Charities, insults and achievements

During the so-called research for my blog post on Mark Beaumont's book 'The man who cycled the world', I came across an interesting rant from Julian Sayarer, who himself made a successful attempt on the round-the-world cycle record.


In it, he says about Mark Beaumont:

... I have no respect for him. I regard him as a lifeform some way inferior to the dead skin that accumulates in the seat of my crotch after three weeks of cycling a desert without washing. We're the same age, we're both politics graduates, and so I feel sufficiently close to a part of his demographic that I feel no desire to make excuses or allowances for him that I would never make for myself.

Which, I must admit, is an entertaining insult. I can only imagine that the contents of the seat of his crotch after three weeks of cycling in a desert would not be pleasant - it is certainly not a pleasant image.


Both men had done amazing things; I certainly could not ride a bike around the world in 365 days, yet alone in under 200. Yet at the end of his ride, Julian Sayarer feels fit to write exceptionally nasty comments about another rider. Beaumont's crime, as far as can be seen from Sayarer's rant, is that he got corporate sponsorship and now continues to be an 'ambassador' for one of those multinational companies. Which are, as far as I can see, hardly capital crimes.


All Sayarer's rant has done is debase his own achievement. He may well have a point about adventuring, charity and corporate sponsorship, but they get lost in his ill-judged rant.


So I, who has done nothing as incredible as these two men, and has not 'earned' the right to insult anyone, will say this to Sayarer: you may not like the choices that someone else has made in life, but respect their achievements. Acting like a petulant child debases your own remarkable achievement. Then again, I doubt you care what I think.


Charity and adventuring seem to go hand-in-hand. Years ago my mum and sister were at an antiques fair whilst I was walking the Pennine Way. My reasons for walking it were personal: I had been told that I would never walk properly again, and my last operation had been just over a year before. I had spent my teenage years in a great deal of pain, and the Pennine Way felt like a good way of proving my recovery. Walking for a charity never even entered my thoughts: I was doubtful that I could complete the trail, and the entire focus of the walk was the challenge I was setting myself.


Whilst at the fair, my mum and sister told another lady about my walk. She asked what charity I was walking for, and when they replied I was not walking for charity, the woman got angry. Essentially, she asked how dare I not walk for charity?


This attitude stung me, and I walked for the excellent RDA on a couple of walks. Yet  it has always felt somewhat wrong, as the fundraising has always been a side task to the actual walk. Frankly, it would be hard to persuade me to walk for charity again. I can only imagine what Sayarer would have to say about that.

Another coastal walker

I did a superb walk yesterday, a short one (under fifteen miles) along the eastern range of the Purbeck Hills between Swanage and Corfe Castle. It was a superb walk in so many ways, from the sunny weather to the expansive views over Dorset and the sea. Even better, I have been suffering problems with my feet this year (which is why I have been doing shorter distances), yet yesterday they hardly troubled me at all.

When I got home I found an email in my inbox about Amy, who is walking the coastline of Britain to raise money for Kidney Research UK. She has a facebook group that she posts updates in, and there is further information on the Kidney Research UK website. The plucky lady is planning to walk 6,824 miles in eight months, which rather casts my own 6,266 miles in twelves months in the shade!

Amy set off from London on the 1st of February, and is already in the south of Cornwall. She has managed to keep up a good pace, despite some rather snowy and inclement weather in February. So may I all encourage you to have a look at her facebook group and contribute a little to this woman's superb charity event.

I must admit I get conflicting emotions when I hear of people walking the coast. I am full of admiration for every one of them: from Louis, who completed the coast at the young age of 18, to Douglas Legg's rather more erratic and eccentric amble. They are all amazing people.

Yet another feeling assaulted me as I looked at Amy's beautiful pictures of our wonderful coast: jealousy. How I would love to be back out there, walking for day after day in both good weather and foul. My heart strives for it, and I wonder if I have the mental strength to complete another trip around. Personally I doubt it, and Sencan would probably kill me if I tried!

At the end of yesterday's walk I strode through the surf on Swanage beach, letting the little curling waves wash over the toes of my boots. It was a beautiful moment, and I was filled with a desire to just walk on and do another loop. Yet my life has moved on in the last eight years, and now lies firmly with a wonderful lady in Romsey. Perhaps I can persuade her to walk the coast with me...