Splat!

I stared at the black peat and pool of water directly in front of my nose. My foot had slipped and I had fallen full length into the bog!

My husband and I went up to Buxton this weekend to walk Kinder Scout, which is a 636-metre-high plateau in the Peak District. The Pennine Way traverses part of it. You get to the top of the plateau by walking up Jacob’s Ladder, which these days is paved with steps – the longest staircase you have ever seen. The plateau itself is just one big peat bog. 

We had naively thought that, on the last day in January, we would have had the walk to ourselves. How wrong we were. When we got to the car park in Edale, it was completely full and we had to drive a mile down the road to find a layby in which we could park. The tracks were well-peopled, almost crowded, and I hate to think what it must be like in summer. Everyone was very friendly, however, even the groups of young men who passed us with embarrassing speed, striding along on long legs, heavy rucksacks carried with ease. They were obviously walking the Pennine Way and camping. Yes, in January!

When I was last on Kinder Scout, 47 years ago with a school trip, the paths were lonely, with only a few ramblers. None of it was paved and I remember jumping from tussock to tussock on the top. Some of it is still like that, hence my fall.

No harm was done though. I picked myself up, the front of my coat black with peat and the knees of my walking trousers soaked through, and we carried on with our hike.

When I was sixteen, jumping across the peat pools was easy. Now I am sixty-three, and three stones heavier, things are more challenging. Somehow, though, I keep thinking I can do the things I could when I was sixteen, or even when I was thirty. I am generally proud of my fitness levels, even though I don’t go the gym or do running or even swimming these days. I think my job, where I’m on my feet all day, keeps me fairly fit, and of course, walking at the weekends. Kinder Scout, however, was almost more than I could manage. Jacob’s Ladder was very difficult and the path down almost as hard.

I was lucky not to have hurt myself. We saw one young man lying on the ground who had either sprained or broken his leg. He was surrounded by his friends, however, so we passed by. Driving back we saw an ambulance and three Mountain Rescue vehicles, all with blue flashing lights, going the way we had come. Obviously other walkers were not so lucky as I.

Are you proud of anything? Do you think that pride may be misplaced or are you confident in yourself? I know that I need to learn humility on my hill walks.

Mary

A Moodscope member