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 I have lived in Derbyshire all of my life and only discovered the beauty of the great outdoors by a chance visit to Dovedale. Having only ever experienced life in the city, seeing Thorpe cloud for the first time was absolutely breath taking and immediately drew me to climb it. Upon reaching the top I felt a real sense of achievement and was rewarded with the most spectacular view of, "nature at its best". It was so peaceful up there, all you could hear was the light whistle of the wind and not a single sound, from the modern world in which we live. This made me fully appreciate why people were so drawn to climbing mountains, and now, I was also one of those people.
Discovering that Thorpe cloud was actually classed as a hill made me seek out my first true mountain, Snowdon. This I attempted with my then young daughter, and on the ascent we passed some of the most stunning scenery we had ever seen. As we approached the summit we had to push on through some very dense cloud cover whilst following a shaft of light that was forming towards the top of the mountain. We finally broke through to what felt like the heavens, it was a beautiful sunny day, the skies above were crystal clear allowing the sun to fully light up the snow and ice. When we looked back from the summit, it looked like you were sat above a sea of clouds with the sun glistening on its waves. My second mountain was Scafell Pike. Bearing in mind I was still relatively new to fell walking I was a little apprehensive, particularly when confronted with a fork in the path and the possibility of getting lost on the mountain with my son. Fortunately, not far behind us approached a very kind Christian lady who offered to guide us up a lovely section of the route that involved some interesting scrambling. We got to the summit and came down a more gradual route, back to Wasdale Head. The Christian lady and my family have been good friends ever since and from those early days we have completed many mountains as a team, the last one being Blencathra on Boxing Day 2007. (Via Sharp Edge.) Unfortunately, due to her changing circumstances at work and having an increased level of involvement with her church (which is a good thing!) she has found it difficult to commit as much time to this pursuit. This brings me to why I have joined fell walkers online, hopefully to find like-minded people who are looking for an adventure and actively seek the challenge of a new mountain. I am actually at the stage where I can climb a mountain comfortably on my own, however I do prefer the safety of walking with company particularly now I am pushing myself to more challenging and remote mountains. I enjoy walking in all kinds of weather and above all wish to increase my experience with snow, and that is why I am looking to climb Suilven and Ben Hope some time soon, as now is the time of year to catch the snow! Interested in doing this walk? Then let me know at
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- I apologise for any confusion. Fell walking is my hobby; so if anyone is looking to try a new mountain anywhere in Britain and would prefer company, let me know as I'm always up for it! Finally, can I take this opportunity to thank Peter Burgess for allowing me to release this message to you all, and look forward to crossing your paths at some point in the future. Kind Regards
Jag |
