The Big Walk 2007

The Big Walk: Not Giving Up and Not Giving In
At the beginning of September, 35 young people from across the Diocese took part in a three-day walking pilgrimage across the Lake District to Cleator where they joined hundreds of other pilgrims at the shrine to Our Lady. This is the third year that this event has taken place, and the third year in which we have been spoilt with fantastic weather. The sun shined, the fells looked beautiful, and those brave enough went swimming each day in the different tarns and rivers that we came across.
Each day was hard work. Emma Kirby, 17, from Fleetwood describes one moment when we were climbing over Honister Pass: ‘As we were making our way up a very steep hill, the words of the Our Father came back to me, particularly ‘lead us not into temptation,’ as temptation came in the form of an empty stagecoach bus whizzing past us up the hill with plenty of room for us and our bags. But then I began to realise that that is what this pilgrimage was all about – not giving up and not giving in. When I consider my intention for the pilgrimage and the person I was praying for on this pilgrimage and what they have to endure, I realised that for me to give up was unthinkable.
As Fr Manny said to us at the beginning of the Walk, ‘The pain is part of the prayer.’ This meant that many of us were deep in prayer most of the time!’
 

Prayer of course is part of every pilgrimage and at the front of our group someone always carried the pilgrimage cross which was made especially for this walk a few years ago by a young person. Each day we celebrated Mass together and on the Friday we prayed different stations of the cross, on the Saturday the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, and on the Sunday we did an ‘Emmaus walk’, sharing with one another our faith and what we had experienced over the three days.

Emma explains, ‘The pilgrimage allowed me to dedicate time for prayer for my chosen intention and also to build relationships with other young people from across the diocese. There is an immense sense of satisfaction in having completed the walk and the beauty of the fells is genuinely awe-inspiring. The pilgrimage might have ended at Cleator, but it has helped me to strengthen my faith and truly realise its fundamental position in my life, and the importance for me to now take away the lessons I’ve learnt and try to live up to them’.

 

To see more pictures of the fantstic time we had click here
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If you enjoy walking in the hills why not try our monthly event Summit follow this link