Can you sponsor Ruth’s Christmas Walk for ACN?

Ruth Baker walking

I wouldn’t want anyone to think of me as a cheater or to wonder whether I was taking the easy way out, but I’m going to take a chance with this blog… Below please find a request for sponsorship from Ruth Baker, a member of the Youth Team based at Castlerigg, Cumbria in the Diocese of Lancaster. Ruth contacted me last week to tell me about her sponsored walk for ACN. Below is her message to me—which is now (minus my typical jaunty, if rather long-winded, turn of phrase) my message to you. Enjoy the break from me and PLEASE sponsor Ruth if you can!

“My name is Ruth Baker, and I’m 24 years old.

In November this year I went to a Catholic youth event in Liverpool’s Catholic Cathedral called Embrace, where I attended a workshop by Lord David Alton, on the persecuted church. What he said in his talk really shook me up; although I had heard the news over and over again, this time it got to my heart and I knew I could no longer stand by doing nothing.

I wanted to do something to raise awareness and funds. My parents have always supported Aid to the Church in Need and it seemed like a good place to start. Inspired by my love of walking (I completed the Camino de Santiago in Spain two years ago!) I decided to walk part of my journey home for Christmas. I live and work in Keswick, which is such a beautiful part of the Lake District, and my parents live in Herefordshire, Britain’s most rural county, in Ross-on-Wye which sits in the lovely Wye Valley. These seemed two excellent places to walk in, and I decided I would walk to and from the train stations that I use.

View in the Lake District

My walk will start on the morning of the 20^th December, when I will walk from my room in Castlerigg Manor, the Diocese of Lancaster’s Youth Retreat Centre where I work, to the train station in Penrith. This is 18 miles along a cycle path that has some amazing views of some of the Lake’s most majestic mountains.

That evening, I will get the train from Penrith to Hereford (a journey of 5 hours, which always feels like quite an undertaking on its own!). I’ll stay the night in a hotel in Hereford, and the next morning attend the 8am Mass at St Francis Xavier’s Catholic church in Hereford. (That’s in the Archdiocese of Cardiff).

After Mass, I’ll make the short walk to Hereford Cathedral, where I’ll begin the second stage of my journey, another stretch of 18 miles along the Wye Valley walk, alongside the River Wye, through tiny villages, woods and fields.
At the end of this walk I’ll climb the hill up from the river to the town of Ross-on-Wye, where my parents live and I’ll be home for Christmas!
I hope to raise money for Aid to the Church in Need, to pray for persecuted Christians along the way, for those who will be without their homes and families this Christmas.

Packing so far!

I love the outdoors and I’ve done a lot of walking and hiking in the past. Even with my love of walking, I know how unpleasant it can be at times, when you’re nearing the end of a long day and it’s cold and wet. It can reach a case of mind over matter and gritting your teeth to get through it. At least I will have a warm train and a warm bed awaiting me on my arrival each day, and my home will be my final destination. Maybe during this walk  I will gain a tiny sense of empathy for those who have had to flee their homes and who face a winter without their home for Christmas; those who had to walk away from their home instead of to it.

My JustGiving page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/ruthiebakes/

Thank you for your support!”

Thanks for reading!  Caroline