Midlife Mountains

In April 1983, 14 years old, Stuart and I walked the Solent Way, which is 60 miles across Hampshire. That year we also walked the Ridgeway. Both of these were backpacking trips. Dad and I also did the Dorset Coast Path, and I guess I was hooked....

For my 50th I treated myself to a long, solo weekend in North West Scotland. Camping at Durness, I climbed  Assynt Suilven and then  Ben Loyal. 

There’s different kinds of challenges. I’m used to long walks, hard walks. The Lyke Wake Walk in a Day, the Pennine Way, Coast to Coast, Yorkshire 3 Peaks. I’ve run tough cross country marathons like Beachy Head and Lenham Cross. You get the picture, I’m used to pushing it physically in the hills or on the trails. So the couple of miles from Grasmere up to Easdale Tarn and then back wasn’t going to be a problem. But this was a new challenge, because it was the first time we’d combined a hike with a mid-route dip, and it was a cold day, a very cold day. So it needed thinking about and to be honest I was a bit nervous. I had a lot of what ifs….can’t get warm what ifs…..forgot the coffee what ifs…… is a sandwich enough what ifs……is the Tarn easy to access what ifs…..

I love the mountains, but there’s a but. A big but. I’m scared of heights. So that’s how I’ve got to my 50s without ever climbing Helvellyn. It’s because of Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. Everyone who ascends Helvellyn goes via one or both of these, and to be honest, no amount of Googling ‘how difficult is Striding Edge’ or watching YouTube videos of brave hearts traversing Swirral Edge were going to coax me.

Do you remember the Guinness Surfer ad  from 1998? Shot in monochrome, the cool surfer man  waits for the perfect wave. He times it just right and his patience is rewarded with the perfect wave.