Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 May 2005 22:42:39
Well, he's done it!
I have just put Tiddles to bed. He's sleeping like a baby and with every justification. My baby's just hiked from point to point on the Isle of Wight - from St Catherine's Point on the southernmost tip of the Island to Egypt Point at the very northernmost tip, a total of some sixteen miles. And he was running for the last 200 yards, too - though that was more sheer bravado than remaining energy! I'm incredibly proud of him. Last year he and two others did the hike in the shortest time on record for their Scout Troup, this year the group of eight scouts included a couple of ten-year-olds who found it incredibly heavy going. Tiddles was back marker, helping keep the stragglers on the right track and keep them from falling behind. But with appalling weather, the group took the longest time on record to complete it - an incredible twelve hours! Just imagine hiking through wind and rain for twelve hours.
Sitting at Egypt Point was fun as every so often we'd get a "news flash" by mobile phone... "I was rather ambitious in my estimating their arrival time, I reckon it'll be another half hour". In the end a group of us set off in the opposite direction to meet them, and it was a good half hour's walk for us before we got to them and chivvied them along to their destination - not allowed to help, of course, as they had to do it all themselves. They'd navigated the whole distance and walked unescorted (apart from checkpoints, of course, and a sneaky leader following by car).
I decided to take the little camera which had just one shot left on the film to get a picture of him as he arrived, battlescarred, at Egypt Point. It made sense to take that one as then he'd get his photo developed really quickly instead of having to wait for me to finish another whole film. As I stood there waiting, I was struck by how beautiful the scenery was, with the setting sun shining golden on the blue sea (yes really!) and the golden shingle and with the moon putting in an early appearance too. And to complete the picture, the new Queen Mary appeared from Southampton - absolutely mammoth and dwarfing everything within range. A perfect photo opportunity, and I got my camera out to check that I did only have one shot left. No, that one picture had to be of my son achieving his goal....... bother, I only hope the inside of my pocket where I was putting the camera away will make a worthwhile photo!
It was rather nice at the end of the day to be able to carry my twelve-year-old into the house, to bath him and put my new (purple) couch to good use in massaging his legs and aching back before tucking him into his nice clean warm bed and kissing him goodnight. He'll always be my baby, But what a hero!