News

Thursday 30th September 2004
AN EXPERIENCE WORTH A THOUSAND POUNDS

“I have a great idea” said Armine one day as we met after Sunday basketball for a bite to eat, “Why don’t we hike in the Lake District and raise the money for the Gyumri Orphanage through sponsorship? It will be fun and a challenge!” And what a great idea that was. The children will now benefit from a massive £1000 raised as a result, with the entire expense of the hike being borne by the participants themselves.

We sincerely thank those who undertook the hike and also those who sponsored them to help the children of Gyumri.

You can enjoy looking at our photos on the www.agbu.org.uk website but nothing will beat the real experience. If you want to join us, have fun and at the same time contribute to worthwhile Armenian causes, then why not join AGBU London’s hye oKtane club and contact Sevan at sevan@agbu.org.uk

It’s Friday 20th August 2004, seven in a minibus, Armenian music propelling us up the long M1- M6 trail heading north for the Cumbrian Lake District to conquer all 2,200 ft of the Fleetwith Pike. Singing along were Nareg, Robert, Armine, Khatoun, Sura, Alfred and Sevan.

After the long six hour drive we arrived at the clean and comfortable B&B in Keswick. We took a short stroll through the beautiful small town and opted to play safe with a pizza.

A beautiful, sunny, blue sky greeted us the following morning. We all got up on time, excitement and anticipation no doubt! After a hearty English breakfast served by David the friendly proprietor, at about 10:30 we all set off in our now familiar minibus for the short scenic drive to the base of Fleetwith Pike.

There it was, standing tall in the glorious morning rays. All of us dressed in the commemorative T-Shirt, rushed to line up for the photo to mark the start of the journey. The climb was gentle at first but became gradually rockier and steeper. Fleetwith Pike may have been the smallest of the peaks, but it was certainly more challenging than the taller Skiddaw Peak Armine had climbed previously.

The views were breathtaking! “Stop, lets take a photo here”, “Look at this amazing view”, “Shoosh, listen to the silence, you won’t get this in London”. We snapped over 100 frames in an attempt to preserve every special moment of this experience.

At times it felt that we would never finish. For every peak which seemed the last, nature would cruelly throw up another. Three times we were fooled until at last, Nareg, by now christened “the ibex” for his dogged mountaineering, led the team and reached the top first. Two hours of hard work were soon forgotten. We savoured our triumph, took trophy pictures, absorbed the sheer panoramic beauty of the place, had our packed lunches and 45 minutes later, and reluctant to leave, took the gentler three hour trail back down to base.