Update: This year the walk raised £710,
which is split equally between Free Tibet Campaign and the Tibet
Foundation. At our last TSGG meeting the project we chose to support
with the Tibet Foundation provides free school meals for children in
two primary schools run by the Foundation in Tibet.
In
the last newsletter from the Tibet Foundation there was a lovely photo
of all the little Tibetan school children enjoying their meals in a
newly-built dining hall. The Foundation say that providing two regular
meals a day for the children (over 500 of them) provides tremendous
help for the families,who often can't afford much, and also improves
the children's attendance and learning-capability at school.
Thank you so much for your support and donations to the Tibet Walk.Liz Lindsey.
It
has become something of a tradition that each year, the Tibet Support
Group organise
a sponsored walk. Typically we choose a hill-route of moderate
difficulty to suit most walkers, somewhere in the Aberdeen or
Deeside region. This year we opted for a change, and made it
a coastal walk.
With
a none-too-encouraging met forecast the previous day, the early morning
saw some rain in Aberdeen, and we decided to go prepared.
Fortunattely the weather had cleared-up by the time we arrived at the
Ythan Bridge car park, and stayed fair for the duration of
the walk.
The
area is a nature reserve, mainly due to its use by nesting birds, and
care had to be taken to choose a route which would
not disturb the nesting sites. Ducks and Terns were clearly nesting on
the shoreline, and thus we went inland, around this section. The area
is largley sandy, reminiscent of the dunes at Findhorn, and
when out of sight of more-familiar Scoitish features you
could almost picture yourself in North Africa.
After a stop for lunch just south of Collieston, we made our way back across the heather further to the North.
All in all it was a most interesting day out, and strongly recommended to those interested in wildlife.
Afterwards, an excellent tea was served in the Ythan Hotel.
At
this point the heavens opened in a massive downpour, which
continued throughout the drive back to Aberdeen,
the roads being awash in many places.
