Allendale Challenge April 9th 2011
I must say some of these students from The Hermitage School are fond of a treat! 70 of us met up at school at 6.00am on a Saturday morning, (not much chance of a lie in!) to take part in the 22nd Allendale Challenge. I heard some of the staff say this was their third time to do this 26 mile walk/run for charity!
You can just about see me in the group photograph at the start of the Challenge. The students and staff took good care of me as the terrain was very uneven, boggy, smelly and very challenging. It was a beautiful hot sunny day & you could see for miles around.
There were over 800 people taking part in the Challenge and all I could see both in front and behind me was a long snake of walkers and runners as far as my eyes could see. My new friends at The Hermitage took it in turns to carry me over the difficult parts of the course. I overheard one girl saying that ‘Hermie would be filthy dirty if he tried to walk through the peat bogs’ and that ‘he would probably sink over his head and never be seen again’! Yipes this frightened me no end and so I clung on to my carer!
Some of the students and staff sank up to their waists and chests in mud and had to be dragged out. They were very cheerful throughout and laughed so much they were almost crying. We walked through moorland, heather, peat bogs, water, swamps, uphill and downhill, along roads, paths and stony tracks which eventually led back to Allendale. My four feet were hardy and my woolly coat protected me from the wind and sun, so I was fine but unfortunately my two
legged friends suffered with blisters on blisters, sprained ankles and sun burn, ouch!
At one point I was very upset when I saw one of my fellow sheep who had become stuck in a bog & who had obviously departed this life. Once again my good friends took me into their care and made a fuss of me. You can see from the photographs how many new friends I made on this day. Just before tea time Lily picked me up to show me some of my brothers and sisters on the moors, they were bleating away and it made me feel very proud to see them all.
Eleven and a half hours later after starting this Challenge me and four of my friends, Amy, Jay, Vicky and Gill completed the Challenge. I think I may have made history as I am the only sheep to have completed the Allendale Challenge, baaaaaaaaaavellous!!!
Our nominated charity for this event is Willowburn Hospice and we are hoping to
raise £2000.
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