The Big Walk 2022

By Elspeth Blake-James (A), Year 13

Have you ever had a sleepless night? It might have consisted of a movie marathon, or maybe some last-minute cramming before an exam. Last summer, alongside a group of my friends, I had an extremely sleepless night when we walked 40km over 24hrs to raise money for Oak Field School, in Nottingham, which provides education and support for students with various mental and physical disabilities.

We started the Big Walk at Whitby with a prayer, and everyone was in good spirits for a while. We kept walking. The sun started to set as we crossed the moors, slowly working our way across the barren landscape. Then we came to the support minibus for the last time before the dreaded night shift. More feet were strapped up against blisters, more food consumed, and we put yet another layer of clothing on.

About four and a half hours went by in a blur – I’ll spare you the more graphic details about crying, throwing up and blisters – but needless to say, The Big Walk was much harder than any of us could have ever imagined. Mrs Stannard pointed out that however difficult this night was, it would end when we got back to school, but the students at Oakfield had this kind of struggle on a daily basis. We scaled a ridiculously steep hill just in time to watch the sun rise, and I got my first taste of summit fever as I realised we had walked for over 12 hours already.

We stopped for bacon butties passing through Helmsley at around 7am, and finally we arrived back at Ampleforth in mostly one piece. The whole school was up bright and early to welcome us home with cheering and bagpipes. I have never felt so extremely happy and proud of myself whilst being so physically and mentally exhausted.

The money that we raised funded a wonderful day out to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park with a group of Oakfield students, and the rest was donated to the school.