by Tracy Davies from Horwich, Bolton
Three years ago I did the Great North Run and, as a dog owner, I wanted to do it for a dog charity. Everyone knows about guide dogs, and when I looked on the internet I found Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. I did my BSL (British Sign Langauge) course 18 months ago, so thought it was a perfect choice. After the race I found out that there was a Hearing Dogs branch in Bolton, so I ended up volunteering to help out every now and then, if needed.
I’ve been a member of the Bolton branch for three years now, and have met so many nice people. The members are a great bunch and we all get on really well. Since joining the branch and meeting people who use sign language, I have redone my BSL1 and SSE (Sign Supported English) 2 and will do my BSL2 in September.
"I walked the Great Wall of China" (Tracy Davies)
I decided that as I was approaching 40 and diagnosed with Fibromyalgia I wanted to do something different; a bit of a challenge. I’d previously done a couple of marathons for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People but hate running, so decided to do a walk instead. In March 2009 I booked to do the Sahara Desert Trek in May 2010 - I thought I’d give myself plenty of time to train and do as much fundraising as I could. I organised a JustGiving site to start me off, then held a couple of quizzes at our local pubs, did a karaoke night with an auction and at my 40th birthday party I asked for money as well as bullying people to sponsor me.
I got a call from Charity Challenge in January to tell me that there was only myself booked on the Trek, so they had to cancel. I was gutted- all my efforts for nothing! They then told me that I could change my trek for something different. I looked through the brochure, and saw the Great Wall of China trek departing in June. I went to China two years ago with my family and spent about an hour on the wall so knew how steep it was, but thought I’d give it ago- being afraid of heights was going to be a challenge on it’s own! I booked my place, then changed my training schedule to accommodate the trek.
Two days before my flight I got quite emotional as I received a couple of cards from friends and family wishing me luck. I was thinking about all the support I’d had from everyone at all the events I’d organized, as well as the all the people who had given up their time to walk with me. I was ready to get going - just let me get on that wall! I flew from Manchester to Heathrow, then onto Beijing. I was nervous about meeting up with everyone at Beijing but I didn’t need to be, because they were a wonderful group of people. We all bonded on the first night.
Our first day on the trek was nothing like I expected. The section of the wall I’d visited on holiday was restored, with walls acting as balustrades along both sides of the walkway. How different this part of the wall was! Totally unrestored, very steep and with no sides - rather scary. You had to really concentrate on where you were walking. Every day, each section of the wall was different to the last. It was very challenging, very hard, very scary, very emotional - but I loved every minute of it, even the unscheduled extra trek seven of us did when we got lost and ended up walking for an extra two hour. But everyone helped each other when people were struggling.
The last day of our trek was at Mutianyu – I couldn’t believe how steep and high the climb was to the finish! When we reached the top everyone was crying - it was very emotional. It took ages to realize we’d done it and it was all over. We took a group photo and then it was back down to the coach where we were greeted with a Subway sandwich – heaven after all the Chinese food!
I couldn’t have done this without the support of my 21 new friends, who will be friends for life. Neither could have I done it without my family and friends behind me all the way, and even complete strangers who handed money over to such a wonderful cause. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. This has got to be the best thing I have ever done and I’m so glad I did it. I will be booking to do the Sahara Desert Trek again, so if anyone would like to join me...
If you would like to know more about taking on this or any other challenge please Email Hearing Dogs
