M.E. for over 20 years. She picked Ingleton as she knew it would bring back happy memories for her mum – who honeymooned there after marrying Sarah’s stepdad, Brian.
Thank you for being a true and faithful friend to the ME Association, Sarah! If anyone would like to support her fundraising, please visit her JustGiving page to leave a donation.
Tony Britton, Fundraising and PR Manager, ME Association