Retired

The pedestrian part of my Challenge ended on Day 4, when my right ankle, which I thought had recovered from a twist suffered two weeks before, declared unequivocally that it had not. I “retired,” as the Challenge people so nicely put it, at Invergarry, having at least crossed the magnificent Knoydart peninsula.

One way to look at this is that I went an awfully long way for a very short walk. This is true, but not particularly accurate, because I wound up having a Challenge experience to be savored—it just happened to be largely inside out and upside down.

My withdrawal set me off in a downward spiral of emotions, from shocked dismay, to shame and embarrassment, to disgust and frustration. But having licked my wounds for a few days in my fetid little hotel room in Fort William, I bobbed up from the depths of (oh-so-attractive!) depressed self-pity to a state of rueful acceptance. I decided that since I’d had a spectacular time during my short functional period and had become enveloped in the aura of the Challenge (the people—the wonderful, uncompetitive, generous, friendly, positive people), that I’d try to stay as involved in the event as possible. No slinking out of town in imagined disgrace.

To make a long, heavily populated, and well-lubricated story short, I made my way around to Braemar, where I knew my former mates (and many others) would be coming through, joined enthusiastically for a couple of days in the infamous socializing, then took a deep breath and a couple of aspirin, and headed for the finish-line in Montrose to do it all over again. There I helped out as best I could and controlled my envy sufficiently to share the joy with my new friends as they arrived to sign the book and complete their walks.

I enjoyed the joyous final blowout of the banquet, many more drinks with many more Challengers, said my heartfelt thank-yous and reluctant good-byes, and headed home, deeply disappointed that I hadn’t been able to finish the walk, but having had a fine time—a superfine time—with a raft of spectacular people I’d love to see again.

I won't be posting a true diary, because I only walked for four days, but I’ll write more about the Challenge and Challengers—with names and photos—over the next few weeks.

Then I’ll have to decide what to do with this blog.