Their story, in their words…
Getting there was an adventure in itself. We took a nine-hour coach ride up to the Lake District, stopping at four different places along the way, through the Midlands, Birmingham, Manchester and finally Penrith in the Lakes. It ended up feeling like a mini tour of the whole country, watching the views change out of the window and seeing how different the cities looked in each part of England. The four of us spent five self-led days camping at Sykeside, right in the heart of the Lake District. The day we arrived also happened to be the day of the World Cup final, and the whole campsite was buzzing with it. Every pitch was taken, tents filled the entire site, and everyone was crowded into their tents watching the game and keeping a close eye on the score, which made for a really lively atmosphere on our first night.
The campsite itself turned out to be perfectly placed, with hiking routes running straight off it into the fells, which made getting to the mountains so much easier. We walked a different route every day. On the first day we did the Grasmere and Rydal Water circular from Ambleside. On the second we climbed Loughrigg Fell, and from the top we got this huge overview of the whole area and could clearly pick out Helvellyn and Striding Edge, Scafell Pike and pretty much all the other big summits in the Lakes. Day four was the Gray Crag alternative, and on the last day we took on the Fairfield Horseshoe via Stone Arthur, which was easily our longest and hardest walk. We had planned to climb Scafell Pike too, but in the end we made the call to drop it and put our energy into the other hikes instead. Most days we were leaving camp around 7am and not getting back until 5 or 7pm, sometimes even later, and we were regularly clocking up more than 50,000 steps.
It was not easy, and honestly that was the whole point. There was always something to sort out as a group, whether that was navigation, working out how on earth we were getting back to camp, or planning what to do with the rest of the day. However much we planned, something always seemed to be slightly off, and more often than not we still came up short somewhere. The cold nights and cold mornings really tested us, especially on the Fairfield Horseshoe, and I do not think all of us were fully ready for how much of a mental struggle an extended camping trip would be. Every one of those mountains took real effort and a lot of willpower to climb, but the views at the top made it worth it every single time.
Every evening back at camp we would sit and see to the blisters on our feet, share out our rations between us, and get the dishes and the washing done before the next morning. Food was another challenge, because there were very few halal options around, so one of our team members went vegetarian and made do with improvised meals for a few days, and we all had to make compromises we were not used to. But we got through every one of these together, and each thing we sorted out left us a bit more confident than before.
Honestly, it humbled us. But alongside the hard parts there were moments I will never forget. We had proper camping nights together, making s’mores round the camp, and on our very last night before we left we watched a horror camping movie, which turned out to be a genuine thriller. We swam in the lakes, stood under beautiful waterfalls and springs, and drank water so fresh that the first thing I noticed when I got back to London was how different it tasted. At night we would lie out in the mountains and go stargazing, seeing views I honestly never would have seen otherwise. We also met other people along the way, including another Mark Evison group who were out in the Lakes, and loads of other hiking groups, and we made friends we will keep for life. Getting to share all of this with my friends was a real gift.
More than anything, the trip made us grateful. It gave us a real appreciation for how much organisation our parents put into family trips, because we hit hurdle after hurdle and did so much planning ourselves and still ended up short on something, which is a feeling I never would have had if my parents had arranged it all. We came home appreciating the ready-cooked meals they make for us, the warmth of our homes and our beds, and even our pillows and blankets, because a few of us forgot our pillows and ended up making do with bundles of clean clothes. We also picked up a lot of practical lessons, like what to actually bring for camping in the Lake District, what the campsite gives you, and what you just have to rely on yourself for. We came back a closer and tougher group than the one that set off, having learned to adapt when plans changed and to look out for each other when things got hard. We would like to thank the Mark Evison Foundation from the
