Monk (Episode 8712)

The Buddhist Monk was an incongruous figure encountered in woods in Wales by Kirk and Beth Sutherland when they were lost on a walk while on a camping trip there in August 2015. Beth had been stung on her backside by a hornet and was not in the most amenable of tempers but the sight of the man in orange robes silenced even her. He provided her with a balm to put on which was made up of baking powder, vinegar and a few herbal remedies of his own which he said would calm the sting down and when he told her that some claimed it had anti-aging properties she eagerly started applying it to her face and arms as well!

The man told the couple that he was a trainee monk who had taken up his vocation as he felt he was wasting his life. Intrigued, Kirk and Beth asked to be told more and he gave them a potted history of his past as a man who got in with a bad lot, involved with petty crime such as shoplifting, and then escalating into more serious crimes which ended up with him in Strangeways Jail doing time for a gangland shooting. He explained that he'd sworn to turn his life around and had done so but still had to see his probation officer every week. He offered them tea and a share of his food but the details of his sordid past had unnerved Kirk and Beth. They politely refused his offer and went on their way as quickly as they could.

There was a follow-up to their encounter though as Beth proved to be allergic to the balm and she came up with a rash all over the parts of the skin to which it had been applied.