南湖紫天鹅大酒店——李公道庄村
 

今日徒步： 19.19 英里 / 30.90 公里

累计徒步： 124.20 英里 / 200.00 公里

今日捐款： 2,389.99元

累计捐款： 67,499.98元
 

 

“聆忠言者众，唯智者获益”

——哈珀·李（美国著名作家，代表作《杀死知更鸟》，普利策奖获得者）
 

每年，在我们徒步结束后，浙江英国联谊会暨商贸会都会组织一次欢迎徒步归来及募款晚宴。雪琳是英国浙江会主席，浙江会会员一直是我们慷慨和忠实的支持者。去年英国浙江会在伦敦贝克街的煌庭会举行的欢迎宴会，我们就开始构想今年的徒步了。
 

 

当时我们刚刚返回英国，完成了一次长达1025公里 / 635英里的徒步，为英国红十字会筹集善款。要不是格拉斯哥的梅医生给我针灸治疗和我们的好朋友朱良炜医生一直以来给予我的关心和支持，我的身体肯定坚持不到徒步成功结束的。朱医生在英国华人社团广受欢迎。他说我需要多多照顾自己的身体。任广峰会长也说，如果我一直想为和平走下去的话，与其说我一人走1000公里，还不如号召100人来参与，每人走10公里，就可以完成1,000公里的总里程数。

 

 

 

那次晚宴上姚义纯先生正好在伦敦考察也参加并发表致辞，他建议邀请我们今年走京津冀路线，从北京出发徒步到曹妃甸职教城，和他们学校的100名学生一起为慈善行走。现在我们全部付诸实践了。聆听朋友们的建议，不仅帮助雪琳和我将这次徒步做得更好，还筹集到更多善款让更多人受益，有更多人参与。朋友们的建议无比珍贵，采纳好建议绝对是明智之举。

 

 

 

 

 

 

那些为我们做后勤保障工作的梦之队和每天加入徒步队伍的学生们，使我们的慈善徒步更加精彩，可能的话，我还想尽可能多地记录一路上遇到的人们：
 

 

首先，以往在其他国家的徒步，雪琳是我唯一的支援和保障，为了做好后勤保障工作以及每天的徒步日志翻译校对等，她根本无法与我一起并肩前行。而这一次，我俩携手走过了200公里的路程。更美妙的是，我们遇到不同的人，随时可在路上停下来和他们交谈。这是此次徒步美好的环节了。雪琳不仅一路徒步相伴在我身边，还时常查看手机微信内容，修改并指导徒步日记的翻译校对工作——微信公众号上每天发布的内容对于筹集善款来说可是重中之重。

 

 

 

 

 

徒步中的一些孩子给我留下了深刻的印象。姚义纯先生的儿子——姚成宇，刚满11岁，他很了不起，独自完成20公里的路程。我和这位小小徒步者聊得十分开心，是的，成宇的英文特别棒，我们沟通起来十分顺畅。我希望他以后可以运用自己的语言优势，成为中英两国沟通的桥梁。我还告诉他，我直到五十岁才第一次完成了一天20公里的徒步距离，他小小年纪，起点很高呢！徒步结束后，姚成宇兴奋地告诉父亲这是他长这么大以来参加的十分有意义的活动！

 

 

 

 

加入徒步队伍的还有北京文达天下文化传媒有限公司的何斌先生，他告诉我们他的团队会帮助我们制作关于此次徒步活动的视频短片。何先生曾是一位足球运动员，踢右后卫。谈起足球我们就自来熟了，我们聊到几个著名的后卫--马尔蒂尼，卡洛斯，摩尔和卡福。后来，他的夫人张晓霞也带着一对双胞胎儿女何佳霖、何佳璐（9岁）加入徒步。在中国，小孩子们常被问到的就是长大后想做什么。两个小朋友的回答毫不迟疑，科学家或与电脑相关的工作。这也是现在很多孩子常给出的回答。
 

 

加入我们的许多人都是从北京、唐山或曹妃甸过来的，但是姚总的朋友黄勇先生听说了我们的徒步之旅后，第二天就从1800公里以外的成都专程坐飞机到北京再打的来加入我们的徒步队伍。他不远千里赶过来，无疑对我们来说是一个极大的鼓励。
 

 

一路上遇到的不同的人和他们一起交流，这不仅丰富了我们的经历，也让那些加入徒步活动的学生们有了更丰富的体验和回忆。回想我的前半生，大部分时间都花在了工作上，或应酬那些在学术、政治、外交、商业和慈善事业方面的成功人士。我很少见到像杨先生(61岁)这样的人，他驾着马车，笑容可掬，那是我在河北见过的动人的微笑之一。

 

 

 

我问他：你干嘛不用电动三轮车而使用老式的马车? 他说: “想啊，想啊，当然想了，你打算给我买一辆吗?” 我们听了他的回答之后都笑了。雪琳问他: “马儿能跑多快？”他回答道: “如果喂饱了，每小时能跑5公里吧。” 我说: “如果我们吃饱了，大概每小时也能走五公里。” 于是他对我们发起了挑战。走了几公里后，我们本以为我们可以获胜。但是当我们在加油站停下来歇脚的时候，他超过了我们。他冲着我们笑了笑，挥手并大喊道: “我赢了！你们知道把我的电动三轮车送到哪儿吧。”

 

 

 

对我们所有人来说，这一刻的欢笑十分令人难忘。徒步中我们遇到很多有趣的人，他们将我们的徒步之旅渲染的更加丰富多彩。重要的是，他们都积极为此次徒步活动建言献策，使我受益良多。

 

 

 

 

​

原文 / 麦克·贝茨勋爵

翻译 / 杨梦

翻译校对 / 陈必萍

微信编辑 / 李璟瑶

总校对 / 李熙琳、雪琳

贝茨勋爵日志英文原文如下：

Walked: 19.19 miles

Total: 124.20 miles

Today raised: ¥ 12,199.99

Total raised: ¥ 65,109.99

"Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it." 

——Harper Lee ( Prize winning American novelist best known for her book 'To Kill A Mockingbird')

Each year, following our walk, Zhejiang UK Association organise a welcome home/fundraising dinner. Xuelin is Chairman of the Association and they have been our most generous and loyal supporters. I have thought many times on this walk of the welcome dinner almost exactly a year ago at the Bright Garden Courtyard Restaurant on Baker Street in London.

We had just returned from a 635 mile walk around the UK to raise funds for the Red Cross. My body would not have made it were it not for a treatment of Chinese traditional medicine in Glasgow by Dr May and the constant advice and support of our friend Dr Zhou. Dr Chan the respected leader of the Chinese community in the UK said that I needed to look after my body better. Peter Lee said that if I wanted to walk for peace surely it was much better for 100 people to walk 10km than for one person to walk 1000km.

Listening to the speeches Mr Yao then proposed we walk from Beijing to his educational centre in Caofeidian with 100 of his students. And this is exactly what we did. Listening to the advice of friends has transformed not only the experience of the walk for Xuelin and I but also the impact of the walk in terms of the people who have joined us and the funds we have raised.  Advice from friends is a great thing. Acting on advice from friends is a wise thing.

It is people who have transformed this walk our 'Dream Team' back up who are working so hard and the different groups of students who join us each day, but I want to pick out a few people if I can:

First, because Xuelin is normally having to do all the organisation of the walk, all the fundraising, and all the translation of the blogs she is unable to join me on the walks. We have as of today walked 200km together. It has been a fantastic experience opening up many many conversations with those we have walked with and those we have met along the way. She has done all this whilst still working on her phone editing our WeChat platform which is crucial for fundraising.

Some of our youngest walkers have been the most impressive. Mr Yao's son Stephen aged 11 walked with us for 20km. We had a great conversation along the way as he spoke perfect, and I mean, perfect English. I said it would be great if he could use that ability to be a bridge between countries in the future. I also told him that I had not walked 20km in a day until I was 50 so he had a head start. In return Stephen described the experience of the walk to his father as the most meaningful experience of his young life.

We were also joined by Mr He and his family who run a television production company and had asked to prepare a short documentary about the walk. Mr He was a former professional footballer, a right-back, there was no shortage of conversation, we spoke about great defenders--Maldini, Carlos, Moor, Cafu. Mr He was joined by his wife Zhang Xia, a former tv presenter, and their twin children Sophia and Eric aged 9. As is so often the case young children in China when asked what they want to do in life will immediately say scientist or something to do with computers.

Many people who joined us had had long journeys from Beijing, Tangshan or Caofeidian but Mr heard of our walk and next day flew over 1800km from Chengdhu to join us on the walk. It was a great encouragement for us that people would go to such lengths to be part of this activity.

The people we met along the way have enriched our experience and the experience of the students who join us. I reflected that most of my life is spent working or meeting with people who have been successful in life in terms of academic performance, achievements in politics, diplomacy, business, charity. Rarely would I meet people like, Mr Yang (aged 61) with his horse and cart and one of the biggest smiles in Hebei.

I asked him would he not want an electric tricycle rather than the horse? he said 'Oh yes, yes, yes please. Are you going to buy me one?' We laughed and Xuelin asked how fast the horse went, he replied '5km per hour if well fed' I said, we do the same pace 'if well fed'. He then challenged us to a race. After a few kilometres we thought we had won only for him to overtake us as we stopped for a toilet break at a petrol station and giving us a giant smile and a wave and shouting, ' I won! How will you know where to send my new electric tricycle?'

It has been a special time for us all, we have been enriched by the people we have had the opportunity to meet but most of all by listening to the wisdom and advice of friends.