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Writing on his blog on Friday, a month after starting his trek, 28-year-old Mark Boyle said he and two friends accompanying him ran into problems the minute they arrived in the French port of Calais.

"Not only did no one... speak the language, they also see us as just a bunch of free-loading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about," he wrote.

 

"That really scared us, and given that we now were pretty much out of food, hadn't slept in days and were really cold, we had to reassess the whole situation.

 "We spoke to a few people who were willing to talk and they said that France would not go for this unless we could speak fluent French, which none of us could."

 

After the setback, Boyle said he was advised to head instead for neighbouring Belgium "as folk said they would be more likely to want to speak some English".

 

"The only trouble was the first decent-sized town in Belgium was 170 kilometres away, and all we had was three tins of soup, a bag of trail mix and a chocolate bar to sustain us," he said.

 

"As it was unlikely that we would get a chance to help or be helped by French people in the journey getting there, the task looked daunting to say the least," he said, adding that he had no choice but to head back to Britain.

Boyle set out from his home in Bristol, western England, at the end of January aiming to end up at Porbandar in India, Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace, after the 14,500-   kilometre trek.

According to his official website, Boyle is walking "without any form of money because he wants his life to be his message". He had hoped to take about two and a half years to reach India.

The coordinator of the project, Dawn Tovar, denied that Boyle had abandoned plans for his marathon walk.

 "He has not given up his project," she told AFP. "He is currently walking in the south- east of England. He will tour around the UK, learn French and leave again for Porbandar."

Vocabulary

activist, n: person who strongly promotes an idea or cause

trek, n: a journey that is slow and involves difficulties and hardships

port, n: place where ships can stay before sailing off again

freeloading, adj: expecting people to give you money or pay for you because you are lazy or stingy

pilgrimage, n: long journey to a place of special importance

to reassess, v: to think again about a certain situation in order to make a decision

setback, n: a situation that makes being successful more difficult

to sustain, v: to supply with food or drink or anything necessary to live

daunting, adj: challenging to the point of being discouraging

to deny, v: to say clearly that something is not true

Questions

1. How many foreign countries did Mark Boyle visit on his tour?

 a. one

 b. three

 c. twelve

 d. fourteen

2. What country would have been a better choice to go to than France?

 a. Sweden

 b. Portugal

 c. Belgium

 d. Morocco

3. Why didn't the team go there?

 a. They can't get a visa.

 b. They did not have much food.

 c. They thought it was a bad idea.

 d. They don't like the people there.

4. Why didn't the team take any money?

 a. They got robbed on the way.

 b. They are professional beggars.

 c. They had no jobs and no savings.

 d. They wanted to prove a money-free world is possible

5. Where did the team try to get to?

 a. Calais

 b. Bristol

 c. Porbandar

 d. Antwerpen

Synonym

Which of the following words or phrases replace the ones from the passage best?

 1. hurdle

 a. hill

 b. town

 c. border

 d. difficulty

 2. bunch

 a. group

 b. beggar

 c. scarecrow

 d. newcomer

 3. decent

 a. kind

 b. wealthy

 c. acceptable

 d. respectable

 4. set out

 a. rest

 b. start

 c. arrive

 d. organise

 5. abandon

 a. plan

 b. give up

 c. consider

 d. think through

Answes:

Questions:  1. a,2. c, 3. b, 4. d, 5. c

Synonyms  1.d, 2. a, 3. c, 4. b, 5. b

BY Ajarn Horst Baelz