LETTERS
Share your views, your experiences and your favourite photos tgo.ed@kelsey.co.uk
Postal address The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL.
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How old is too old?
Along-time reader and TGO Challenger received some sound advice from the magazine’s Equipment Editor Chris Townsend before heading out to walk the West Highland Way.
He’s now looking for mountain-loving companions to share in an adventure along the Cape Wrath Trail – so get in touch if that sounds like you!
I had it in mind to walk the West Highland Way (WHW) in February. Why February?
As a veteran of 11 TGO Challenges, Kilimanjaro and K2 Base Camp, the WHW in summer for me was not a huge challenge.
But winter conditions with snow on the ground would, I thought, “spice it up a bit”!
Anticipating my wife’s reaction – Sue was adamant that, me being 77 in March and having had a mild stroke two years ago, solo walking was now off-limits – I emailed Chris Townsend for advice.
As a consequence, I compromised and enrolled on a 5-day Winter Skills course at Glenmore Lodge. It was fantastic: we had a great team of six, and Fi was a brilliant instructor. For anyone aspiring to winter hillwalking, I thoroughly recommend the course. The bonus was snow – as I doubt that, in fact, there was any on the WHW.
The day before I left, Sue said she couldn’t understand why I want to do this at my age. It’s difficult to explain to someone who does not experience the same thrill of the great outdoors, glens and mountain tops. All I know that as I drove north from Norfolk, catching sight of the Pennines and then the hills beyond Glasgow, ‘something stirred in the blood’ and I felt my spirit soar. What more can I say?
I still have my sights on the Cape Wrath Trail but ‘permission’ is only likely to be granted if I can find a walking partner with similar aspirations. I’m hoping to do it in April/May next year, if anyone is interested!
From Lakeland with love
TGO reader Stephanie wrote to us to share a full-circle moment on Cat Bells with her partner Paul (pictured) a decade after their first date in Keswick in 2014.
...As our relationship developed so did our adventures. They’ve taken us to some amazing places: from Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park to the summit of Biokovo mountain in Croatia and Machu Picchu via the unforgettable Inca Trail. We also love kayaking, and have been lucky to do so in some stunning locations – Lake Como being one of them! Closer to home we can often be found enjoying the breathtaking views from the middle of Derwent Water near Keswick after a day walking the fells. We’re both readers of Th
