I’ve lost track of when exactly I first started hillwalking — or should it be hiking? I’m never quite sure what we should name our tramping the hills. Neither seem quite right to me nowadays, when I’m stomping via head-torch light across a moor in winter — but, whatever, whenever, I know it was in my early twenties. That’s over 35 years ago now!
My wandering initially, was largely confined to the Peak District (Dark & White Peak) and inspired in part by a growing interest in photography and in the other part, the guide books of John N. Merrill, the long distance hiker, who self-published a list of slim titles in the 1980s. It was also at times, in truth, motivated by a need to get out of the house and out of my own head; and in the intervening years, even at those times where life seemed too busy for a walk in the country, I would irregularly return to the hills if I was in need of a fresh perspective. I would head over to Hayfield and in two or three hours blow away the cobwebs with a dash up to the Downfall and back. I’ve lost count too, of how many times I’ve done that same walk. Hundreds of times I expect, with no exaggeration. At this time there would also be the occasional flirting with coastal paths in the south west, flying visits to the Yorkshire Dales, or bimble at the edges of a Scottish Highland valley but work really did take over, along with European cities seeming to be more alluring – who can believe that now! But I’d always keep going back to Kinder, again and again, and again.
Early in the second decade of the 21st century, life, in the form of the ageing of three close relatives (my mum being one), caught up with me; and two or so years of trips to hospitals, moving an aunt into a care home and then the death of all three in a 15-month haze of long corridors and sitting at bedsides, urged me to pause. So, I headed back to the hills again and I’m sure you can guess where I went… (which now also answers the questions I get about the username of my ‘hiking’ Instagram account — @walkingkinder!)
Hillwalking might well also be in my blood, if you believe in such things, as in an old battered box in a cupboard back at home, I’ve a handful of black and white photographs from the 1940s of my dad and his sister (one of the three) in the Peak District on day hikes — probably rambling(!) back then. From a couple of stories my mum told (my father died when I was a child, so I never got to hike with him), they certainly took the train out to Glossop, New Mills, Edale and other stops along those lines, to visit the moors. Apparently I’ve inherited my dad’s knees too —he’s the ‘lad’ on the far left!
Then, in September 2015 an impromptu trip to the Yorkshire Dales led to a pub-fire-side conversation with a Scout/Explorer group leader about their wish to do an Outdoor Leadership qualification – the Hill & Moorland Leader Award (HML). I’d never heard of such a thing but a seed was planted and a year later I found myself attending a Mountain Training course at Thornbridge Outdoors in the Peak District and within six months I was getting ready for my assessment for this award, which I passed! And so, here we are…
Since, I’ve also gone on to gain certification to operate on the Duke of Edinburgh Award as a Supervisor and Assessor, undertaken the NNAS Tutor Award and become a qualified Mountain Leader, a higher level award than the HML, which tests your outdoor experience and leadership skills over a wider range of terrain…
