They say ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
For our Odyssey hikers, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ few ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ. Up one mountain, down the other sideโฆ and then, inevitably, another climb waiting ahead.
There is something about a mountain that strips things back to the simplest of choices: ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. One foot in front of the other. A little further. A little higher.
Tired legs, heavy packs and plenty of climbing – but also spectacular Karoo views, shared encouragement and the quiet satisfaction of discovering that you can do hard things.
And perhaps that is one of Odysseyโs greatest lessons: ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฟ. ๐ฆ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ.
Every step of ๐ข๐๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ was shared with three very special people: ๐ ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐ ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ and ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ธ๐ฒ, who walked the entire route with our learners.
๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ด, ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ Mrs Botes, Mr Beck and Mrs Lemke, for your encouragement, patience and humour and for helping our learners make memories they will carry long after their backpacks have been unpacked.
